The City Council approved a joint report from the Public Safety and Transportation Committees regarding the Traffic Enforcement Alternatives Project.
In 2021, the Council directed the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), with the assistance of the City Administrative Officer (CAO), Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA), Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and City Attorney, to commission a consultant study on the feasibility of utilizing civilian enforcement of traffic laws. They also created an advisory task force to develop recommendations on traffic safety alternatives and convene community meetings to solicit public feedback. The study included participants from three groups:
1. A City Working Group comprised of LADOT, LAPD, CAO, City Attorney, and CLA to inform the project parameters and review deliverables.
2. The Consultant Team, which included Estolano Advisors, Equitable Cities, Nelson/Nygaard, and the Law Office of Julian Gross, selected by the City Working Group to develop the study.
3. The Traffic Enforcement Alternatives Advisory Task Force, an advisory body of 13 members with expertise in traffic safety, public health, mental health, racial equity, academia, and criminal justice, selected by LADOT to co-develop recommendations with the consultant team.
In November 2023, a final report was submitted to the Council, detailing the history and origins of traffic enforcement, including the transformation of policing by automobiles, and the background of the City's current policy methods. The report explored alternative traffic enforcement methods and models that do not rely on armed law enforcement by reviewing similar efforts in several cities, including Berkeley, California.
Through quantitative analysis focusing on Racial and Identity Profiling Act data, the report found that LAPD is making fewer stops overall, but traffic stops are concentrated in neighborhoods around Hollywood, South Los Angeles, and Downtown. The data shows disproportionate stops by race, with Black drivers being stopped more frequently than other racial/ethnic groups. The revised pretextual stop policy, which requires officers to state the reason for initiating the stop, shifted traffic stop patterns, but disparities persist. The Task Force and Consultant Team developed recommendations, including:
Prioritizing self-enforcement infrastructure—street calming measures that naturally slow traffic and discourage rule-breaking—in low-income communities and communities of color.
Eliminating police enforcement of non-moving and equipment-related traffic violations, such as broken tail lights.
Implementing means-based alternative traffic fines and fee models.
Deploying more unarmed civilians and care-center teams to address traffic safety issues.
Both the Public Safety and Transportation Committees reviewed the report and made further recommendations, including:
Instructing necessary departments to report in 90 days on developing and implementing self-enforcing infrastructure as part of the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure (HLA) implementation plan, future Mobility Plan, Community Plan, specific plans, and overlay zone updates.
Instructing necessary departments to report in 90 days with an evaluation criteria matrix analyzing the impact of non-moving and equipment violations.
Requesting the LAPD Inspector General to report in 90 days with an evaluation of the 2022 pretextual stop policy, including all available data and oversight protocols that officers must follow before, during, or after a traffic stop.
Instructing necessary departments to report in 90 days with an analysis of comparable municipalities that have initiated pilot programs and alternative traffic enforcement models utilizing care-center teams and unarmed civilians.
To read the full list of recommendations and more on the matter, click here.