State Sen. Brent Taylor on Wednesday filed a bill that would prevent city and county governments in Tennessee from restricting police departments from performing some types of traffic stops.
The bill would supersede reforms made by the Memphis City Council last year in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ beating at the hands of Memphis police officers, allowing Memphis police to engage in what are often called pretextual traffic stops.
“Crime is on the rise across the country,” Taylor, a Republican representing parts of East Memphis, Eads, Germantown, Bartlett and other Shelby County suburbs, wrote in a press release posted on Facebook. “Violent crime has reached a crisis level in Memphis. Police officers and sheriffs need to have more tools available to combat rising crime, not fewer. This proposed law will prohibit cities and counties from restricting routine traffic stops and other crime-fighting tactics.”
The press release specifically mentions a “resolution” to ban pretextual stops passed by the Memphis City Council, which was actually an ordinance amending the city’s charter. The ordinance restricts the Memphis Police Department from pulling people over for expired tags, broken tail lights, loose bumpers and other low-level traffic offenses commonly associated with poverty.