My adopted home state of Virginia is trying to out California my native Golden State. The legislature just passed an incredibly stupid bill that will prevent the police from making many traffic stops. From the Yahoo News story:
The legislation bars police from stopping drivers for a wide range of vehicle equipment offenses — everything from tinted windows to faulty brake lights to loud mufflers to objects dangling from the rear view mirrors. The measure says the cops can’t pull drivers over for having expired vehicle inspection stickers — unless they’re at least three months past due — or for outdated registration tags.
It says police can’t stop cars for driving without headlights at night — though the legislation’s sponsor told the Daily Press Friday that he wasn’t aware of that aspect of the bill until a reporter asked him about it. He said he would look into whether it should be removed.
Supposedly, this will lessen racist law enforcement. But all it will really do is make the roads less safe.
In relevantly similar news of collapsing standards from San Francisco, a Walgreens is going out of business because of unchecked shoplifting — which hasn’t been prosecuted in the decaying once world-class city for years.
Rudy Giuliani proved that a great city can be saved by prosecuting lifestyle crimes. San Francisco is proving the opposite is also true. Decline is a choice.