Members of GLIDE CSJ, the Coalition, and the Police Commission celebrating after the second vote in February 2024.

GLIDE’s Center for Social Justice (CSJ) in partnership with the Coalition to End Biased Stops worked tirelessly for two and a half years to pass DGO 9.07.

This policy limits racially biased pretext stops, consent searches, and improves traffic stop data reporting requirements by SFPD. In January 2023, the San Francisco Police Commission passed DGO 9.07, with a final vote on February 21, 2024.

This policy mandates the San Francisco Police Department to train its officers within 90 days before implementation.

It aims to decrease the systemic harms towards communities of color endured during racially biased traffic stops. A traffic stop is one way officers can investigate a driver or passenger(s) based on a preconceived hunch that a person is engaged in criminal activity, partaking in explicit or implicit bias.

Pretext stops do little to reduce crime and play an outsized role in maintaining the status quo, “driving while Black” in the United States. These pretextual stops do not improve public safety, instead, they create more distrust between law enforcement officers and BIPOC community members.

San Francisco mirrors the state and nation in over-policing communities of color via pretext stops. Even when controlling for location, time of day, and other factors, law enforcement officers stop and search Black people at higher rates than white people. Law enforcement officers use visible cues to determine the likelihood of criminality, which causes a disparate focus on young men of color.

Despite the disproportionate number of Black drivers and drivers of color being stopped and searched, the likelihood of the police finding contraband or weapons is lower for drivers of color than white drivers.

Members of GLIDE CSJ, the Coalition, and the Police Commission celebrating after the first vote in January 2023.

Over the two and half years of organizing, CSJ and the Coalition to End Pretext Stops gathered community support and gained the support of over 100 organizations.

They organized press conferences, collaborated with elected and appointed officials, held listening sessions, wrote letters of support, and took part in police commission hearings to give public comment on DGO 9.07.

On the day of the first vote, January 11, 2023, CSJ and the Coalition hosted an hour-long press conference at City Hall, featuring members of the Board of Supervisors, victims of racial profiling by SFPD, and coalition representatives.

The passage of this policy was a communal effort in the fight for racial justice. CSJ and the Coalition need to keep on fighting in the next phase, ensuring the swift implementation of the policy and sharing information with the community so that they are aware of their rights.