Hennepin County Attorney’s Office introduces new strategy, comment period on prosecutions stemming from non-public safety traffic stops
9/17/2025
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office unveiled a new strategy on its prosecutions of cases emanating from a non-public safety traffic stop, also known as a “pretext” stop.
Read the entire Non-Public Safety Traffic Stop Policy here.
The Non-Public Safety Traffic Stop Policy is scheduled to be implemented on October 15, 2025, after a period to allow feedback from system and community partners.
“Non-public-safety traffic stops do not protect public safety, and they actively harm our community, particularly our Black and Brown community members,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “Speeding, distracted driving, driving under the influence, and blowing through stop signs threatens public safety and kills Minnesotans. We will continue to prosecute felony cases resulting from dangerous driving behavior.”
Pretext stops aren’t worth the cost. The data is clear and consistent across the country. Study after study has shown a failure rate of around 99 percent in recovering contraband.
Access our toolkit for in-depth explanations on why this is necessary plus additional data.
According to MPD data on equipment and moving violations from 2017 and 2018, a gun was recovered in less than half of one percent of time. This is a gun recovery failure rate of 99.5 percent.
Why would we spend limited time and money on a tactic that fails 99 times out of a hundred? It’s an enormous waste of resources and comes at a devastating cost to our community.
Under the NPSTS Policy, absent exceptional circumstances affecting public safety, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will no longer prosecute cases that are initiated by a non-public safety traffic stop. Prosecutorial and law enforcement resources are then able to be reallocated toward catching dangerous drivers and holding them accountable.
The use of non-public safety traffic stops is also a significant driver of racial disparity, whether through conscious or unconscious bias. Black drivers are stopped and searched at disproportionately high rates, especially for minor traffic violations that do not create a risk to public safety.
This policy aligns with the non-public-safety traffic stop provisions agreed to by the city of Minneapolis in both the federal and state consent decrees, which stemmed from extensive investigation and findings of discrimination by both the state and federal government.
After Ramsey County limited enforcement of minor traffic offenses in 2021, stops fell by 86 percent and there was a 66 percent drop in the number of Black drivers stopped. The policy change came at no cost to public safety and the number of firearms confiscated remained stable.
The NPSTS policy is part of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office commitment to addressing racial disparities while making our communities safer.
Research/Data Snapshot
- In its June 2023 Report on its investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, the US Department of Justice found that “…from November 1, 2016 to August 9, 2022, MPD data showed it stopped but did not cite or arrest Black people at 5.7 times the rate at which it stopped but did not cite or arrest white people, given their shares of the population.”
- In a study out of Tennessee, more stops in high-crime areas did not reduce crime. Less than 1 percent of NPS stops resulted in arrests for serious crimes.
- Following an 80 percent reduction in equipment stops in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the number of public safety stops increased and traffic accidents decreased. There was no change in violent crime or property crime.
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