On January 25, 1999, Senate Bill 335 was introduced in the Michigan Senate to give police officers in Michigan the authority to stop and issue citations to drivers or passengers not using safety belts, even if no other violations have occurred (i.e., standard enforcement). This bill was passed into law as Public Act 29 of 1999 and was implemented on March 10, 2000. During the legislative debate on this law, concerns were raised about the increased potential for law enforcement officers to use standard enforcement of the safety- belt-use law as an opportunity to harass drivers in some way. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects that standard enforcement of Michigan's safety belt law have on police harassment in a three year study. For the purposes of this study, harassment has been defined by the Department of State as "a driver being singled out for a safety-belt-related traffic stop or treated differently during the stop on the basis of race, sex, age, or other factors unrelated to the actual violation". This report presents the three-year work plan for the project. (Author/publisher)
Abstract