A decade after Philando Castile was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, getting pulled over in Ramsey County is not the same experience it used to be. Local prosecutors and police departments have pulled back from low‑level equipment and registration stops and leaned into ticketing for speeding, lane changes and other moving violations. County leaders say the shift is meant to cut racial disparities and avoid risky, low‑yield searches that rarely turn up contraband. The net effect is a very different pattern of who is getting stopped on Twin Cities roads today.
What the county changed
In September 2021, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced a charging policy that told prosecutors not to pursue many felonies that come solely from what his office labels non‑public‑safety traffic stops. The idea was simple, if politically fraught: stop building serious cases off minor equipment violations. The Ramsey County Attorney's Office laid out written guidelines urging police to focus on moving violations and to limit consent searches. Departments across the county began updating their practices, and the rollout was closely tracked by local media, including MPR News.
On the streets: more moving‑violation stops
The numbers show how sharply that philosophy has played out on the street. In 2024, Saint Paul logged 26,994 traffic stops, and 25,893 of them were coded as moving violations, according to the department’s public data from the Saint Paul Police Department. Neighboring suburbs that lined up with the county’s approach saw similar trends. St. Anthony’s 2024 report shows moving‑violation stops climbing from 57 percent of all stops in 2017 to 84 percent in 2024, according to the St. Anthony Police Department. Maplewood’s 2024 transparency report shows moving violations accounting for roughly 95 percent of stops, according to the Maplewood Police Department.
Did it narrow racial disparities?
Independent analysts say the policy shift did more than shuffle paperwork. A review of Ramsey County data by the Justice Innovation Lab found that cutting back non‑public‑safety stops substantially reduced the volume of equipment stops and narrowed racial gaps in who was stopped and searched. County officials and advocates also highlight research showing that weapons or drugs are recovered in only a tiny fraction of pretextual stops, frequently cited at under 2 percent, a statistic prosecutors leaned on when they explained the charging policy, as reported by Police1.
Voices from the community
For Philando Castile’s family, the policy changes are not abstract. His mother, Valerie Castile, has called the shift important and has described equipment‑violation stops as “fishing expeditions” that put Black motorists in danger, as reported by the Pioneer Press. The family continues to hold an annual Restoration Day vigil at the Philando Castile Peace Garden and a Unity Day gathering at Falcon Heights City Hall, events and community work documented by the Philando Castile Relief Foundation.
Police pushback and mixed reactions
Not everyone in law enforcement was thrilled. Police unions and some elected officials criticized Choi’s 2021 directive, arguing it tied officers’ hands and made it harder to get dangerous people off the street, a concern detailed in the Star Tribune. At the same time, department leaders have publicly framed the move as a refocusing on crash‑causing and hazardous driving behavior rather than a retreat from traffic enforcement itself, a point officials emphasized in coverage by KSTP.
What’s next
As the 10‑year mark of Castile’s death prompts fresh reflection, prosecutors, police leaders and outside researchers say they plan to keep a close eye on whether Ramsey County’s experiment can continue to reduce racial disparities without compromising public safety. The approach has already drawn interest from other jurisdictions studying similar reforms, according to the Justice Innovation Lab. Officials on all sides say that ongoing data tracking and public transparency will be critical to judging how well the changes hold up over the long haul.
