Policy Text
Amir El -Farra , CHIEF OF POLICE
Professional Standards Division NUMBER: 2023 -02
ISSUED: February 22 , 2023
JAYWALKING
Assembly Bill 2147 (AB2147), which became effective January 1, 2023, amended various
Vehicle Code sections to prohibit a peace officer from stopping a pedestrian for specified traffic
infrac tions (all of which would commonly be referred to as “jaywalking”) unless a reasonably
careful person in the pedestrian’s position would realize that there is an immediate danger of
collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively with hu man power.
Specifically, AB 2147 amended Vehicle Code sections 21451, 21452, 21453, and 21456.
21461.5, 21462, 21949.5, 21950, 21953, 21954, 21955, 21956, 21961, and 21966. In each of
those sections, the Legislature has added a new subdivision that reads,
A peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part
2 of the Penal Code, shall not stop a pedestrian [for a violation of the section or the pertinent
subdivision of that section] unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate
danger of collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power.
Accordingly, a police officer no longer has reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop a
pedestrian for what has been coll oquially called “jaywalking” unless that police officer can point to
specific articulable facts that, considered in light of the totality of the circumstances, show that a
reasonably careful person in the pedestrian’s position would realize that there is a n immediate
danger of collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by human power.
(See People V. Souza (1994) (Cal. 4th 224,231.)
BOTTOM LINE: A peace officer may not stop a pedestrian for jaywalking unless that police officer
can point to specific articulable facts that, considered in light of the totality of the circumstances,
show a reasonably careful person in the pedestrian’s position would realize that there is an
immediate danger of collision with a moving vehicle or other device moving exclusively by
human power. In layman’s terms, if the officer can articulate that the pedestrian constituted an
immediate hazard, an officer can lawfully de tain a pedestrian for “jaywalking.”
Prepared by: Officer Jeremy Morse and John Maxfield OCDA
TRAINING BULLETIN