Nowadays, he said, more people buckle up regardless of whether a state has primary or secondary enforcement laws.
However, a recent American Civil Liberties Union study of Florida, which has a primary enforcement law, reached a different conclusion.
The Port Authority Police Department would have "primary responsibility for all law enforcement and security activities at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub," according to the agreement, and would "participate in and conduct police and security operations with respect to all office towers, and memorial and cultural facilities" at the trade center.
The county sheriff had primary jurisdiction over unincorporated areas of the county; 22 other jurisdictions had their own law enforcement agencies.
It does not mean that primary enforcement has been ruled out forever, Mr. Gantt added.
Policies that allow directly citing motorists for seat belt non-use (primary enforcement) have been shown to reduce motor vehicle crash deaths relative to secondary enforcement, but the evidence base is dated and does not account for recent improvements in vehicle designs and road safety.
The DOJ, the IRS, and Congress have all identified "offshore tax evasion" as a primary enforcement target, and the success with the UBS enforcement effort has energized government efforts in these cases.
But it did not include the primary enforcement tools the president had sought -- including authority for federal agents to use wiretaps that follow a person instead of a phone, and for chemical identifiers in explosives and black powder.
"These laws are hard enough to enforce when there's primary enforcement," Ms. Stone said.
But Farmer of the insurance institute said several studies have shown no difference in ticketing rates for minorities and non-minorities in states with primary enforcement laws.
