In 2024, traffic stops conducted by the Chicago Police Department saw a dramatic 45% decline citywide compared to the previous year.
Every one of the 22 police districts in Chicago reported a reduction in vehicle stops, although the extent of these reductions varied significantly across the city.
While seven districts experienced decreases exceeding 60%, four districts saw their stops drop by less than 20%.
This uneven drop in traffic stops raises questions about underlying factors at play within the Chicago Police Department (CPD), according to Amy Thompson, an attorney at the nonprofit Impact for Equity.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Black drivers represented less than half of all traffic stops citywide in 2024.
This shift occurred in the wake of public outrage and calls for reform following the fatal shooting of Dexter Reed during a traffic stop.
Despite this improvement in racial statistics, Black and Latino drivers were still disproportionately targeted by police, with data indicating they were four times more likely to be pulled over than their white counterparts.
Thompson’s organization is part of a broader coalition that continues to express concern that police are stopping too many Black and Latino individuals for minor infractions, such as expired license plates or broken taillights.
These stops are often criticized as pretexts for investigating more serious crimes.
In fact, in 2024, nearly 57% of all traffic stops involved nonmoving violations for Black and Latino drivers.
Earlier this year, the CPD proposed a traffic stop policy that would allow for pretextual stops, a plan met with significant opposition from the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.
The oversight panel articulated serious objections to the proposal, particularly stating that stops related to vehicle equipment and license violations often do more harm than good and should be limited.
The public comment period regarding this policy concluded recently.
Responding to the critique, the Chicago Police Department stated that Supt. Larry Snelling is dedicated to creating a traffic stop policy grounded in constitutional policing principles.
The aim of this policy, according to the department, is to foster trust with communities by establishing clear protocols for traffic stops.
In its statement, the department mentioned ongoing negotiations with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a federal court-appointed monitoring team to integrate traffic stop guidelines into an existing police reform framework known as the consent decree.
As part of these negotiations, the department also asserted that it is in the process of revising its approach to traffic stops, while ensuring officers receive training related to the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
However, despite the reported decline in traffic stops, investigations by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Investigative Project on Race and Equity have shown that incidents of violence during these stops have risen.
Traffic stops have emerged as one of the primary strategies employed by the CPD to confiscate illegal firearms and narcotics, particularly since the city reduced pedestrian stop practices in late 2015.
This shift followed public outcry and a federal investigation prompted by the release of video footage depicting the deadly police shooting of Laquan McDonald.
The transition from stop-and-frisk to increased vehicular stops was also influenced by an agreement with the ACLU of Illinois, which mandated stricter documentation requirements for pedestrian stops beginning in 2016.
However, the implementation of traffic stops has not been without controversy.
In 2023, the ACLU launched a federal class-action lawsuit against the CPD, arguing that the department’s current approach represents a continuation of its “long and sordid history of employing mass-stop policing tactics that discriminate based on race and national origin.”
The administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson has denied these allegations in recent court filings, and the lawsuit remains unresolved.
The tragic incident leading to the public’s heightened scrutiny—Dexter Reed’s fatal shooting—took place on March 21, 2024.
Initially, police indicated the traffic stop resulted from a seat belt infraction, but later statements suggested it was due to illegally tinted windows.
image source from：chicago
