Executive Summary
Each year, Chicago Police Department (CPD) makes hundreds of thousands of traffic stops that disproportionately focus on Black and Latiné drivers, without any evident impact on road and community safety. This data report analyzes this continued pattern using new 2025 CPD traffic stops data. Ultimately the report finds that while traffic stop numbers have declined, the underlying focus on minor pretextual traffic stops targeted at Black and Latiné drivers and communities continues.
Key Findings:
- A significant gap exists between the number of traffic stops recorded by police radio communication and stops documented in CPD’s database. While documented CPD traffic stops decreased in 2025, a near-record-high number of instances where stops were recorded by radio communication are missing from CPD traffic stops data.
- A majority of CPD traffic stops are for registration/licensing and equipment offenses; less than one-third are for moving offenses. The vast majority of stops do not result in a citation, arrest, or recovery of drugs or guns.
- Black and Latiné drivers are disproportionately stopped, searched, and arrested.
