Executive Summary
Chicago Police are making hundreds of thousands of unnecessary traffic stops each year. These stops target and harm Black and Latine motorists and fail to keep Chicago’s roads or communities safer. Traffic stops are the most common interaction that most Americans have with the police. In Chicago, this interaction has become much more common; the number of traffic stops conducted by the Chicago Police Department has skyrocketed.
This report analyzes Chicago traffic stops. The data paints a picture of a broad, racially disparate practice that does not meaningfully contribute to roadway safety or public safety, but instead creates significant burdens overwhelmingly borne by the city’s Black and Latine residents. This data suggests that CPD’s use of traffic stops as a crime-fighting strategy – using the justification of minor traffic stops to fish for criminal activity in the form of “pretextual traffic stops” – is both racially discriminatory and ineffective.
