Chicago Police Traffic Stops: Shifting Priorities, Persistent Racial Disparities

Change in Chicago Police Department strategies under Supt. Larry Snelling reflects in traffic stop reduction

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CHICAGO - A significant change in the Chicago Police Department’s approach to traffic stops has emerged under the leadership of Superintendent Larry Snelling, leading to a notable decrease in traffic stops. This shift in priorities comes amid longstanding complaints that traffic stops do little to enhance safety and often result in certain communities feeling unfairly targeted by law enforcement.

An analysis revealed that Chicago police officers conducted over 40% fewer traffic stops in the first half of this year compared to the same period in previous years. From January to July 15, approximately 130,000 fewer traffic stops were made compared to the same timeframe last year, according to Chicago Police Department data.

This decline has primarily been observed since Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Larry Snelling as the police superintendent. The reduction in traffic stops has been a consistent trend almost every month since Snelling assumed his role late last September.

“There has already been a reduction in traffic stops since I’ve taken over because the focus is different,” Snelling stated during a meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. “My focus is violent crimes and traffic safety.”

Despite this reduction, there has been little to no change in the number of Black and Latino drivers subjected to traffic stops. Tens of thousands of Chicago drivers, predominantly Black and Latino, continue to be pulled over by Chicago police, according to the analysis. The police department has not responded to requests for comments on these findings.

The Chicago Police Department has faced criticism for targeting minor traffic infractions, which critics argue disproportionately affect minority communities and are often used as a pretext for searching for evidence of other criminal activities. Data from the police department indicate that these stops rarely lead to the recovery of any contraband or evidence of a crime.

“Any reduction in the total number of traffic stops in Chicago is good, but it’s not the end of the transformation that CPD needs to make,” stated Alexandra Block, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois’ criminal legal system and policing project.

Block also raised concerns about the accuracy of the Chicago Police Department’s reporting of traffic stops to the Illinois Department of Transportation, as mandated by state law. “CPD officers significantly under-report the number of traffic stops they make compared to the number of times they radio into the Office of Emergency Management and Communications to say they are completing a traffic stop,” Block noted. “In years past, those numbers have differed by as much as about 100,000 stops per year that CPD has not recorded in its own data.”

The Chicago police have made approximately 186,000 stops this year through July 15. Although this is a sharp decline from recent years, it is still double the number of stops made in all of 2015. That was the year before the number of traffic stops increased dramatically, a change critics attribute to a strategic shift from mass pedestrian stops to conduct pat-downs, or stop-and-frisk, to conducting hundreds of thousands of traffic stops involving what are sometimes aggressive vehicle searches instead.

As the number of stops made by Chicago police generally increased from 2015 to 2023, so did the proportion of drivers pulled over for non-moving violations such as licensing and equipment issues. Additionally, the share of Black drivers being stopped also grew during this period, according to state data.

Amy Thompson, staff counsel for the organization Impact for Equity’s Criminal Legal Systems, believes this indicates that the police were using minor traffic offenses as a means of searching for evidence of other crimes. “Minor traffic offenses that don’t lead to a ticket are the types of offenses that aren’t presenting a significant traffic safety danger and can indicate that the motivation is something other than traffic safety,” Thompson explained.

This year, about 129,000 stops, or approximately 70% of all stops, were for non-moving violations that did not result in a ticket, according to WBEZ. About 23% of stops were for moving offenses, such as failing to obey stop signs or use turn signals. Approximately 7% of stops resulted in a ticket, a higher ticketing rate than in the first half of 2022 and 2023, when it was fewer than 4%.

Historically, Black and Latino drivers have been more likely to be stopped by Chicago police. The number of Black, white, and Latino adults in Chicago are roughly equal, but the disparities in traffic stops are stark. In the first half of this year, Black drivers were stopped three times as often as white drivers, and Latino drivers were stopped twice as often as white drivers.

However, the proportion of Black drivers stopped by Chicago police has decreased this year, with Black drivers comprising about 45% of those pulled over, down from the previous year. If this trend continues, it would mark the first time since 2015 that the share of Black drivers stopped would be under half of all drivers stopped.

Conversely, Latino drivers have made up a greater share of all stops this year, constituting 34%, the highest percentage recorded since 2004.

In the police department’s 7th district, covering Englewood and West Englewood Chicago neighborhoods, over 15,000 traffic stops were made this year through July 15, the highest of any district. Following closely was the 25th district, including Hermosa and Belmont Cragin, with about 14,900 stops, and the 14th district, covering Logan Square and parts of Avondale and West Town, with about 13,300 stops.

Significant declines in traffic stops have been observed in several smaller areas within districts historically known for high volumes of traffic stops, such as the 10th and 11th districts on Chicago's West Side. In Beat 1112 in Humboldt Park, where Dexter Reed was shot almost 100 times by Chicago police during a traffic stop in March, traffic stops decreased from 5,700 in the first half of 2023 to 1,600 in the same period this year, a 72% decline and the largest drop among all police beats.

The 11th district experienced the steepest drop citywide, with traffic stops falling from 31,000 in the first half of 2023 to 11,200 in the same period this year, a decline of more than 60%.

However, traffic stops have increased in numerous other beats, particularly in the 25th and 14th districts. Beat 1413 in Logan Square saw the most significant increase in stops in the first half of this year compared to last year.

Despite the increase in stops in the 25th district (representing Montclare, Belmont Cragin, Hermosa, Austin and parts of Logan Square, and Humboldt Park) and the 14th district (representing Bucktown, Wicker Park, Palmer Square and parts of Logan Saquare and Humbolt Park) the figures have declined each month since January, mirroring trends in other districts.

“The No. 1 priority in our community that people want police to be doing is responding to 911 calls,” stated David Orlikoff, community engagement chair of the 14th District Council, an elected civilian police oversight body in Chicago. “Conducting traffic stops is the least important priority that people have. However, the perception is that conducting traffic stops is what the police are currently spending most of their time and resources doing.”

Traffic stops remain a key component of the Chicago police department’s crime-fighting strategy, as evidenced by the department’s 2024 District Strategic Plans. These plans, drafted by officers and approved by the chief of patrol, outline how each district will address its priorities. Many of these plans cite “traffic missions” as a response to crimes ranging from motor-vehicle thefts to shootings, with several specifically mentioning “traffic stops.”

In response to an increase in armed robberies in the area, the 10th District Strategic Plan for 2024 states that the response should include “missions geared to combat crime and also focused on conducting investigatory stops and traffic stops that can lead to an arrest.”

During a public hearing last December, Snelling emphasized that the purpose of traffic stops should be to alter the behavior of drivers who are driving poorly or dangerously. However, he also highlighted the need for using traffic stops as a crime-fighting tool.

“To completely remove traffic stops would be a non-starter in this city,” Snelling said at the hearing. “Robberies would increase, carjackings would increase, shootings would increase.”

Thompson from Impact for Equity disagrees, arguing that traffic stops are not an effective crime-fighting strategy. “Traffic stops are not an effective crime-fighting strategy, and I think the data on that is pretty clear,” she said. Less than one in 100 stops leads to the recovery of any contraband. In the first half of this year, only 0.7% of traffic stops resulted in officers finding contraband, compared to 0.5% in the same period last year.

“So far this year, compared to the same timeframe last year, traffic stops are down approximately 106,500 year to date,” police spokesperson Maggie Huynh told WBEZ in early July. “Felony arrests have increased by approximately 620 year to date.” However, the department did not respond to questions regarding the traffic-stop arrest data released in response to a public records request.

“CPD really needs to recognize that this pattern of excessive and discriminatory traffic stops is just one example of the policing philosophy that the way to keep the city safer is through suppression,” Thompson stated. “It’s through force. It’s through over-policing. And that approach fails to address the true roots of crime. And it only results in harm and harassment of Black and brown Chicagoans.”

Darrell Dacres, a Black member of the 20th District Council, shared his personal experiences with traffic stops, expressing his fear each time he is pulled over. “Right now, we’re living in an outdated police system where they think that, if you pull over enough Black and brown people, you can effectively stop crime,” he said. “It’s a very useless tactic, and it’s demeaning.”

Dacres is one of 36 district councilors in Chicago who recently supported a proposal to end “pretextual traffic stops” drafted by Free2Move, an advocacy group pushing for a more racially equitable system of traffic safety. The group gathered over 2,400 signatures