Illinois police are making more traffic stops: Study

(WTVO) — New data showed Illinois police made more traffic stops in 2023 than the year before.

The Department of Transportation’s study shows stops are up 12%, the highest since 2019. 4 out of 5 police agencies reported they stopped more Black and Latino drivers compared to White drivers.

Black drivers were more likely to be stopped multiple times. They had a 36% higher chance than white drivers of being stopped two or three times, according to the study.

“Black and brown motorists are disproportionately stopped, we know that the burden falls most heavily on them, which continues to drive this wedge of mistrust between the police and the communities they’re intended to serve,” said the Director of Communications and Public Policy at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois Ed Yohnka told the Sun-Times .

Another statistic from the study showed several agencies did not submit traffic stop data to I-DOT, including many Chicago suburbs. Among the 997 active agencies, 158 did not submit traffic stop data.

“It’s been a state law requirement to report these traffic stops and pedestrian stops since 2004. So the infrastructure is there, the precedent is there,” Loren Jones, director of criminal legal systems at Impact for Equity, a Chicago region public interest law and policy center told the Sun-Times. “I don’t believe there’s any excuse for departments not to be complying with reporting on the racial demographics.”

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