Today’s must-read
Wednesday, Sep 27, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, which worked with WBEZ on a story Isabel posted early this morning…
- In Chicago, where Black, white and Latino populations are roughly equal, traffic stops of Black drivers in 2022 were more than four times that of whites and more than twice that of Latinos.
- Beyond Chicago’s city limits, traffic stops also disproportionately affect Black drivers. Last year traffic stops involving Black drivers made up 21% of all traffic stops throughout Illinois (excluding Chicago).
Statewide, the 2020 Census showed that 13.56 percent of Illinois’ population was Black. That population percentage is significantly lower outside Chicago, so 21 percent of all traffic stops in the suburbs and Downstate is way more than the Black population percentage. In other words, don’t pat yourself on the back too hard if you live outside the city. It’s still bad.
* One reason for the Chicago numbers…
But critics say traffic stops of Black drivers continued to rise in Chicago after the ACLU and the Chicago Police Department settled a 2015 lawsuit that resulted in a decline in pedestrians being “stopped and frisked” by police.
“Chicago moved then from a racist strategy of stopping people on the street to an equally racist strategy” of stopping them in their cars, said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor and director of the school’s Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project. “Telling police officers as a matter of standard procedure to stop lots and lots of people … to address violent crime has long been known by researchers to be not just an out-and-out racist tactic but one of the most unsuccessful tactics and counterproductive tactics when it comes to reducing violence.”
* The year after Barack Obama passed a bill through the Illinois legislature to require locals to compile and report racial data on traffic stops, 17.54 percent of those stops statewide were of Black people. Last year, that number had risen to 30.55 percent statewide. Also…
Between 2004 and 2022, stops of white drivers dropped by 44.7%, while stops of Black drivers grew by 40.6%. Stops of Latino drivers increased 26.5% in the same period.
Go read the whole thing.
- Sue - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 1:54 pm:
If true- disgraceful. One thing I don’t understand though- isn’t CPD’s membership reflective of the population these statistics would suggest Black officers must be equally responsible for the stops. Wonder what the statistics might show about Black officer stops of Black vs white motorists?
- H-W - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:03 pm:
===If true=== It is true, right? These are well established data.
Black officers are equally responsible as you suggest (if I recall the criminology literature). The race of the officer is less predictive that the fact that they are officers. It is a social power issue in that regard. In that context, officers of all colors are more likely to ticket and arrest people of color.
Implicit biases are real, and are also class based. For example, police tend to surveil areas where the believe crime is likely to exist. Those areas are often poorer neighborhoods, and minority groups in general are poorer than white Anglos and white ethnics. So the class effect overlaps with ethnicity so as to create disproportionate outcomes by ethnicity. But that said, there is also a racial bias - what we might call white privilege - in which white folks are both less likely to be surveilled, and less likely to be formally processed.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:10 pm:
There are suburbs that are predominately or certainly over 20% black though. Places like Maywood, Forest Park, Broadview, and a few south suburbs. So I’d want to see which specific suburb made those stops. If in Broadview 50% of the stops of residents are for Black folk that’s not a scandal, but what one would expect given the demographics.
- Blue Bayou - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:10 pm:
HWW’s excellent response shows us the difference between systemic racism and racist actions of individuals.
The former produces its effects whether anyone consciously decides to be a racist or not. Because policing has its roots in the power of one group (at least) over others, this is its legacy.
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:11 pm:
On the other hand, given our sorry world I would not be surprised to hear of yet one more symptom of systemic racism.
- jimbo26 - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:14 pm:
In Springfield 49.34% of stops were of Black people & 47.12% of stops were white people. According to PopulationU.com the percentage of whites in Springfield is 72.5 & the percentage of Blacks is 21.4.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:23 pm:
I wonder if age is also a factor
- Stephanie Kollmann - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:25 pm:
==But critics say traffic stops of Black drivers continued to rise in Chicago after the ACLU and the Chicago Police Department settled a 2015 lawsuit==
This is just a poorly-worded transition and not an intentional hedge, but worth pointing out that it is the *official CPD data* that says traffic stops of Black Chicagoans septupled over a few short years.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:27 pm:
Police activity doesn’t get a 7X multiplier out of nowhere.
- City Zen - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:38 pm:
==So I’d want to see which specific suburb made those stops.==
Scroll down in the article and you can search police stops by village. Broadview’s population is 71% Black and 56% of their police stops were Black.
It’s difficult to judge this by city boundaries. Oak Park is predominately white but borders Chicago’s predominately Black west side, so their numbers are skewed as you’d expect.
- vern - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:42 pm:
=== not just an out-and-out racist tactic but one of the most unsuccessful tactics and counterproductive tactics when it comes to reducing violence ===
Bureau of Patrol personnel budget: $1.08 billion
Bureau of Detectives personnel budget: $61.1 million
That is not the budget of a police department that wants to solve serious crimes. It’s the budget of a motorist harassment department pretending to police.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:46 pm:
===In Chicago, where Black, white and Latino populations are roughly equal, traffic stops of Black drivers in 2022 were more than four times that of whites and more than twice that of Latinos.===
I’m not an expert and I don’t doubt these numbers. Might one factor be that police are patrolling more in Black and Latino neighborhoods as opposed to neighborhoods with higher proportion of white residents?
It’s hard to pull over a lot of white drivers if the police aren’t patrolling those areas as much.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 2:47 pm:
===I wonder if age is also a factor===
Every time I post something like this, a certain group of people looks for loopholes.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 3:13 pm:
Rich I was not looking for loopholes I was just curious if younger drivers of any race are more prone to being stopped. I would think they would be if police are looking for anything and maybe can intimidate them more than older drivers. Years ago when I was a PD I would get cases with stuff hanging from rear view mirror almost always kids not adults. Glad that law gone
- cermak_rd - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 3:28 pm:
City Zen,
Yeah, that’s why I was limitting analyzing the stops with city residents. I would imagine a lot of people atypical of Broadview’s demographics pass through on Roosevelt Rd, for instance, and that could skew their demos, too.
- Redirect - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 4:44 pm:
Could the reason for the higher number of stops for blacks be due to the higher numbers of black on black crime?
That stat is super sad for those trapped in those high crime areas.
The higher number of black victims should be a concern of any decent person. I’m thinking those good people appreciate a few stops and higher police presence.
Smearing everything with a brush of racism doesn’t help these potential victims.
Keep pulling over the most violent until they calm down.
- vern - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 5:09 pm:
=== Keep pulling over the most violent until they calm down. ===
How exactly should officers be determining which drivers are “the most violent?” It sounds like you’re suggesting they do so based on the color of the driver’s skin. I’m pretty sure there’s a word, or a “brush,” for that.
- James Anderson - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 9:14 pm:
=== Bureau of Patrol personnel budget: $1.08 billion
Bureau of Detectives personnel budget: $61.1 million===
This is troubling.
We put officers on patrol, but crime is hit-and-miss. So while they’re doing nothing, they have to do something, so they look for traffic violations where they are. (The violations may be legit, but white drivers commit the same violations under much less scrutiny.)
I think if we want to use police to get a handle on crime, we need many fewer patrol officers and many more detectives. But patrol officers get to be bad-ass cops like in the movies, whereas detectives sit at a desk and look at surveillance video. 🤨 Nevertheless, there is a lot of evidence out there these days; we need cops whose job it is to gather it and examine it.
- DuPage - Wednesday, Sep 27, 23 @ 10:04 pm:
===detectives sit at a desk and look at surveillance video. 🤨 Nevertheless, there is a lot of evidence out there these days; we need cops whose job it is to gather it and examine it.===
We keep hearing about groups of black teens playing basketball, walking down the street, or even sitting on their own porch visiting friends. Then an SUV pulls up, guns stick out the windows and open fire into the crowd. Then the SUV speeds away and the surveillance cameras only narrow it down to “a black SUV” or “a white SUV”. Patrol officers then pull over SUVs matching the description and look for guns. The pole top cameras in Chicago are early versions that give detectives very little to go on. Chicago needs to replace them with more state-of-the-art quality cameras that can see in starlight-dim conditions with such high resolution that it can read license plate numbers and get facial recognition a block away. Then police would be able to look for the specific SUV involved in the crime.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Sep 28, 23 @ 12:51 pm:
I was there. I heard all of these arguments in 2003, and i have heard them every year since.
The biggest driver of racial bias in traffic stops has always beem the war on drugs - not gun violence.
Society has a deeply held belief that Black and Latino men are more likely to use, possess and deal drugs. This leads to a higher level of frivolous traffic stops and vehicle searches.
Many have said that drug policies that allow police to seize and auction vehicles, even absent a conviction, are atleast partly to blame.
Big drug busts also make big headlines, whereas finding a pistol in a car rarely even makes the news.