At a special hearing of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability in Chicago on Tuesday night, dozens of Chicagoans and a panel of experts came together to offer their opinions on what meaningful traffic enforcement reform in Chicago might look like.
Commission President Anthony Driver Jr. said the purpose of the hearing was to learn how “sham traffic stops” – which critics use to describe stops for minor violations that are used as a pretext or excuse to search for evidence of other criminal activity – affect communities and public safety, and “to learn from other jurisdictions that have changed their policies on police-initiated traffic stops.”
One of the panelists was John Choi, the district attorney for Ramsey County, Minnesota, which includes the city of St. Paul. Ramsey County is one of several jurisdictions across the country that limited traffic stops for reasons that are “not related to public safety”, such as stops due to violations of traffic rules, such as a defective tail light.
“I used to be a prosecutor and believed that these types of traffic stops could actually make a difference for public safety. I’ve evolved by looking at and studying research and data… and most importantly, by listening to my community,” Choi said.
Since Ramsey County police departments implemented the change in 2021, traffic stops “not for public safety reasons” have dropped 86%, with Black drivers seeing the largest drop, according to Choi. At the same time, there has been “no discernible impact on the crime rate,” he said.
As an alternative to stopping drivers for equipment violations, officers will note the violation and send the driver a letter about the defect with the option of a Voucher for vehicle repair for drivers who need financial assistance with repairs, Choi said.
His office ended the prosecution of cases that are solely the result of traffic stops that pose no threat to public safety. Earlier this year, State Attorney Kim Foxx caused a stir when she put forward the idea of Implementation of a similar policy here in Cook County. Choi has it most controversial step He is created in his role.
Other panelists included a member of the San Francisco Police Commission who helped adopt a rule last month to limit traffic stops for minor violations; a former Cleveland police sergeant who said the focus on conducting large numbers of traffic stops undermines public trust in the police, eats up time from solving crimes and leaves fewer officers available to respond to emergency calls; and two researchers who found that Ramsey County’s traffic enforcement reforms had no effect on crime rates or gun seizure rates.
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) agreed to hold the two-hour hearing on Tuesday after Free2Move, a coalition of advocacy groups, presented the commission with more than 2,400 signatures on a petition calling for a meeting on the issue of fake traffic stops.
The public debate over sham traffic stops has intensified in recent months, with advocacy groups calling for an end to these types of traffic stops because they have little impact on public safety and disproportionately affect black and Latino drivers.
During the checks, illegal contraband is rarely seized. In the first half of this year, less than one in 100 checks resulted in the seizure of contraband, according to a WBEZ AnalysisAnd while dozens of cities saw a decline in traffic stops following the pandemic, Chicago’s number of stops increased from 2020 to 2023. New York Times investigation found that Chicago had the highest number of stops per capita of all major cities studied in 2023.
There was a Decrease in stops so far this year, according to department data. However, the question remains whether these numbers include all the stops made by Chicago police officers. Injustice Watch and Bolt’s investigation A study released this month found that nearly 200,000 traffic stops went unreported last year in violation of state law.
The CPD’s conduct of traffic stops for minor traffic violations has come under renewed scrutiny following the fatal police shooting of Dexter Reed in March, which was sparked by a traffic stop for an alleged seat belt violation. According to the Sun-Times, the tactical police officers involved in that shooting were Dozens of traffic checks carried out without incident in the days leading up to the Reed shooting, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating those stops to determine whether they were “unjustified.”
“A reduction in fake traffic stops will have little impact on crime, but it will have a major impact on public trust and cooperation with the police,” said Frank Baumgartner, another expert at Tuesday’s hearing and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies traffic stops.
Frank Baumgartner, professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, speaks via Zoom at the Chicago Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability special hearing on traffic control reform at the DuSable Museum of African American History on August 27, 2024.
Many Chicagoans who spoke during the hearing reiterated that fake traffic stops further undermine trust between police and communities.
“We have a trust problem in this city, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dion McGill, a district council member for the 7th Police District, which covers the Englewood and West Englewood community areas. “When I see a newspaper article saying that in addition to the countless traffic stops we all experience every day in the community, there are 200,000 unreported ones … how am I supposed to tell people they can trust when they’re being lied to every day?”
Others described the potentially far-reaching consequences of a single fake traffic stop.
Patricia Jjemba, director of legislative and external affairs for the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, said fake traffic stops have led to gun possession charges for many of her clients who mistakenly believed that a valid FOID card alone allowed them to possess a firearm while traveling in their vehicle. A WBEZ analysis shows that there is a growing number of people in Cook County who were arrested for illegal use of weapons following a traffic stop.
“When CPD finds a gun in a car, they arrest drivers and even passengers who would otherwise be law-abiding citizens carrying a gun. But because they do not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, the prosecution process begins, leading to loss of jobs and housing, pretrial hearings, and conflicts with work, child care and educational obligations,” Jjemba said.
“Officers are targeting drivers and waiting for them to commit minor traffic violations or inventing violations to pull them over,” she said. “These stops are not only constitutional violations, but also a gateway to criminal charges that result in lifelong collateral damage.”
Angel Novalez, chief of the CPD’s Constitutional Police Division, spoke on behalf of the department at the hearing.
“Since Superintendent (Larry) Snelling became superintendent about a year ago, he has made it very clear that a crime reduction strategy should not only include traffic stops,” Novalez said. “In addition, the superintendent has recognized that oversight of our traffic stops is absolutely necessary.”
In 2025, the department will “prioritize Fourth Amendment training” that covers traffic stops and includes two eight-hour courses, Novalez added.
Earlier this year, Snelling agreed to allow the department to use traffic controls within the framework of the federal resolution. At Tuesday’s hearing, Novalez said the settlement would create a “robust oversight process to ensure that (CPD) develops sound policies and training.”
Viewers register for the special hearing on fake traffic stops to be held by the Chicago Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability on August 27, 2024, at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.
However, advocates and community organizers fear that the federal process Slowing down reformsInstead, they prefer that the CCPSA oversee traffic control reform.
The Commissioners are continuing to work on a way to retain their power to set guidelines on traffic checks even if the issue is included in the settlement decision.
“The commission is also in discussions with the independent monitoring team overseeing the settlement, the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the city’s legal department to ensure that the traffic control issue remains within the commission’s policy jurisdiction,” said commission President Anthony Driver Jr.
Driver concluded Tuesday’s hearing with a personal reflection on the impact traffic stops have had on his life.
“I speak for myself as someone who has been stopped four times since April of this year,” Driver said.
“It’s not just an inconvenience for me,” he added. “Every time I get stopped, I try to figure out how to make myself smaller and less threatening.”
Amy Qin is a data reporter at WBEZ. Follow her on X @amyqin12.
