Chicago PD Sued Over Mass Traffic Stops Of Minorities That Do Almost Nothing To Stop Crime
from the cure-worse-than-the-disease-(also-not-a-cure) dept
The Chicago Police Department is extremely problematic, even by the extremely lax standards of US law enforcement. It has been home to a domestic black-site operation. It has been hit with reform mandates from federal courts. It has shown no interest in rooting out the worst of its officers. And it has engaged in a panoply of rights violations pretty much since its inception.
Roughly a decade ago, it agreed to a settlement with the ACLU and the multiple city residents it represented in a lawsuit against the city over illegal “stop and frisk” interactions. That settlement showed immediate results. But not every result was welcome.
The number of traffic stops in Chicago surged after the settlement with ACLU Illinois over stop-and-frisk pedestrian stops, while pedestrian stops fell from a high of 710,000 in 2014 to just 107,000 in 2016.
So, the PD stopped doing the illegal thing at the center of that lawsuit (stop and frisk), but it replaced it with something not specifically targeted in the litigation. The problem was illegal stops. The Chicago PD chose to believe the problem was only illegal stops of people, rather than vehicles.
Vehicles are driven by people. Just because they’re no longer on foot doesn’t make this sort of thing more legal. That’s the point being made by the ACLU’s latest lawsuit [PDF] against the Chicago PD. The same biased policing has moved from harassing pedestrians to harassing drivers. Those most frequently harassed are the usual suspects: non-whites.
Black drivers in Chicago are four to seven times more likely to be pulled over by police than whites, while Latino drivers are stopped twice as often, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois claiming a racially biased pattern in how Chicago police enforce traffic laws.
Traffic stops on the city’s predominantly Black and Latino South and West sides, the lawsuit says, are typically for minor violations— or for no reason at all— and are a tool for officers to search and detain minority residents on the city’s West and South sides.
As the lawsuit points out, the Chicago PD isn’t actually interested in doing better, more constitutional police work. Instead, it treats every settlement as an occasion to move the goalposts and treat the next string of successive rights violations as right and good and fair until the next lawsuit is filed.
“Defendants’ mass traffic stop program is simply the newest chapter in their long and sordid history of employing mass-stop policing tactics that discriminate on the basis of race and national origin, touted as a campaign to supposedly fight crime in Chicago,” the lawsuit states, citing previous police department practices that have led to ACLU-backed lawsuits, from waves of “disorderly conduct” arrests in the 1980s, “gang loitering” offenses in the 1990s, and “stop-and-frisk” in the early 2000s.
Even if you’re the sort of person who believes the ends justify the means, you can’t condone this form of selective enforcement. Even if you’re the sort of person who firmly believes minorities (especially black men) commit more crime, you can’t use the facts to buttress your biases. From the ACLU’s lawsuit:
In 2022, CPD officers made some 600,000 traffic stops, the vast majority of which
were of Black and Latino drivers—similar to the number and demographics of pedestrian stops by
CPD at the height of its discriminatory stop-and-frisk practice in 2014.[…]
In a survey published on May 30, 2023, nearly half of young Black men (ages 18-25) reported having experienced traffic stops in Chicago within the past year. Among Black survey
respondents of all ages, 27% reported being stopped by CPD officers while driving or riding in a
car within the prior year. In comparison, 11% of Latino respondents and only 7% of white
respondents reported being stopped while driving or riding in a car within the prior year.The survey responses are consistent with CPD’s own data, which shows that the
number of traffic stops of Black drivers in Chicago each year is equivalent to nearly one-half of the Black driving population, and the number of traffic stops of Latino drivers is equivalent to about one-fifth of the Latino driving population. Stops of white drivers are equivalent to only about one-tenth of the white driving population, per CPD’s data.
So, what is this? Is this just “going where the crime is?” Is this predictive policing doing its magical AI work to ensure officers are making the most of their limited time and resources? Or is it what everyone (other than Thin Blue Liners) knows it is: a pattern and practice of unconstitutional harassment of minorities by Chicago police officers?
All available evidence suggests the latter:
Analysis of public data for the period 2016-2022 shows that increases in traffic stops—both citywide and in the Police Districts with the highest reported traffic stop rates—were not associated with any decreases in the most serious crimes known as index crimes. Analysis of public data further shows that CPD officers recover contraband in only a minuscule portion (0.3% between 2016 and 2022) of the traffic stops they conduct, and they recover weapons even less frequently: only 0.05% of traffic stops between 2016 and 2022 resulted in the discovery of a weapon.
If you want to insist (as the CPD clearly does) that the ends justify the means, you need to have some ends in hand. The CPD’s own data shows endless harassment of minorities does nothing to reduce crime. This suggests the harassment of minorities is its own end: the unstated goal of officers given a long leash and almost zero accountability. If the ends are to destroy trust in the PD and respect for the law, mission accomplished.
The lawsuit’s narrative is filled with personal accounts of repeated pretextual stops by Chicago police officers. In some cases, litigants had been stopped multiple times in a single week. It also contains information gleaned from public records requests which show certain supervisors instituted stop quotas (although always under a different name) to encourage officers to stop as many people as possible. Nothing in the lawsuit shows this had any effect on crime rates or even acted as a perverse form of deterrent.
It’s unlikely the Chicago PD will be able to successfully defend itself against this suit. But that hardly matters to the PD. After all, it doesn’t spend its own money defending itself against these claims. And officers don’t spend their own money when lawsuits are settled or, in rare cases, they’re denied immunity.
And history shows the PD will abide by any court-ordered remedies… but only because it has the creativity to find other ways to violate residents’ rights. While this lawsuit is obviously necessary, the PD has proven it’s incredibly resilient. And until the city is willing to force the PD to engage in true accountability, the CPD will continue to destroy whatever goodwill it has left.
Filed Under: 4th amendment, chicago, chicago pd, pretextual traffic stops, racism, traffic stops
Comments on “Chicago PD Sued Over Mass Traffic Stops Of Minorities That Do Almost Nothing To Stop Crime”
Thank you
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I think you don't understand "predictive policing"
Predictive policing focuses policing on demographics that are more prone to indictions. If the metric is maximising indictions, the optimal strategy is to exclusively police the most indiction-prone demographic. This is effective. It is also prejudicial since the policing does not happen based on what an individual actually did, but based on the statistics of the group they are a member of.
In addition, since the statistics to go by are of previous indictments, indicting only in the most indiction-prone group naturally leads to a stable state where all indictions happen in the same group. This is not fair, and it actually is not long-term sustainable as a tool for keeping crime down in all population groups.
So a better target would be to average out checks across all population groups. Including privileged groups that are easily pissed off and influential. This will naturally lead to a quite lower rate of indictions but would not be prone to the same kind of auto-accelerating injustice by treating people according to their associations rather than according to their own behavior.
And of course, anything that rewards systematic harrassment (“civil asset forfeiture anybody?”) is just asking for policing going off-topic and off-the-rail.
At any rate: “predictive policing” is scientific, it produces results, and amounts to “prejudice but using a computer”. Like all prejudice, it has bad societal consequences and does not fit comfortably with a justice system that relies on individual culpability rather than group punishment.
“It’s done with a computer and based on valid statistics”, however, is employed as a blanket cheque.
And when you ask questions like “is this predictive policing or just good old prejudice”, you are promoting the myth that prejudice done with computers and statistics is somehow different in quality from prejudice done by humans.
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Law enforcement would most likely find many individuals that wear suits to be in violation of laws … if they looked.
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Predictive policing focuses policing on demographics that are more prone to indictions. If the metric is maximising indictions, the optimal strategy is to exclusively police the most indiction-prone demographic.
You do understand that what you just described is self-fulfilling, right? It’s also one of the stupider ways for police to work, since it automatically skews every statistic after it’s implemented.
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David and Rocky,
What the fuck does a fifteen year cycle (from ancient Roman times – that’s the definition of “indiction”) have to do with “prejudice, but done on a computer”?
Inquiring minds wish to know…
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First paragraph should be a quote from previous poster, that’s on me for not previewing my post.
IOW, I agree with you.
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I suspect that ‘indiction’ was a portmanteau of ‘indictment’ and ‘conviction’ that happened to pass a spell checker.
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I strongly recommend trying to actually read what you are replying to rather than triggering on keywords. Nobody benefits from a repetition of an already made point but in a tone of disagreement: that’s just bewildering people.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
The sort of person who
I see that TechDirt’s commitment to free speech is getting weaker, as was readily predictable, since reality continues to defy woke ideology. So my first post pointing to a site that demonstrates the following was actually removed.
That sort of person is someone who is willing to look at facts without wearing ideological blinders. And that’s why sites like HJ are so important. Shootings and murders are still too infrequent to have them swept under the rug the better to be ignored. The race of the shooters and the victims is easy enough to count.
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Imagine still being straight, white and male in 2023
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Now imagine that you’re Hyman Rosen….
(All thanks to John Grisham.)
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If there is justice in this world for sexual minorities, Hywoman Rosen will lose penis privileges soon.
Re: Re: Me?
I’ve visiteed and driven all over the USA, several times a year for days at a time, as a tourist, in my own vehicle and rental cars. Over the last 40 years, I’ve been stoppe once – for a (deserved) speeding ticket. White male I’m sure was not a factor, was it?
Tim Scott must be a lousy driver. He’s a senator, older, rich, drives a nice car, and has been stopped several times by DC police in one year.
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Hyman the subhuman male is here again.
Using race as an indicator tells us you are a racist bigot with a walnut-sized brain, nothing new there. Now tell us the crime-rate based on social factors instead of race.
Or perhaps you are too stupid to realize that reality isn’t black and white, hmmm?
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Oh, you’re right, I apologize. I had completely forgotten the “Social Factors Matter” marches after George Floyd was killed.
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Social and economic circumstances matter, and people with your attitude ensure that they do not improve for minorities. Also, it not as if George Floyd was the first victim of police violence, just the straw that broke the camels back.
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You aren’t too bright it seems, stupid racists like you have decided that “race” is a major factor when in reality it’s entirely socio-economic factors that matters. Since you racists have decided that it’s no wonder why the movement is called Black Lives Matter – it’s partly because they want to poke you racists in the eye which enrages you to do and say incredibly stupid things which put your racism front and center. You being a good example of that.
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It is the literal truth that Black men commit many more crimes than their share of the population would imply. The article spoke of “even if you’re the sort of person who firmly believes” this, implying that this simple fact is somehow in dispute.
The article wasn’t discussing causes, it was disputing plain facts. Of course the reasons are social and economic, but those factors have become deeply entrenched in certain communities, and they can’t be addressed without acknowledging that those communities have deep problems. But liberals can’t bear to admit that their favored victim groups have internal problems, not ones that are being deliberately imposed on them from the outside by white people. Liberals have become as much of a parody of themselves as TSA agents who searched grandmothers in wheelchairs looking for bombs.
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A simpletons take on the situation, simpletons don’t want to look behind the curtain why things are like they are like for example the systemic racism that exists. The actual truth is that socio-economic factors is the main driving factor behind crime and people like you are comfortable with perpetuating the myth that black means they are more prone to commit crimes. You lack the mental capacity to understand the issue and instead go for the simplest answer that fits your myopic version of reality.
How convenient, ignoring underlaying facts that explains why things are the way they are to prop up the simpletons answer. Given the same socio-economic factors, is a white person less likely to commit a crime than a black person?
Interesting how you call them “victim groups” when it’s people like you who victimize them by being racist.
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The usual failure to understand the difference between fault and responsibility. If someone drives through a red light, hits you with their car, and breaks your leg, it is their fault, but it nevertheless becomes your responsibility to make sure that you recover. If you lie back and say that since it was not your fault you were hit, you are not going to do anything, then you will walk with a limp, if at all, forever.
Black communities are in serious trouble. If they and their woke enablers refuse to see that and act, then Black communities will continue to see their children slaughtered by more of their children. Their woke enablers will be basking in their righteousness standing ankle deep in the blood of the people they claim to be helping. But sure, let’s stop teaching algebra. That’s finally going to solve the problem.
Woke ideology is murderous poison.
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Since white people have been “running over” black people for a couple of generations without recompense, how are the black people supposed to earn a living being crippled and still being subjected to systematic racism? You claim being of Jewish descent, but you seem to know fuck all about persecution so I’m going to chalk that up to being a fat lie.
And you didn’t answer the question: Given the same socio-economic factors, is a white person less likely to commit a crime than a black person?
The real poison is racist bigots like you because you make the world a worse place with your hate and nuance-free view of reality. May you live in interesting times…
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Yes (although I hesitate to lend lots of credence to sociology): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3455929/pdf/11524_2006_Article_337.pdf
“… white men had not only a substantially lower risk of homicide compared to black and Hispanic men within the same block-group socioeconomic level, but also the highest risk for white men (over all socioeconomic levels) was still substantially lower than the lowest risk of homicide for black and Hispanic men (over all socioeconomic levels) …”
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It’s funny you answer yes when the study itself says this:
“Some studies have shown that white populations have higher risks of homicide at lower levels of neighborhood socioeconomic conditions compared to black populations; yet other studies have been inconclusive.”
You went and looked for a study that seemed to have a conclusion you wanted instead of being honest saying “I don’t know”.
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People who natter on about the “settled science” of woke gender ideology aren’t really in a position to criticize which studies other people choose to quote.
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And this is why you are a fanatic, you are willing to discard the truth in favor for what you feel is right – not what is factually right.
Just look at your answer here. We are talking about how much of a bigoted racist you are and somehow you think we are discussing “gender ideology”?!? Fanaticism have rotted your brain.
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Gender science is settled. I am whatever the fuck gender I say I am and no fucked up waste of straight white space is going to stop me.
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Pride Month ain’t just for June, sweet cheeks.
You’d better get used to wearing that clitty cage.
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…Hallucinated nobody mentally competent, ever.
I’ll bet there’s cocaine in that Mercedes 330 registered to a City Councilman that worked in finance, says no cop ever.
Tainted data
There’s a reason blacks are stopped 7 time the rate as whites. And it’s not racial profiling.
The population of blacks is more than 7 times that of whites.
This is where i tell Tim and any other person pushing fake nonsense as fact to grow up.
Within city proper:
Over 70% of Chicago’s population is Black. Another 20% is Hispanic
East and western Asians make up roughly 8%
When you spread race-war bull like this i dare you to post the census data.
of the areas at issue, not the whole.
So there it is Tim, put something behind your drivel.
Look at the parties to the suit, where they were pulled over, and post the census data.
Because whites are 8 times more likely to be pulled over on the city outskirts than within. Maybe if you took a moment to look at the facts and not blindly accept far lift nonsense you’d be less upset about fake problems.
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rtfa:
“The survey responses are consistent with CPD’s own data, which shows that the number of traffic stops of Black drivers in Chicago each year is equivalent to nearly one-half of the Black driving population, and the number of traffic stops of Latino drivers is equivalent to about one-fifth of the Latino driving population. Stops of white drivers are equivalent to only about one-tenth of the white driving population, per CPD’s data.”
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That may be true. But you still miss the population locational data. Chicago is segregated by groups. Has been for as long as I’ve been alive.
And not just racial colour but also by ethnic history.
Black populations are almost entirely black. And on the south of the city. Hispanic populations extend west. Whites north and south-far-west.
Arab far south west.
But it’s even more selective. Italians, Greeks, Russians, Germans, on and on.
If you pull over a car in the south side you have a 99/100 chance of the driver being black.
Pull over a car in central west and it’s 99/100 Hispanic.
South west you’ve got a white driver that doesn’t speak fluent English. It’s just the way the city is.
And that’s my point. The data here is tainted for what’s presented.
I’ll also point out that a car driving by a stationary cruiser at 45mph (the average wide-road speed in the city) is too fast to know a race of a driver for a targeted stop.
I admit I don’t know if there are more stops in one area than another. Or the reasons why. But there’s more than just race. Even if bad cops use race as a personal tool, …
Re: Re: Re: Thanks Tim
Didn’t expect a response. Not from you.
Nobody denies there are bad cops. And Chicago definitely has its issues.
But numbers like this don’t help anything. They are simply without context.
Chicago has a bad apple problem, but an even bigger crime problem.
Both need equal attention
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Okay, Nobody.