{"id":1379,"date":"2024-07-04T11:30:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T15:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1379"},"modified":"2024-07-04T20:31:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T00:31:14","slug":"new-data-shows-an-increase-in-police-traffic-stops-across-illinois-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1379","title":{"rendered":"New data shows an increase in police traffic stops across Illinois in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By  Jessica Alvarado Gamez<\/a> and Amy Qin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Updated Jul 3, 2024, 1:52pm EDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Collectively, police agencies across Illinois made more traffic stops in 2023 than they did the year before, according to a new report from the Illinois Department of Transportation. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The report also shows that police continue to stop Black and Latino drivers at disproportionate rates and that dozens of police agencies fail to report traffic stop data, as required by state law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really disappointing to see that after all the attention that has been paid to the disparity in traffic stops along racial lines, that we see not just the continuation of those racial disparities, but we see an increase in the number of stops,\u201d said Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 2.26 million stops in 2023 \u2014 a 12% increase from the 2.01 million stops made in 2022 and the highest annual statewide total since 2019 \u2014 according to IDOT\u2019s 2023 Illinois Traffic Stop Study, published this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incomplete data and accountability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The study also revealed that 18% of police agencies<\/a> did not submit a full year of stop data or didn\u2019t submit any data at all, an improvement from the 21% who failed to fully comply with the law in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the 997 police agencies in Illinois that were active at the end of last year, 158 didn\u2019t submit traffic stop data to IDOT. That list is largely composed of small downstate police agencies, but it also includes some in the Chicago metro area like those in Dixmoor, North Chicago and Round Lake Heights. North Chicago also failed to report its traffic stop data for 2021 and 2022, records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were 23 agencies, such as the south suburban Harvey Police Department, that submitted some but not all of their stops for 2023, according to the IDOT report. Harvey police failed to submit its traffic stop data to IDOT for 2021 and 2022, records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a state law requirement to report these traffic stops and pedestrian stops since 2004. So the infrastructure is there, the precedent is there,\u201d said Loren Jones, director of criminal legal systems at Impact for Equity, a Chicago region public interest law and policy center. \u201cI don\u2019t believe there\u2019s any excuse for departments not to be complying with reporting on the racial demographics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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