Welcome to our July newsletter! While the news is dominated by national and international events, pretext and secondary stops continue to be the focus of local and state police, government, and community groups. The Chicago Police Department is considering a change in its policies related to non-safety, low-level traffic stops. The Chicago Police Department (CPD), which has gained an unfavorable reputation in recent years for its pattern of civil rights violations and the misconduct of groups of officers, was placed under a consent decree in 2019. In 2023 the ACLU of Illinois filed a class-action lawsuit that sought to prohibit CPD from engaging in pretext stops. This April, the Chicago Police Department issued a proposed general order addressing traffic stops, intended to “ensure compliance with the rights guaranteed to the public under the United States Constitution, the state of Illinois Constitution, and the law.” While this proposed order does not bar pretext stops, it does recognize that low-level, non-safety stops have detrimental impact (though qualifying the recognition by asserting only “some members of the community” have such concerns). The order states: While Traffic Stops are considered by some members of the community to promote public safety, enforce the law, prevent crime, and serve the community, some members of the community perceive these interactions as subjecting members of the community to inconvenience and contributing to anxiety, tension, and distrust with the Department and its members… Lawful Traffic Stops for vehicle equipment or license compliance violations can be perceived by some members of the community as unfair, a misuse of police resources, and unnecessary to preserve public safety. Therefore, any such use of lawful Traffic Stops for vehicle equipment or license compliance violations must strike a balance between promoting public safety and building and maintaining community trust. The order directs police officers to (as quoted below): - Interact with all members of the public without bias.
- Treat all persons with the courtesy and dignity which is inherently due every person as a human being without reference to stereotypes based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, homeless status, national origin, immigration status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, disability, incarceration status, or criminal history.
- Employ the four central principles of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy: giving others a voice (listening), neutrality in decision-making, respectful treatment, and trustworthiness.
- Use only reliable, credible, and reasonably trustworthy information in establishing Reasonable Articulable Suspicion or Probable Cause to conduct a Traffic Stop.
- Consider the legitimate law enforcement and public safety benefit of a lawful Pretextual Traffic Stops or Traffic Stop for vehicle equipment or license compliance violations with any apparent risk of harm to the community caused by the Traffic Stop and the goal to build and maintain community trust.
The public will have the opportunity to weigh in, and we expect there to be a great deal of input. The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) agreed with parts of the first draft, but noted, “A majority of Commissioners think that certain traffic stops for vehicle equipment or license compliance violations do more harm than good and should therefore be prohibited, with some exceptions.” Would this proposed general order work to reduce secondary stops and racial disparities in who gets stopped, who gets searched, and who may be subjected to use of force? While we can hope, the discretionary use of these stops has resulted in racial disparities for as long as these stops have been studied. The reasons given for the policy are not fully adopted by the police department, as the concerns are attributed to “some members of the community,” despite study after study showing the harmful effects of these stops. And the guidance is already guidance embodied in the United States Constitution and the Illinois State Constitution, which existed during the time when these traffic stops spiked and the Chicago Police Department was engaging in its most egregious behavior. These concerns, recognized by the CCPSA, led a majority to call for traffic stops to be barred “if they are based solely on improperly affixed license plates, registration that expired less than a year earlier, and, during daytime hours, inoperable headlights, brake lights or turning signals.” The violations listed by the Commissioners are some of the same violations included in New York Senate Bill 3662A /Assembly Bill 6631 of 2025, the bill we have been supporting since its introduction this past year. Best, Jill |
