An extensive research effort has revealed evidence of racial bias in traffic stops by police in Chicago, disproportionately affecting Black drivers. The study, conducted by a team from the University of Sydney, Cornell University, Rutgers University, and the University of Illinois Chicago, pulled from an array of data sources, including police data, traffic cameras, and traffic models created by a company. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings point to systemic issues within law enforcement practices.
According to the NBC Chicago report, the study shows that on streets where there are an equal number of Black and white drivers, Black drivers are stopped by police 70% of the time. This imbalance extends to citations by speed cameras, where Black drivers are ticketed 54% of the time. In contrast, on streets where there is a 50-50 split between Black and white drivers, less than 20% of the stops involved white drivers, indicating a significant disparity.
Professor David Levinson from the University of Sydney highlights the significance of the findings, stating to University of Sydney News, "This is demonstrably higher and indicates a systemic bias in police traffic enforcement on roads in Chicago."
The research team compared the racial makeup of approximately 650,000 police stops and over 700,000 traffic camera tickets in 2019 to the GPS mobile phone data from 46 million trips taken on one day in 2020, which helps represent the racial composition of road users. They found that, on most street segments, the higher likelihood of stops and speed camera tickets for Black drivers persisted, except on those streets where more than 70 percent of road users were Black. As he told University of Sydney News, Professor Levinson noted that "A police stop can potentially be very dangerous for a Black driver."
The ACLU of Illinois, having long contended with these issues, reiterated the study's significance. "What we are seeing is that hundreds of thousands of Black motorists across the city of Chicago are being inconvenienced or feeling harassed or feel this detachment from the police because of being repeatedly and constantly stopped," said ACLU Illinois spokesperson Ed Yohnka in a statement obtained by NBC Chicago. The organization has taken legal action against the Chicago Police Department's traffic stop policies in the past.
The study not only sheds light on the racial biases present in traffic stops in Chicago but also suggests a broader, nationwide problem. Professor Levinson, while focusing on data from Chicago, indicated to University of Sydney News that similar issues likely exist in other countries, including his own in Australia. The research could prompt a reevaluation of police tactics and contribute to the ongoing conversation about racial profiling in law enforcement.
