CPD STOPPED 250,000 WITHOUT ARRESTS: ACLU
More than 250,000 times last summer, Chicago cops stopped people for questioning without making an arrest— a practice that disproportionately targeted blacks, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
At a news conference Monday, ACLU officials said they suspect officers are under pressure from supervisors to make stops and show they’re “generating activity.” A review of 250 “contact cards” that officers filled out after stops showed half the cards didn’t list a lawful reason for the stops, according to the ACLU.
Contact cards list the person’s name, address, phone number. The officer checks a box for the type of contact: traffic- related, suspicious person, gang- or drug- related, crime victim or other. There also are three lines for the officer to provide a reason for the stop. The percentage of blacks who were stopped and questioned without an arrest between May and August last year dwarfed the percentage of whites who were stopped— even in predominately white neighborhoods. That imbalance strains the relationship between police and minority communities, according to Harvey Grossman, legal director of the ACLU of Illinois.
“It’s very humiliating and intrusive to be subjected to a pat down on the street,” he said.
In a prepared statement, police Supt. Garry McCarthy said building trust with residents is the foundation of his policing philosophy.
“People should only be stopped based on crime data and crime information— nothing else,” he said.
Usually, a third party has previously identified a person who is stopped as a suspect in a crime, which is documented in a separate case report, according to the police department.
Department officials said they have provided additional training to officers to ensure “reasonable suspicion” exists for a stop. Officers also have been required to document more details explaining why a contact card was issued, police said.
About 72 percent of those stopped in Chicago were black and 9 percent white, the ACLU said.