In wake of fatal police shooting of Dexter Reed, local advocacy groups call for changes to traffic stops – NBC Chicago

It took just 20 seconds for a traffic stop to turn into a fatal police shooting in Chicago late last month.

The shooting, which took place March 21 in the 3800 block of W. Ferdinand St., left a Chicago police officer injured and Dexter Reed, 26, dead, with more than 90 shots fired less of one minute.

According to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, police initially stopped Reed because he was not wearing a seat belt.

However, a letter obtained by NBC 5 Investigates through a FOIA request shows COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten expressing “serious concerns about the validity of the traffic stop” to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, adding that he It’s not clear how the officers could have seen this. Reed was not wearing a seat belt given their location and the tint of the windows of Reed’s vehicle.

“We don’t think Chicago police should be stopping people for not wearing seat belts,” said Cara Hendrickson, executive director of Impact For Equity, a legal and policy center aimed at reducing the size of the justice system. Illinois Criminal Court.

The group sent NBC Chicago a report last week regarding CPD traffic stop data.

“The report shows an overwhelming number of pretext traffic stops conducted by Chicago police,” Hendrickson said.

Pretext traffic stops occur when an officer stops a driver for something other than their driving habits. This can range from not wearing a seat belt to expired plates.

The Impact For Equities report, which contained data obtained through a FOIA request to the Chicago Police Department, shows that traffic stops disproportionately impact black and brown drivers.

“Black drivers in the city of Chicago, for example, are six times more likely to be stopped than white drivers,” she said. “And Latino drivers are twice as likely to be stopped.”

A statement from the Chicago Police Department on the matter was released on NBC Chicago:

“Fair and constitutional policing is the foundation of the Chicago Police Department’s efforts to strengthen safety and public trust throughout the city. Officers only conduct traffic stops when they have probable cause or reasonable and explicit suspicion that a crime, including but not limited to traffic violations, has been committed, is being committed or about to be committed. These checks are not conducted on the basis of race or any other protected class. Additionally, as part of our ongoing reform and consent decree compliance efforts, CPD is mandating implicit bias training for all Chicago Police Officers.”

The Impact For Equity report shows officers conducted more than 500,000 traffic stops in Chicago last year. However, this indicates that an overwhelming majority of pretext stops do not result in a ticket or arrest.

“Less than 4 percent of stops made by CPD even result in a ticket,” Hendrickson said. “The comparison statistic in New York City is about 80 percent.”

Internal emails also obtained in their FOIA show that CPD commanders were pushing districts to conduct more traffic stops as a tool and system to combat violence, confiscate guns and reduce shootings in 2020.

Yet advocacy groups like Impact For Equity and their partner, Free 2 Move, want to end pretext traffic stops. In October 2023, they asked the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability to end checks for minor infractions, including not wearing a seat belt.

“Using pretext traffic stops to address minor permit violations and equipment problems is a dangerous way to create danger rather than addressing the real crime and safety problems in the City of Chicago,” Hendrickson said.

Read more about the Dexter Reed shooting here.