Recently, Chicago saw forceful rebukes of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s draft policy limiting prosecutions for contraband obtained from certain traffic stops. What’s missing from these accounts is a clear-eyed depiction of what types of traffic stops the policy is geared toward and whether the Chicago Police Department’s practice of mass traffic stops actually produces the public safety gains alluded to.
The policy limits prosecution for contraband gained from four specific registration or equipment violation stops. These stops are a problem. Each year, CPD spends countless resources making traffic stops — officers made more than half a million stops in 2023. The majority are for low-level violations. Last year, 44% of stops were for a registration plate issue, and 23% were for a vehicle light issue.
Yet, putting aside anecdotes about these stops producing contraband, data shows that traffic stops are by and large a remarkably ineffective strategy to get guns off the street. In 2023, just 2.2% of the more than 537,000 traffic stops resulted in arrest and 0.5% resulted in a firearm. Studies show that when other departments reduced minor traffic stops, crime rates were unaffected.
Despite the data, CPD still uses traffic violations as pretexts to fish for crime, and our expansive traffic code leaves endless opportunities to do so. Chicago police use this discretion to target drivers and communities of color; Black drivers are six times and Latino drivers two times as likely to be stopped. This “traffic stop and frisk” strategy treats Black and brown drivers solely as an opportunity to find a gun rather than as valuable partners in creating public safety who are just as entitled to move freely throughout the city as any other Chicagoan.
CPD’s embrace of the strategy results in deep-rooted harm and further degrades trust in police. The idea that the only way to help communities working to address violence is to target them with excessive police stops is repugnant and wrong.
The state’s attorney is a powerful actor in Chicago’s interconnected criminal legal ecosystem, and her draft policy takes a step toward acknowledging the entire system’s role in propping up CPD’s traffic stop and frisk strategy. Each of our public safety officials, including Foxx, Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago aldermen and the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, in addition to the police superintendent, has a role to play in ending pretextual traffic stops. Chicago cannot wait any longer, and it will require all hands on deck.
— Cara Hendrickson, executive director, Impact for Equity, Chicago
Foxx disregarding the law
Illinois’ seat belt law took effect in 2004. Those who chose to not follow the new law were ticketed by police. But now State’s Attorney Kim Foxx wants to ignore that law.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Chief Judge Tim Evans and Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch haven’t commented on this and must be in agreement that the law need not be obeyed.
I would ask Foxx to provide a list of more laws that we need not obey. Personally, I’m against paying $150 for a measly sticker attached to my license plate. Over time, car owners have paid millions for that tiny sticker.
What other laws can we disregard?
— Joseph A. Murzanski, Orland Park
Protesters with conviction
In 1965, when most Americans couldn’t find Vietnam on a map, I joined eight other students in fasting for peace in Vietnam. It was probably one of the first anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, and I’ll admit to having little background on the issue then, but I knew enough to consider America’s involvement there a mistake. Most of the students who stopped by our table in the student union probably considered us ridiculous, but hopefully a few who read the material we distributed were inspired to think seriously about Vietnam.
Aside from seeming naive, we “demonstrators” didn’t personally risk anything, unlike many of the young people today who speak out against the carnage in Gaza. Just recently, Harvard University announced that it would not graduate two young men who are Rhodes scholars because of their pro-Palestinian beliefs. This is outrageous, as is the condescending attitude of now-elderly former anti-war activists who disparage today’s young for caring about a world beyond popular culture.
I participated in many marches and can state that we were never threatened with school expulsion, loss of potential jobs or withdrawal of degrees. To be honest, I don’t think I had the courage of conviction to withstand those kinds of threats as a 20-year-old. That today’s demonstrators do tells me of their level of commitment and their moral courage.
The adults who are denying them their freedom of speech should only be as principled.
— Marsha Anderson, Evanston
Running for vice president
It’s a truism that nobody votes for vice president, and it has also been the corollary that nobody runs for that office either. Not until this year.
Running to bask in Donald Trump’s glow is not so much a footrace as it is an act of abject prostration. It’s a sorry spectacle to see these shameless party hacks line up for his highness, the former guy, as he vets them from his Manhattan courtroom. He’s not a judge; he’s the defendant. Nonetheless, he wants to be president again — this time for keeps.
Does it ever occur to any Republican, let alone these hapless hopefuls, that casting one’s lot with someone perhaps only weeks away from an orange jumpsuit is not the smartest move on the chessboard? His candidacy could lead the party to a historically disastrous loss, or worse yet, a win, and a reign of unparalleled horror and vengeance.
Still, it appears that there is no greater pleasure or honor for a Republican than to become the consort of the most nakedly arrogant, venal and irresponsible con artist to ever run for or serve as president of the United States.
To be vice president is a plum job, having proximity to power, but with relatively few responsibilities, and scant visibility for a public figure. But to be this man’s vice president, one need only nod and smile and cast adoring looks at his majesty. However, any sign of independence of thought or deed that bears the mark of moral scruples can make one very expendable.
Yet the contestants dutifully parade into the courtroom. Then afterward, they parade out again and parrot the talking points he has approved for them to utter.
Utter madness.
— Jeffrey Hobbs, Springfield
Chicago’s dedicated paramedics
Almost every day, anyone following the news in Chicago sees the number of people shot and wounded by gunfire. At times, we just concentrate on the death toll. Chicago’s violence is well publicized, but in my opinion, hardly any attention is given to those who survived their wounds because of the professionalism of Chicago’s paramedics.
I lived and worked in Chicago for more than seven decades and worked as a Chicago cop for 33 years. During that time, there was always a bit of back and forth with our brothers and sisters in the Fire Department, most of it good-natured. However, I often thought how lucky the victims of violence in Chicago were to have those dedicated professionals treat them at the scene.
It’s incalculable how many lives they save due to their professionalism and dedication. It’s usually lonely at those horrific scenes of violence, but one thing is for sure. Many gunshot victims are alive today because those professionals were there for them.
— Bob Angone, retired Chicago police lieutenant, Austin, Texas
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