Illinois Cops: Still Profiling After All These Years

[orleans]

Police Data Demonstrates Need for End of Consent Searches in Illinois

A recent analysis of data collected by law enforcement agencies across the State of Illinois as part of an effort to combat racial profiling demonstrates that police officers continue to request permission to search the automobiles of drivers of color far more often than white drivers. The report, prepared by the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety consistent with the Illinois Traffic Stop Statistics Act, concludes that three years after the General Assembly first mandated that law enforcement agencies collect and report data on the race of drivers stopped and searched by police, "consent searches remain problematic."

According to the report, of all traffic stops in Illinois during calendar year 2006, police officers asked a mere 0.68% of white drivers for "consent" to search their car once the stop was commenced, compared to 2.04% of all minority drivers. The report demonstrated that an African American driver was more than three times more likely to be the target of a request for a search than a majority driver. The numbers reported by the Illinois State Police highlight the problem: while only 0.5% of white drivers are the subject of consent searches, African Americans are searched by consent nearly twice as often and Hispanics are the subject of those searches four times as frequently.

Responding to the report, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today called on Governor Rod Blagojevich and the members of the Illinois General Assembly to either prohibit consent searches altogether, or require that police have reasonable suspicion as a precondition to request a search.

"Three years of data now have been reported in Illinois' efforts to stop the insidious practice of racial profiling," said Harvey M. Grossman, Legal Director of the ACLU of Illinois. "We now know - beyond any doubt - that minority drivers are targeted for humiliating, degrading roadside searches even though there is no evidence that they have broken any laws."

"Governor Blagojevich and leaders in the General Assembly now must act to move Illinois in line with the best practice in law enforcement today by either banning consent searches outright or requiring police to have reasonable suspicion as a precondition to a request for a consent search," added Grossman.

A consent search occurs when law enforcement officials lack probable cause or even reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is occurring, yet nonetheless asks a civilian for permission to search their vehicle or person. The vast majority of civilians consent to such a request. Data from the Illinois State Police indicates that the up to 95% of all persons consent to such searches. Consent searches long have been identified as an element in the practice of racial profiling.

"State police forces in California and New Jersey have ended the practice of conducting consent searches," said Grossman. "The Illinois General Assembly should examine this data and move quickly to bar the practice in our state."

The 2006 Annual Report of the Illinois Traffic Stops Statistics Study was issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation. Adopted by the General Assembly in 2003, the legislation requires all law enforcement agencies in Illinois to collect data on all traffic stops during the calendar year. The full report is available at www.dot.il.gov.

http://aclu-il.org/news/press/2007/07/police_data_demonstrates_need.shtml