Chicago police are still pulling over Black and Latino drivers far more often than white drivers—and many of those stops are for things like expired plates, tinted windows, or broken taillights.

In 2024, CPD traffic stops dropped by nearly half across the city. But despite that decline, Black and Latino drivers were still four times more likely to be pulled over. In some neighborhoods, police barely changed their stop patterns at all.

These stops are often based on minor technical violations, but they’re really being used as a way to investigate drivers without cause. It’s a practice known as pretextual policing—and it’s not just unfair. It’s dangerous.

In March 2024, Dexter Reed was pulled over for a seat belt or window tint violation. Moments later, he was dead. That kind of traffic stop should never become a death sentence.

Now the Chicago Police Department has proposed a new policy that would continue allowing officers to pull people over for equipment and license issues, even when there’s no actual safety concern. A city oversight panel has already warned that this does more harm than good—and Chicago residents agree.

Our city is under a consent decree meant to reform how CPD treats the public. But this policy threatens to keep in place one of the department’s most harmful practices. These stops don’t build trust. They put lives at risk.

We are asking the city’s top leaders—Superintendent Larry Snelling, Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and the federal monitoring team overseeing the consent decree—to reject any policy that allows police to keep using traffic stops as a tool for racial profiling.

Black and Latino Chicagoans deserve to get home safely, not be pulled over, harassed, or harmed because of a broken taillight or outdated plate. It’s time for a policy that ends abusive traffic stops and protects every neighborhood.

Sign this petition to demand real change before more lives are lost.