Today's Date: March 29, 2024
101 Mobility® Eden Prairie: Leading the Way in Mobility and Accessibility Solutions   •   Charity Navigator Launches Women's Advocacy List for Women's History Month   •   Anaergia Announces Escrow Closing of Second Tranche of the Strategic Investment   •   Navigating Birth Control: Expert Advice from Dr. Bana Kashani, OB-GYN   •   National University Receives 2024 Military Friendly® Gold Designation   •   Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF   •   Unique online yoga platform offers lifeline for menopausal women   •   Midea Group releases its first-ever ESG brand story with an unexpected VIP visit highlighting its commitment to sustainability.   •   Committee for Children Now Offers a PreK-12 Full-Suite Solution with the Highly Anticipated Launch of Second Step® High Scho   •   Seniors Helping Seniors® In-Home Care Services Expands to North Houston   •   Anaergia Announces Delay in the Filing of Its Audited Financial Statements and Related Disclosures   •   Syngenta Group reports $32.2 billion sales and $4.6 billion EBITDA in 2023   •   Walmart Connect Announced as Presenting Sponsor of the 2024 WIN Summit   •   e.l.f. Cosmetics Debuts TikTok Shop Super Brand Day   •   Naropa University Launches Pioneering Psychedelic Minor     •   World Class Dyslexia, Literacy, and Neuroscience Experts Gather with Educators for Two-Day Professional Learning Event   •   Navigating Spring Break Sexual Health: Advice from Dr. Deb Laino Sex and Relationship Therapist and Powerful Life Coach   •   Chosgo K23: One of the Best Bluetooth Hearing Aids for Seniors   •   Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences team up to leverage revolutionary technology to save critically endangered species on the brink   •   AMIGOS FOR KIDS LAUNCHES "THE MISSING REVIEW"
Bookmark and Share

ILLINOIS POLICE BIAS CONTINUES

 CHICAGO -- An annual report released today by the Illinois Department of Transportation reveals that Illinois State Police troopers continued to ask motorists of color for permission to search their car without cause at a higher rate than white drivers during 2010.

Black News, African American News, Minority News, Civil Rights News, Discrimination, Racism, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality, Afro American NewsThe report documents that the pattern identified by the ACLU of Illinois in its complaint recently filed with the U.S. Department of Justice continued in 2010. Hispanic motorists were 3.38 times more likely than Caucasian motorists to be asked for a consent search.

African American motorists were nearly 3 times (2.96) more likely. And, as in the past, contraband was more frequently found in searches of white motorists.

The new IDOT report follows an administrative complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois in June asking the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the substantial racial disparate impact caused by consent searches conducted by Illinois State Police troopers of Hispanic and African American motorists.

The data for 2010 is consistent with data collected and reported over the past several years by IDOT demonstrating that ISP troopers are more likely to ask Hispanic and African American motorists for consent to search their vehicles, but are more likely to find contraband when consent searching a car driven by a Caucasian motorist. A consent search occurs when a police officer does not have legally sufficient cause to require a search, yet nevertheless asks for permission to conduct a search.

According to the Report mandated by the Illinois Traffic Stop Study Act almost all motorists in 2010, between 94% and 97%, consent to a search when asked by an ISP trooper, suggesting that the coercive nature of the encounter renders the "consent" not truly voluntary.

Even though motorists of color were more likely to be asked for permission for a consent search, they were less likely to be found to have contraband than their Caucasian counterparts. Indeed, a white motorist who is consent searched is 89% more likely than a Hispanic motorist to have contraband and 26% more likely than an African American driver.

"The State of Illinois has released another year of data that makes clear that consent searches by the ISP are conducted in a racially disparate manner," said Harvey Grossman, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois. "This is not a one-year phenomenon. These results are consistent with data released each year since 2004. It is time for the political leadership in Illinois to act and end this practice on our highways and roads across the state."

The IDOT report is the most recent presentation and analysis of data collected under the Illinois Traffic Stop Statistical Act of 2003 (originally championed by State Senator Barack Obama). The 2010 report also reveals that minorities statewide (based on more than 1,000 reporting law enforcement agencies) were twice as likely to be subjected to a consent search, but less likely to be found with contraband as a result of such a search.


STORY TAGS: Black News, African American News, Minority News, Civil Rights News, Discrimination, Racism, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality, Afro American News

Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News