Mass traffic stops that don’t stop crime show Chicago sorely needs policing reform

North Lawndale resident Jose Manuel Almanza Jr., 35, is one of five minority Chicagoans listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last week by the ACLU of Illinois. According to the suit, Almanza has been stopped in his car a dozen times just since 2021. “They almost never say a reason, or maybe it’s something small, like a cracked tail light, and all they want to see is your driver’s license,” he said. (Owen Ziliak/Sun-Times)

Chicago Police officers have stopped Austin resident Jacquez Beasley at least 12 times since he got his driver’s license three years ago. He’s been ordered out of his car, frisked and had his vehicle searched. Yet officers have never issued the Chicago Park District employee a traffic citation, arrested him or seized any contraband.

Police have pulled over South Lawndale resident José Manuel Almanza Jr., a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who works for a West Side racial justice organization, more than 12 times since 2021. As with Beasley, police have never ticketed Almanza, arrested him or seized any guns or drugs from his car.