Data analyzed by New York Civil Liberties Union appears to show stark racial disparities in traffic stops
NEW YORK - Newly revealed data from the New York Civil Liberties Union covers an 18-month period from January 2022-June 2023.
The NYCLU obtained this information through two lawsuits filed against the NYPD for delaying the release of its traffic stop data.
"Pursuant to a law passed by City Council in 2021, we knew the New York Police Department was collecting this data, but they were only publishing very high, high level summary reports. So you couldn't really dig in, see the nuance, see who's being stopped where," says NYCLU Staff Attorney Ify Chikezie.
The goal was to see the outcome of these interactions, and the numbers show that out of more than a million traffic stops citywide, nearly 90% of arrests were Black or Hispanic drivers.
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"Driving while Black and Brown is criminalized for many of us. We have known this, and you know, our hope is that having this data allows us to push for and heed calls to change," Chikezie says.
Brooklyn had the most recorded traffic stops citywide at 31%. That's followed by Queens with 22%, then Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in last place.
"I think this really does parallel what we saw with the stop-and-frisk program or police interactions with pedestrians, which was ruled unconstitutional, which was found to violate the 14th Amendment," Chikezie tells CBS New York's Hannah Kliger.
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
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