In its report released Monday, the ACLU of Illinois indicated a high discrepancy in the number of black and hispanic residents who are stopped by Chicago police for suspicious activity compared to white residents. A closer look at the data shows this demographic trend plays out across the city when taking into account racial majority sections of the city: Areas in which one race makes up more than 50% of the population. Scroll through these graphics to see more details:
CITYWIDE TREND
The following chart looks at police stops from May through August 2014, the period the ACLU studied:
TREND IN RACIAL MAJORITY AREAS
By overlaying the rate of stops per 1,000 residents in each police district with racial majority areas, it becomes clear that many of the higher rates tend to be in black and hispanic-majority areas:
STOP AND FRISK ISSUES ELSEWHERE
The ACLU report also noted that Chicago is not alone in disparities between racial groups when it comes to police stops. Because police departments gather statistics in different ways, a direct comparison is hard to make, but the report mentioned the following situations regarding police stops in these cities:
The report did make a direct comparison with police stops in New York City, where the stop and frisk process has been highly criticized in recent years. This comparison showed a higher rate for the study period in Chicago compared to other periods in New York
