The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) in Chicago is moving forward with initiatives aimed at restricting certain types of traffic stops by police officers, despite survey results indicating that a significant number of Chicago residents do not support such limitations.
The CCPSA, tasked with developing policies for the Chicago Police Department (CPD), is considering proposals to reduce the occurrence of “pretextual stops.” These stops occur when officers pull over drivers for minor infractions, ostensibly to investigate larger concerns. While the legality of these practices has been established by the U.S. Supreme Court for many years, CCPSA members are eager to diminish their implementation within the city.
Importantly, any new rules established by the CCPSA will not apply to other law enforcement agencies operating in the area. For example, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office continues to conduct traffic stops, which have frequently resulted in the discovery of firearms and felony arrests.
A recent incident highlights this point: On September 14, sheriff’s deputies stopped a man in River North for driving with an expired registration. The stop led to the arrest of 40-year-old Terrell Washington, a man with a 2004 murder conviction, who was found to have a loaded handgun in his vehicle. Following the arrest, Judge Antara Rivera ruled to keep him detained.
In a similar case just five days later, deputies stopped a Chevrolet Impala with expired tags in the 1700 block of South State, where the driver, Jason Harden, was also found to have a loaded firearm. However, he was released pending trial after Judge Rivanda Doss Beal denied the state’s request to keep him incarcerated.
Meanwhile, the CPD’s ongoing traffic stop operations have not been without success. For example, on September 20, officers noticed a vehicle parked illegally in a fire lane on South Wells Street. When they attempted to pull the driver over, he fled, running several red lights. Due to safety concerns, the officers chose to abandon the chase but tracked the car using the city’s surveillance system until the driver returned to the same area. They arrested 39-year-old Walter Diggs as he left the vehicle, recovering a handgun equipped with a machine gun conversion device and a high-capacity drum magazine. Diggs, who is on parole for a stolen vehicle, faces charges including possession of a machine gun and aggravated fleeing, with Judge Shauna Boliker ordering him held pending trial.
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CWBChicago was founded in 2013 by five residents disillusioned with the inaccurate reporting prevalent in local Community Policing meetings. While our focus has broadened to include communities such as Lincoln Park, River North, and The Loop, our commitment remains the same: to provide detailed and contextual reporting on public safety matters that surpasses the coverage of mainstream media outlets.
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