A new bill being debated in Springfield would restrict the criteria for police officers in Illinois to make legal traffic stops, NBC Chicago’s Charlie Wojciechowski reports.
Advocates for criminal justice reform have often pointed to minor traffic stops as a source of tension between police and the community. An Illinois lawmaker on Wednesday introduced a bill that would restrict the reasons a cop can pull you over.
Justin Slaughter, who represents parts of Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs, has introduced House bill 4603, which would change the motor vehicle code to prohibit police stops for minor offenses like failing to display license plates or expired stickers, as well as excessively tinted windows, defective mirrors, defective bumpers or excessive exhaust.
But the most controversial part of the bill involves stops for speeding that would not result in misdemeanors or felonies. In Illinois, that means speeding 25-35 miles an hour over the limit.
"If you think about that," said Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Sheriff’s Association, "you are in a 30-mile-an-hour speed zone in a residential area and somebody’s going 50 and we can’t stop the vehicle?"
Kaitschuk said that could create a huge safety issue when there are children playing in the neighborhood.
He also worries that drunk driving enforcement could be handcuffed by the bill, which also limits an officer's ability to pull over a vehicle for improper lane changes. Weaving from lane to lane, he said, is often a tell-tale sign of a DUI.
"And under this, we wouldn't have been able to stop them," Kaitschuk said.
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Isaac Waddell of Pilsen said he supports the measure because it shows respect for the community.
"Doing arbitrary traffic stops wastes time and money," he said. "There are other things they should be doing like engaging with the community rather than harassing them."
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Arturo Garza said he sees it another way. "It’s going to be pure chaos, crime is going to go up; violations are going to go up; accidents are going to go up,” he said.
Slaughter introduced the bill on Monday, but it has attracted no co-sponsors.
So far, he has not responded to repeated calls and emails from NBC 5. However, Kaitschuk said Slaughter called him Wednesday morning to tell him he was not going to move forward with the bill in its current form.
"I appreciated the conversation I had with Rep. Slaughter," Kaitschuk said. "His indication was this bill went way too far for where he intended for it to go."
Slaughter has yet to say if or when he will bring the bill back or what changes he might make.
