Traffic stops are legal and a proven crime prevention strategy
There is no doubt that residents are familiar with the term "pretextual" when it comes to traffic stops in Illinois. Let me start by telling you that there is no such thing as a pretextual traffic stop. First, let me explain what a pretextual traffic stop means. A pretextual traffic stop is when law enforcement initiates a traffic stop for a minor violation, with the actual purpose of investigating or searching for evidence of another unrelated crime.
There are those in the media, activists, and legislators in our state that believe police routinely conduct pretextual traffic stops. Those who want to eliminate traffic stops in Illinois would have you believe that, for example, an officer might pull you over for a broken taillight or speeding, but their true intention may be to search the vehicle for drugs or other contraband. What they do not mention is that while pretextual traffic stops are certainly not police procedure, they are, in fact, legal.
In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that pretextual traffic stops do not violate the Fourth Amendment right of protection against unreasonable search and seizure. While there are those who will argue that pretextual traffic stops have a component of racial profiling, this is a fiction advanced by critics of police. In most cases, police officers conducting the stop are unaware of the race of a driver until they meet the driver face-to-face. Officers are typically behind the vehicle they want to stop, and it is commonplace for cars to have tinted windows, with some windows tinted so heavily that police vehicles equipped with spotlights will not even penetrate them. This writer experienced such a scenario firsthand in 1987. As a result, I was shot in the line of duty. My spotlight would not penetrate the custom tinted windows applied to the vehicle I was checking on, which was parked on Northgate Road in Riverside.
A recent article published in Maryland Matters discusses a U.S. Army veteran stating that he was not afraid to jump out of planes, but he acknowledged that what scared him was being pulled over by police during a traffic stop. This is ridiculous. There is a push in Illinois to eliminate some "minor traffic stops" but the effort is really a full court press. Though the movement to ban some traffic stops has existed for many years, it gained momentum after the March 2024 fatal shooting of Dexter Reed by Chicago Police in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Following Reed's death, then-Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx proposed a policy declining to prosecute felony charges in cases gun cases that emerged in some minor traffic stops.
Anti-police advocates do not just want to eliminate certain "minor traffic stops." Their end goal is to absolutely eliminate all traffic stops made by police officers and rely on automation to monitor traffic enforcement. For example: Traffic stops sought for elimination in Illinois include: Driving without functional headlights, driving without brake lights, driving without mirrors, tinted windows, and failure to signal when turning. These are just a few of what our state legislators view as minor or pretextual traffic stops.
In reality, legal traffic stops occur far differently than often portrayed. A police officer makes a legal traffic stop, let us say, for a speeding motorist. When the officer approaches the vehicle and engages the driver, many times they will find proceeds of a crime in plain view. It is commonplace for officers to make arrests for driving with a suspended or revoked license, outstanding warrants, outstanding out of state warrants, most of the time serious felony warrants, DUI arrests, weapons, and drugs. None of these arrests would have taken place or contraband discovered if the officer didn't make the traffic stop. It is also important to remember that, currently, every single one of those violations listed are violations to the law under Illinois Vehicle Code.
Therefore, what is really occurring here, as stated earlier, is that there is an absolute “reimagining” of policing through legislation, and the misinformation about “pretextual” traffic stops is a clear example. There are those well documented anti-police activists, anti-police legislators in Springfield, and others who want to eliminate the ability for police officers to conduct traffic stops, period.
I have long been a proponent that traffic stops are what the community wants. When I served as Chief of Police in Riverside, a top concern of residents was traffic enforcement and parking enforcement. During my tenure, there was not a week that went by that I did not receive a phone call, email, or in some cases, residents walking in the station requesting that the police department conduct targeted or extra traffic enforcement in their neighborhood. I have long believed, as do many residents of our neighborhoods, that a police car doing traffic enforcement is a crime deterrent. When would-be criminals drive in residential neighborhoods and see a police car parked, or an officer conducting traffic enforcement or on a traffic stop, it discourages criminals from plying their trade in that area and moves them along. Their reaction most of the time: “Well, we see the police out in the open, and they are active in this area. Let us move on to another area.”
The push to eliminate traffic stops in Illinois is in full force. There are similar proposals in Berkeley, California, Cambridge, Massachusetts, St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and Montgomery County, Maryland, among other locations. Each of these communities is weighing legislation that would limit police ability to make traffic stops, or in some cases, eliminate the function of traffic stops altogether. What we are seeing here is a collaboration between media organizations, activists, and state legislators who, armed with an anti-police philosophy, are distorting the truth behind the aim and legality of traffic stops. This movement to end traffic stops aims to see Chicago and the State of Illinois become some type of "experimental incubator" that places limits on police officers' ability to carry out their duties. A crime prevention measure, traffic stops make communities safer, remove impaired drivers from roadways, apprehend violent fugitives, and make our communities safer in general. If you do not believe me, just ask the residents.
Tom Weitzel retired from the Riverside, Illinois, Police Department in May of 2021 after 37 years in law enforcement and 13 years as Chief of Police. Opinions are his own. Follow him on X @chiefweitzel.
