La Grange Cops Fail To Submit Traffic Stop Reports

LA GRANGE, IL – Two years in a row, the La Grange Police Department failed to submit its traffic stop studies to the state.

Such submissions are required annually under a state law enacted in 2003. The law was sponsored at the time by a little known state senator named Barack Obama.

Hundreds of police agencies across the state, including those from the poorest towns, have turned in the reports each year.

But the Illinois Department of Transportation website shows that La Grange did not do so for 2020 and 2021, the latest years available online.

Asked about the problem, La Grange Village Manager Jack Knight said in an email, "Our staff was entering data into our software system and in error believed it to be automatically uploading to the IDOT website. This has subsequently been clarified, and the data will resume being uploaded."

The traffic stop reports allow people to track how many stops a police agency makes over time.

The reports also document the race of those stopped. Among other things, one can compare which races are more likely to get tickets rather than warnings after being stopped for traffic violations.