La Grange Traffic Stops Spike After Official's Push

LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange police increased their number of traffic stops by 50 percent in 2024, following a push from a village official.

At a Village Board meeting in spring 2023, Trustee Lou Gale encouraged the police chief to become more aggressive with traffic enforcement.

"Chief, light these people up. Write some tickets," Gale said. "I want to put that on the record. I don't know whether we have a reputation as a place that writes too many tickets. I wouldn't mind that for a while if we have pedestrian safety issues."

In 2024, La Grange police conducted 2,925 traffic stops, compared with 1,923 a year earlier. In 2024, that worked out to eight stops a day, compared with about five a year earlier.

That year, La Grange police ticketed in 21 percent of the traffic stops, lower than the 27 percent in Western Springs and 33 percent in Burr Ridge.

Patch examined the traffic stop reports for the last couple of decades in La Grange, Western Springs and Burr Ridge.

Police departments must submit the information annually to the state, with the data from 2024 being the latest. (La Grange twice failed to turn in reports for 2020, 2021 and 2022.)

In 2010 and 2011, La Grange police conducted about 8,000 and 6,000 traffic stops, respectively.

Before 2014, La Grange officers often ticketed in more than 40 percent of stops – in some cases, over 60 percent.

In 2015, Illinois enacted a law banning police departments from enforcing citation and arrest quotas, although most agencies said they maintained no such practices.

Of the three local police departments, Burr Ridge has been the most aggressive and consistent over the past two decades.

It has typically conducted more stops than both Western Springs and La Grange, even though its population is smaller.

Burr Ridge usually tickets about a third of the drivers it stops.

Check out the number of traffic stops and the percentages that resulted in tickets:

La Grange
2024: 2,925/21%
2023: 1,963/23%
2022: No report
2021: No report
2020: No report
2019: 2,340/18%
2018: 2,283/30%
2017: 2,970/34%
2016: 2,837/29%
2015: 2,910/32%
2014: 3,294/35%
2013: 3,346/46%
2012: 3,024/42%
2011: 6,061/35%
2010: 8,001/42%
2009: 6,788/41%
2008: 3,822/57%
2007: 3,117/62%
2006: 3,159/63%
2005: 2,493/69%
2004: 3,492/66%

Western Springs
2024: 1,694/27%
2023: 1,385/21%
2022: 2,214/6%
2021: 2,507/7%
2020: 1,390/13%
2019: 2,563/21%
2018: 2,731/22%
2017: 2,781/22%
2016: 1,623/28%
2015: 2,284/33%
2014: 2,651/45%
2013: 2,901/41%
2012: 2,704/44%
2011: 3,055/49%
2010: 2,369/40%
2009: 2,248/48%
2008: 3,035/59%
2007: 2,943/64%
2006: 2,904/67%
2005: 1,900/50%
2004: 2,293/46%

Burr Ridge
2024: 3,841/33%
2023: 3,498/39%
2022: 3,300/35%
2021: 2,411/33%
2020: 1,733/35%
2019: 3,958/32%
2018: 3,843/31%
2017: 4,248/29%
2016: 4,635/29%
2015: 4,820/34%
2014: 4,546/38%
2013: 4,341/35%
2012: 4,401/32%
2011: 4,853/28%
2010: 4,119/36%
2009: 5,788/34%
2008: 4,761/38%
2007: 3,508/39%
2006: 3,483/46%
2005: 3,457/46%
2004: 3,549/55%

Source: Illinois Department of Transportation