NYCLU Sues the NYPD for Delaying Release of Traffic Stops Data  

NEW YORK – The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today against the NYPD for delaying the release of its most recent disaggregated, incident-level data related to the Department’s vehicle stops in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the NYPD revealed that they stopped close to one million individuals in vehicles (including passengers), the vast majority of which were Black and Brown New Yorkers, following the passage of City Council legislation requiring them to disclose this data for the first time.

On March 23, 2023, the NYCLU filed a lawsuit against the NYPD challenging its refusal to release the complete database of its vehicle stops during the first half of 2022. In May, the NYPD produced the database for those stops. The NYCLU then requested the NYPD to produce the database for stops made in the second half of 2022 and first half of 2023, but the Department required the NYCLU to file a new FOIL request. After the NYCLU submitted a new request, the NYPD indicated it would not respond for months. Today’s lawsuit seeks to address the Department’s unreasonable timeframe for the release of the data.

“By unreasonably delaying the release of its most recent traffic stop data, the NYPD is preventing the public from understanding the full scope and impact of traffic stops, and the extent to which they disproportionately harm Black and Brown drivers in our city,” said Ify Chikezie, legal fellow at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “This obstruction is also part of the Department’s broader pattern of routinely delaying requests for public records, making it harder for the public to hold the police accountable.”

Following a City Council law passed in 2021, the NYPD reported limited summary data on vehicle stops during calendar year 2022, revealing the magnitude and racial disparities of traffic enforcement. In 2022, roughly one million people were stopped in vehicles by the NYPD. 90 percent of those who were searched or arrested during the vehicle stops are Black and Latinx.

NYCLU attorneys bringing the challenge include Ify Chikezie, Bobby Hodgson and Chris Dunn.

You can find case materials here: https://www.nyclu.org/en/cases/nyclu-v-nypd-2