For Third Time This Year, NYCLU Sues NYPD for Traffic Stop Data 

NEW YORK CITY – The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today against the New York Police Department for unreasonably delaying the release of its vehicle stop data for the third quarter of 2023. On September 21, 2023, the NYCLU released an analysis revealing, for the first time, the sheer volume, stark racial disparities, and geographic disparities of the NYPD’s vehicle stops. 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.

“Once again, the NYPD is delaying the release of its most recent traffic stop data, forcing us to sue the Department for the third time in less than a year,” said Ify Chikezie, staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “This obstruction is part of the NYPD’s broader pattern of routinely delaying requests for public records and attempting to shield itself from public scrutiny.”

On March 23, 2023, the NYCLU filed a lawsuit against the department for withholding the complete database of its vehicle stops during the first half of 2022. In May 2023, the NYPD produced the database for those stops. On July 6, 2023, the NYCLU filed a lawsuit requesting the NYPD to produce the database for stops made in the second half of 2022 and first half of 2023. The NYCLU obtained the requested data on August 18, 2023. On October 13, 2023, the NYCLU requested the NYPD to produce the database for stops made in the third quarter of 2023. Today’s lawsuit seeks to address the Department’s unreasonable timeframe for the release of the data.

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.