State panel on race and drivers stuck in park

SPRINGFIELD — A state panel created to study racial profiling in traffic stops in Illinois has fallen a bit behind in its work. Five years after state officials approved it, the group hasn’t held a single meeting.

That’s largely because the governor — first Gov. Rod Blagojevich and now Gov. Pat Quinn — failed to appoint anyone to serve on the panel, known formally as the Racial Profiling Prevention and Data Oversight Board. Legislative leaders long ago announced their four appointments to the board, but even that didn’t get the governors to take action on the remaining eight spots.

The delay has even become an issue in a discrimination allegation against the state police.

The Illinois branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has asked for a federal probe into why statistics show the state police are more likely to press minority drivers for permission to search their vehicles. The ACLU’s request argues that the failure to appoint an oversight board shows the state isn’t serious about making sure minority drivers don’t face discrimination.

Quinn says he considers racial profiling a serious issue that deserves attention. But the Democratic governor offers only vague answers when asked about the delays and when he might take action.

“There’s a lot of things you have to do (as governor) and we focus on everything we can do fast,” Quinn said Wednesday. “We’ll look at that one, too.”

But some critics say that’s not good enough for a governor who has been in office 2½ years.

“This long delay is ridiculous,” said Donald Jackson, president of the Illinois state conference of the NAACP. “I think he’s dragging his feet. He’s not taking it as seriously as he should.”

Illinois collects data every year on virtually every traffic stop in the state. Experts hired by the state then study the information to see whether there is any suggestion that police treat minorities differently than they treat white drivers.

Year after year, the figures show persistent differences.

In the most recent report, minority drivers accounted for 12 percent more traffic stops than would be expected based just on their share of Illinois’ population. The study also found that 55 percent of white drivers got tickets after being pulled over, compared to 65 percent of Hispanic drivers and 62 percent of black drivers.

And the numbers show that police are far more likely to ask minorities to allow a vehicle search than to ask white drivers, even though there’s actually a better chance of finding illegal contraband among white drivers.

The oversight board is supposed to look at how information on traffic stops is collected, whether the process can be improved and whether Illinois needs new laws or policies to prevent racial profiling.

Sen. Tim Bivins, a Dixon Republican, is one of the lawmakers appointed to serve on the oversight board. The former county sheriff questions whether the racial data is accurate and would like to consider including race on drivers licenses so police don’t have to guess when filing their reports. But those questions aren’t being addressed while the oversight board is inactive.

“Either do something with it or let it sunset,” Bivins said.

Blagojevich and lawmakers approved creation of the oversight board in 2006. It was supposed to begin work in January 2008. The governor appoints eight members to the board. Legislative leaders appoint four, and the state attorney general, transportation secretary and state police director all send representatives.

Nothing ever happened, however.

Senate President John Cullerton blames the governor’s office.

“Both Governor Quinn and his predecessor neglected to make their appointments to the Board, preventing it from having a quorum and thereby being able to function,” said Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon.

Blagojevich, who was impeached in 2009, was notorious for ignoring the administrative chores of being governor, including naming people to panels like this oversight board. Aides say Quinn is chipping away at the enormous backlog of vacant and expired terms he inherited from Blagojevich.

In the two months since the ACLU asked the Justice Department to investigate the state police, Quinn has made several appointments to boards with important regulatory duties. He has also found time for appointments to panels like the Elgin-O’Hare West Bypass Advisory Council and the Nursing Advisory Board.

Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the Illinois ACLU, calls the oversight board a missed opportunity to make sure state laws and police policies are fair to all drivers.

“The fact that there hasn’t been this board functioning in an independent fashion has really created an obstacle towards solutions,” he said.