For years, advocates have called on public officials to publish police traffic stop data in a way that the public can easily interact with it. With our partners at WBEZ Chicago, we have filled the void.
Check out our new interactive app that allows residents, activists, lawmakers, public officials and researchers to quickly look up traffic stops in virtually every community across Illinois. For people who want to dig deeper, we’ve also released the entire database as a public resource -- all 42.5 million records – along with the tools, training and documentation necessary to sort through it all.
Kudos to WBEZ Data Editor Matt Kiefer, one of our own founding members, who got the idea for our traffic stop project 20 years ago when he was a community college student. By teaming up with the Investigative Project, he found the editorial support he needed to finally turn the idea into a reality.
“We will continue to explore the data and report on stories as we see them,” Kiefer said. “But we're also here to make the data accessible to others, including local journalists, students, researchers, community members and policymakers and we plan to support those groups as they carry this work forward."
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ICYMI: The Investigative Project’s apprenticeship program was recently featured in a Nieman Reports article, “Newsrooms Want to Diversify. These Programs Can Help.”
Join us Jan. 10 for a virtual conversation with Project Director Angela Caputo, WBEZ Chicago's Alden Loury and Matt Kiefer, and a team of France-based journalists about the global reach of traffic stop disparities. Moderated by NPR's Cheryl Corley and journalist and anti-racism activist Rokhaya Diallo.
Hosted by the Investigative Project on Race and Equity, with WBEZ and Le Next Level. Co-sponsored by Le Bondy Blog, Fumigène, à l’intersection and ThinkInc.; powered by Signature Vibez.
What a team effort!
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Your investment will create opportunities for Investigative Project reporters to produce impactful stories on race and equity. We are grateful for your support.
Investigative Project on Race and Equity Governing Board
Kevin B. Blackistone Blackistone is a longtime national sports columnist now at The Washington Post, a panelist on ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” a contributor to National Public Radio and coauthor of “A Gift for Ron,” a memoir by former NFL star Everson Walls. Blackistone is also a professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Rui Kaneya Kaneya is a senior editor at ProPublica, where he helps oversee projects for the Local Reporting Network. He previously served as a senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity. Before joining Public Integrity, he was an investigative reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat, a correspondent for the Columbia Journalism Review and investigations editor at The Chicago Reporter.
Laura S. Washington Washington is a Chicago Tribune contributing columnist and political analyst for ABC 7-Chicago. Washington brings decades of experience as a multimedia journalist and nonprofit professional. From 2003 to 2009 she served as the Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor at DePaul University and is a former editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter. (Photo credit: Chicago Tribune)
Advisory Council
Susy Schultz, Chair
Kevin B. Blackistone, Vice Chair*
Tom Brune
Angela Caputo
Thom Clark
Kathleen Humphries
Rui Kaneya*
Alden K. Loury
John McDermott Jr.
Josh McGhee
Sharon McGowan
Jack Roberts
John Schrag
Christine Wachter
Laura S. Washington*
James Ylisela Jr. *Denotes Governing Board member
Kudos to WBEZ Data Editor Matt Kiefer, one of our own founding members, who got the idea for our traffic stop project 20 years ago when he was a community college student. By teaming up with the Investigative Project, he found the editorial support he needed to finally turn the idea into a reality.
