Central to Freedom to Thrive Oak park’s mission, has been the collection and analysis of public data. We use the insights gained from this process to reimagine community safety. To that end, we want to address an assertion that Trustee Simone Boutet made during the January 19th Village Board meeting. During the meeting, the board members argued the merits of including a ballot referendum asking Oak Park residents to decide if “The Village of Oak Park should defund its police department?” In the course of making her argument, Trustee Boutet said:

“the IDOT data show that they stop white people more, which is a super controversial thing to say, but it’s actually documented data.”  

Trustee Boutet’s statement is completely false. 

Trustee Boutet referred to the Illinois Traffic Stop Study (ITSS) conducted by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) which gathers data from police departments throughout the state of Illinois. Oak Park has provided traffic stop data for this study since 2004. Trustee Boutet’s statement regarding the race of individuals stopped by police in Oak Park is not supported by the actual data in the 2019 ITSS Report. The table below is a summary of Oak Park traffic stops and can be seen on page 861 of the 2019 ITSS Report.

The report clearly shows that more Black drivers are stopped compared to white drivers. In fact, as the table states, Black drivers are stopped at four times the rate of white drivers for the driving population in the Oak Park area.  

All of our elected officials have a duty to communicate documented data accurately. Failures to do so, interject misinformation and create confusion on difficult conversations where emotions can run high. We hope that Trustee Boutet and other Village officials will correct similar misstatements when they are made and work towards having productive conversations founded on an accurate reading of pertinent data.