Vehicle stop-and-searches increased in 2024, report shows
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The number of vehicle stop-and-searches made by the NYPD increased last year, a new report found. AP file photo by Julia Nikhinson
By Noah Powelson
The number of vehicle stop-and-searches committed by the NYPD skyrocketed last year – and the vast majority were conducted on Black and Latino drivers, newly released data shows.
The New York Civil Liberties Union published data analysis on Friday that showed traffic stops in New York City increased by as much as 25 percent last year, and that vehicle searches and seizures, arrests and use-of-force incidents resulting from traffic stops all increased by more than 50 percent.
The organization blamed the increase on Mayor Eric Adams’ push for police to enforce more quality-of-life and lower level crimes.
“The massive increase in traffic stops, arrests, and vehicle searches are part of the Adams administration’s effort to double down on racist broken windows policing,” said Daniel Lambright, special counsel for criminal justice litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Like stop-and-frisk, the NYPD uses traffic stops as a tool to harass and humiliate Black and brown men and these stops often spiral into police brutality.”
Of the more than two million traffic stops NYPD made in 2024, Black drivers made up 32 percent of all stops, Latino drivers made up 30 percent, while white drivers made up 23 percent. Approximately 87 percent of drivers subject to use-of-force by the NYPD during vehicle stops were Black or Latino.
According to U.S. Census data, Black New Yorkers make up about 22.7 percent of the city’s population, Hispanic or Latino people make up 28.4 percent, and white people make up 31.3 percent
Additionally, of the 32,501 arrests made in 2024 as a result of a vehicle stop-and-search – a 62 percent increase from 2024 – 90 percent of those arrested were Black.
While the Bronx and Brooklyn saw higher rates of vehicle stops, parts of Queens saw rates just as high, if not significantly higher, than the rest of the city. Several police precincts in the World’s Borough had search rates over 4 percent.
In police precinct 113, which comprises St. Albans and Springfield Gardens, the search rate was 8.3 percent, the second-highest of any search rate of any police precinct in the city. The only other area with a higher search rate was the 73rd Precinct, which includes Brownsville and Ocean Hill in Brookly, with an 8.4 percent search rate.
Queens also saw far more traffic stops from 2023 to 2024, a roughly 35 percent increase, the largest increase out of the five boroughs.
Traffic stops make up a significant and increasing portion of the NYPD’s policing work. In 2024, approximately 15 percent of all arrests started with a traffic stop, up from approximately 11 percent in 2023 and 10 percent in 2022, according to the NYCLU analysis.
While NYPD use of force incidents against people of color have long been under scrutiny, data quantifying these rates were available until the last few years.
In 2021, the City Council passed a law that required the NYPD to publish quarterly reports on the number of vehicle stops conducted and the resulting action taken.
In 2023, the NYCLU sued the NYPD three separate times for failing to comply with several Freedom of Information Law requests for data related to the NYPD’s vehicle stops in 2022 and 2023. The eventually-released data by the NYPD is what led to NYCLU’s recent analysis.
The NYPD has also faced renewed criticism under the Adams administration for their growing use of stop-and-frisk tactics.
In 2021, the year before Adams was elected, there were around 9,000 pedestrian stops. In 2022, that number rose to around 15,000. In 2023, a federal monitor tracking the unconstitutional practice found the NYPD had made around 17,000 stops.
Just like vehicle stop-and-searches, data shows these stop-and-frisks disproportionately target Black and Latino New Yorkers.
In December of 2023, the City Council passed the How Many Stops Act, legislation that requires officers to report all investigative civilian interactions. The legislation was vetoed by the mayor shortly after it was passed, but the veto was overturned by the Council in a 42-9 vote and the law is now in effect.
