In addition, the department will be required to record the race of every driver its officers stop. And it eliminated the use of monthly arrest quotas. Nevertheless, the U.S. attorney's office is investigating allegations of racial profiling by that department. The tony North Shore suburb of Highland Park also faced an investigation into whether its police force practices racial profiling. Five current and former police officers charged that department's leadership with encouraging officers to pull over African Americans and Latinos.
Officials deny the charges.
Former U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan, hired by the city to review the department's practices, reported finding only isolated incidents of racial profiling. While he did not find that police authorities promote racial profiling, he urged them to be more aggressive in opposing it. And in Hillside, west of Chicago, two police officers charged in April they were encouraged to target minority drivers to meet ticket quotas. Critics also contend the force is unrepresentative of the community, which, they argue, is a contributing factor in racial profiling. In 1990, African Americans and Hispanics constituted about 6 percent of the population of Hillside, though village clerk Patrick O'Sullivan says those numbers have likely gone up.