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Q&A
Common offenses leading to arrests following traffic stops
0:44:39
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145 sec
Josh Levin presents data on the most common offenses that lead to arrests following traffic stops in New York City. He focuses on the fourth quarter of 2024, analyzing 8,215 arrests stemming from vehicle stops.
- Top offenses are primarily vehicle and traffic law (VTL) related
- Aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle is the most common offense
- Other frequent offenses include possession of forged instruments (likely fraudulent plates or licenses)
- Approximately 40% of arrests (3,200 out of 8,000) were for VTL-related offenses
- Levin emphasizes that these offenses are known to lead to fatalities and safety concerns
Yusef Salaam
0:44:39
What are the most common offenses that lead to arrests following a traffic stop and are there racial neutral explanations for why there's this racial disparity enforcement that the racial disparity and enforcement might exist for those specific offenses?
Josh Levin
0:44:57
I think that let me take the second part first.
0:45:00
I think the answer I gave before explains when you see more police officers, you're going to see more enforcement.
0:45:05
Right?
0:45:05
That's that.
0:45:06
But I looked at quarter four for our vehicle stop report, and one of the tabs is arrests that stemmed from a vehicle stop.
0:45:17
There are 8,215 individual arrests that stop stemmed from vehicle stops in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four.
0:45:25
I went through that.
0:45:26
I isolated the top 17 most recurring arrest charges that stemmed from those 8,200 stops.
0:45:33
These are ones that had a hundred and one or more instances of arrest.
0:45:38
K?
0:45:38
The number one one by the way, the the number one one was vehicle driving related, motorist related, vehicle safety related, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree.
0:45:51
That was 1,700.
0:45:54
Okay?
0:45:55
The top five are all vehicle traffic law.
0:45:58
Some are in the penal law, but they're all about driving.
0:46:01
So you've got unlicensed operation, third degree, possession of a forged instrument in the third degree.
0:46:06
I'm extrapolating a little bit.
0:46:07
My guess is that's a fraudulent plate or a fraudulent driver's license.
0:46:11
K?
0:46:11
You've got unlicensed aggravated operation of a vehicle in the first and the second degree, and then rounding out the top five, possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
0:46:22
So those are the top five or so of the 17 most recurring ones.
0:46:28
And so if you go down the rest of the 17 of them, you'll see that the vast majority of them are VTL misdemeanor or VTL felony related.
0:46:37
40% or more.
0:46:39
You're talking at 3,200 of the 8,000 arrests were VTL stuff.
0:46:47
Unlicensed operation, license plate covered, DW actually that that 3,200 doesn't even include DWIs.
0:46:54
I just pulled the top 17.
0:46:56
So that's what you're seeing in a breakdown.
0:46:58
It's it's a lot of VTL stuff and which is what we know leads to fatalities and concerns.