The number of police traffic stops in Brooklyn surged by 30% from 2023 to 2024, leading to a dramatic rise in arrests, vehicle searches and use-of-force incidents, according to new data released by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The data, which the NYCLU obtained following a lawsuit against the NYPD, reveals racial disparities and geographic concentrations in how traffic stops are conducted across the city. Brooklyn drivers bore a significant brunt of this increase, with 666,959 stops recorded over the three-year period between 2022 and 2024 more than any other borough.
Arrests in Brooklyn as a result of traffic stops nearly doubled, rising from 5,446 in 2023 to 10,395 in 2024 the highest jump across all boroughs.
“Black and Latinx drivers continue to be disproportionately targeted in these stops,” the NYCLU said in a statement accompanying its analysis. “This data shows that police enforcement remains concentrated in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods, with aggressive tactics escalating across the city.”
The NYPD made more than 2.2 million traffic stops citywide during the three-year period. Of those, Brooklyn accounted for 30%. The report also found that nearly 90% of individuals arrested during traffic stops were Black or Latinx.
Black drivers were searched at a rate approximately 10 times greater than white drivers, and Latinx drivers were searched at six times the rate of white drivers. In Brooklyn, searches occurred most frequently in neighborhoods like Brownsville, Ocean Hill and East New York.
Searches and vehicle seizures also spiked. Citywide, vehicle searches increased by 83% from 2023 to 2024, while seizures rose by 70%. Checkpoint stops made up 10% of Brooklyn’s traffic stops, a higher proportion than most other boroughs.
The NYCLU’s findings also point to a troubling rise in use-of-force incidents. While specific Brooklyn figures were not broken down, the citywide data shows that 87% of use-of-force cases involved Black or Latinx drivers.
Traffic stops are now a major component of the NYPD’s policing strategy, with 15% of all 2024 arrests stemming from stops. That’s up from 11% in 2023 and 10% in 2022.
