A new report says sheriffs’ patrols spend more time conducting racially biased stops than they do responding to calls for help

Black drivers in California’s capital are nearly five times more likely than white motorists to get pulled over by sheriffs for traffic violations, according to a new report on racial profiling across the state.

Records from the county sheriff’s departments of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside show that Black Californians were disproportionately stopped across those regions in 2019, especially for minor infractions.

The state data, which was obtained by advocacy groups Catalyst California and the ACLU of Southern California through a state law to track racial profiling and released on Tuesday, also suggest that sheriff patrols spend significantly more time conducting these proactive stops than they do responding to calls for help.

The racial disparities appeared most severe in Sacramento, the state capital, where sheriff’s deputies pulled over Black drivers at a rate 4.7 times more than they stopped white drivers. In overall stops, which include pedestrians, Black residents were stopped at 4.1 times the rate of white people.

In San Diego, Black residents were 2.2 times more likely than white residents to be stopped by deputies; in Los Angeles, Black people were 1.9 times more likely; and in Riverside, which is east of LA, they were 1.5 times as likely.

The data suggests that Latino residents were stopped at relatively similar or lower levels than white people, though previous research indicated that stops of Latino people have been under-reported.

The inequities appear more pronounced when they concern stops for equipment violations and administrative issues, such as broken tail-lights or outdated registration. The LA sheriff’s department, for example, stopped Black drivers 3.3 times more often than white drivers for equipment issues, according to the report.

The authors of the report, called Reimagining Community Safety in California, also estimated the time sheriff’s deputies spent on stops. The patrol units in three counties appeared to spend most of their time on stops that officers initiated compared with stops or contacts with the public in response to calls for help, such as 911 emergencies: LA sheriffs spent 89% of patrol hours on officer-initiated stops and 11% on calls for service; Riverside spent 88% on stops and 12% on service calls; and San Diego spent 82% on stops and 18% on calls. The patrol time in Sacramento was more evenly split, with 42% of patrol hours spent on stops and 58% on calls.

The authors estimated that the LA sheriff’s patrol unit, which has a roughly $1.1bn budget, spent $981m on stops and $124m on service calls.

In addition to exposing racial disparities in who gets stopped, the data, the authors say, also suggests that some departments prioritize stops that don’t support public safety.

Stops for minor violations are often used as a pretext to investigate other matters or conduct searches that can have devastating consequences, they note.

Such stops, the researchers say, can cause immense harm, including subjecting people to costly tickets that become insurmountable debts; arrest; and in some cases physical or lethal force. A recent analysis showed police in the US kill more than 100 people during traffic stops each year.

“The vast amount of time that law enforcement is out on patrol is counterproductive to community safety,” said Chauncee Smith, co-author of the report and Catalyst California’s senior manager of reimagine justice and safety. “It amounts to millions of dollars of public resources wasted on these racially biased practices.”

Eva Bitrán, ACLU of Southern California staff attorney, said the data again raises questions about law enforcement’s priorities. “Law enforcement’s narrative is that cops are out keeping people safe, ‘catching dangerous criminals’ and ‘investigating serious crime’. But they’re spending 80-90% of their time on officer-initiated stops, not calls for safety. And then a huge chunk of that is for traffic enforcement for minor violations,” she said.

The findings echo those of other recent reports showing that Black drivers are disproportionately stopped and searched across California. A recent San Francisco Chronicle investigation found disparities in police stops worsened from 2019 to 2020 in some regions.

Citing research showing that higher rates of traffic stops don’t correspond to reduced car crash deaths, the authors argue that governments should limit stops for minor violations and other “pretextual stops”; remove armed officers from traffic enforcement; and reinvest police funds in community health and safety programs and violence intervention.

A San Diego sheriff’s spokesperson did not directly comment on the data in the report, but said in an email on Tuesday that the department is “dedicated to building a culture of trust with the diverse communities we serve”, adding: “We do not condone nor accept any racial profiling. We routinely review our policies and procedures. We also engage in listening, building and maintaining collaborative relationships to develop best practices that will provide the highest level of service to all members of the community.”

A spokesperson for the LA sheriff’s office said in an email that the department was unfamiliar with the report, but added, “We believe the opinions expressed in this report are contradictory to reality.”

The Sacramento and Riverside sheriff’s departments did not respond to inquiries on Tuesday.