Data Reveals Racial Bias in California Sheriffs’ Traffic Stops
Black drivers in California’s capital are nearly five times more likely than white motorists to get pulled over by county sheriff’s departments in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside
Landwebs
Black drivers in California’s capital are nearly five times more likely than white motorists to get pulled over by county sheriff’s departments in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside, reports Sam Levin in The Guardian. The state data, obtained by advocacy groups through a state law to track racial profiling, suggests that sheriff patrols spend significantly more time conducting these proactive stops than they do responding to calls for help.
In Sacramento, where the practice was most severe, deputies pulled over Black drivers at a rate 4.7 times more than they stopped white drivers and Black people were stopped 4.1 times the rate of white people overall. San Diego’s Black residents were 2.2 times more likely than white residents to be stopped by deputies; Los Angeles, 1.9 times more likely; and Riverside, which is east of LA, they were 1.5 times as likely. Latino residents were stopped at relatively similar or lower levels than white people, but said stops are also underreported.
