LAPD Offers 1st Data on Traffic Stops

By Tina Daunt and Jill Leovy

Jan. 7, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

The Los Angeles Police Department stops members of different racial groups in numbers roughly proportional to their share of the population, but blacks and Latinos are far more likely than whites to be removed from their cars, patted down or searched, according to a study released Monday.

The data, from July through November of last year, were the first statistics publicly released as part of a federal consent decree that requires the department to collect information to determine whether officers engage in racial discrimination.

Among the findings: Thirty-eight percent of drivers stopped by police were recorded as Latino, 33% were white and 18% black. According to the 2000 Census, the city’s population is 46.5% Latino, 29.7% white and 10.9% African American.

Of those pulled over, 7% of whites were asked to step out of their cars, compared with 22% of Latinos and 22% of blacks. Once out of their cars, 67% of the blacks were patted down and 85% were subjected to a search of their person, car, residence or belongings, while 55% of Latinos were frisked and 84% were searched. Meanwhile, 50% of whites were frisked and 71% were searched.

Information on pedestrian stops revealed a similar pattern of blacks and Latinos being patted down and subjected to searches more often than whites.

Though city officials caution that the figures must be studied further, Mayor James K. Hahn said the statistics trouble him.

“Some of the data we have had a chance to look at does raise some concerns for me,” Hahn said at a news conference. “African Americans and Latinos are asked to exit their vehicles and are searched on a higher percentage than those of other races. At this point, we can’t tell all the factors that contributed to that disparity, but it’s a question we need answered.”

The LAPD is among scores of police departments across the nation collecting data on stops. Civil rights advocates say the process is important because it may reveal patterns of racial bias in law enforcement. But many police officials and researchers question whether the data are useful when many variables can affect routine traffic stops.

Though the consent decree does not require the LAPD to analyze the data, the department nonetheless will seek a consultant to study the findings.

“We will fulfill our commitment to the citizens, to the police officers and to the consent decree, to the best of our ability, to try to understand what this information means,” Police Chief William J. Bratton said. “It is quite clear in this city that many members of the minority community believe that the department does indeed engage in racial profiling. That’s the perception. We have to deal with that.”

Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union was quick to seize the data released Monday as evidence of racial profiling.

“It’s been our expectation based on our experience that racial profiling exists,” said Catherine Lhamon, staff attorney with the ACLU in L.A. “The data released today confirm that belief.... If you look at what happens after people have been stopped, there is no question that there is differential treatment based on skin color.”

Bratton said Monday that that there is no clear consensus on how to analyze the information on stops. “Nobody has figured out what to do with this data at this time,” he said.

Jack Riley, director of the Rand Institute’s public safety and justice program, concurred.

“It’s easy to measure the number of people who have been stopped and ticketed,” Riley said. “But what’s harder ... is then drawing conclusions about when police behavior is disproportionate.”

Researchers have struggled to determine the baseline against which to compare data on traffic stops, Riley said. Population statistics are not enough, he said. Researchers must consider not just how many motorists live in an area, but also when and where they drive.

“It is very hard to get good information on people’s driving habits and patterns without enormous investment in measuring,” Riley said. “There are literally tens of thousands of intersections in L.A., not to mention miles of streets. All those people driving on them are potentially committing driving violations. You have got to understand what they are doing.”

In addition, he said, analyzing the data properly requires adjusting for factors such as the level of crime in a given area and the number of calls for service, which may affect how many officers are deployed there.

The racial makeup of people on parole and probation also matters, Riley said, because “if you are on probation or parole, police have a presumptive right to stop and search you and question you. That’s part of appropriate, proactive policing.” Given the difficulties, said Riley, who is helping to analyze data for the Oakland Police Department, “I’m not convinced that looking at this kind of stuff is very useful. I don’t think it gives a police department a strong tool for understanding how to do their job better.”

LAPD officers have been filling out a form for every traffic or pedestrian stop they have initiated for more than a year. They must record gender, age and “apparent descent” of each person, checking a box for white, black, Latino, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, American Indian or other.

The requirement is widely resented by LAPD officers. Many say they do not stop people merely because of their race, and that they often cannot tell the race of people they are tailing, particularly at night.

On Monday, police union officials criticized the release of the data.

“There is no practical approach to this nonscientific approach to publicizing the data,” according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Protective League. “Without any qualifiers or parameters on the use of this information, no one -- whether the Justice Department, the LAPD or the community at large -- can utilize this data for any purpose, specifically to make intelligent decisions concerning public safety procedures.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Summarizing police stops

The LAPD stopped more than 200,000 drivers between July 1 and Nov. 30, 2002. Though more whites were stopped, more black drivers were ordered out of cars and frisked.

Total stops by LAPD (206,478)

Hispanic: 78,687

White: 68,266

Black: 37,081

Asian: 11,193

Other: 11,251

Drivers made to get out of their cars

Hispanic: 17,668

White: 4,483

Black: 8,175

Asian: 415

Other: 867