By Chauncee Smith, Senior Manager, Reimagine Justice & Safety, Catalyst California Elycia Mulholland Graves, et al.
Fundamentally transforming California’s approach to safety is long overdue. Communities disproportionately impacted by racist law enforcement practices—including violence, economic extraction, and dehumanization—have demanded that policymakers shift toward safety approaches that prioritize care and equity without harm reproduction. This report aims to contribute to those ends. Specifically, both lived experience and data continuously show that people of color are disproportionately profiled by law enforcement. In addition to confirming that problem, this report explains how patrol activities undermine safety and waste tremendous public dollars. It does so by analyzing Racial & Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) stop data from a sample of four sheriff’s departments (Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, and San Diego) that collectively account for nearly 20% of the state’s sworn law enforcement personnel,1 have jurisdiction over counties that represent 44% of California’s population, and patrol areas covering approximately 17% of the state population.2 RIPA data analysis is combined with county budget estimates to show the tremendous cost of unproductive patrol activities. Key Findings ɟ Sheriff’s departments dedicate significant patrol time (and, in turn, public resources) to racially biased pretextual stops that undermine community safety. ɟ The impact of sheriff’s departments’ patrol activities is extremely detrimental to people of color because they are far more likely to experience numerous harms as a result of pretextual stops. ɟ Such unproductive and harmful law enforcement activities annually cost individual counties hundreds of millions to over one-billion dollars. Recommendations ɟ Justice Reinvestment: Research and demands from community partners show that redirecting government spending from the criminal legal system (i.e., law enforcement, district attorneys, and prisons) to investments that help people fulfill basic needs improves safety, and that doubling down on criminal legal system spending entrenches inequities. ɟ Care-Centered Community Safety: The general thrust of the community safety landscape increasingly trends toward community-connected approaches of harm prevention, such as increasing the capacity of organizations that provide violence intervention services, behavioral health support, homeless outreach, youth development, jobs, and housing. ɟ Limit Enforcement of Minor Traffic Violations Used for Racially Biased Pretextual Stops: Throughout California and around the U.S., there has been growing movement toward innovative approaches to roadway safety that do not rely on armed law enforcement. Policymakers should follow this trend by shifting away from armed law enforcement for minor traffic violations, investing in preventive roadway design upgrades that alleviate the need for enforcement, improving public transportation, and decriminalizing numerous low-level traffic violations that have little to no tangible connection to true safety.
Los Angeles:: Catalyst California; ACLU SoCal , 2023. 40p.
