ofiling d acial Pr the lap R &

A C iA L Ly REPoRT on r S o R IA n A y R E of PRofESS e PA r T m e n T A summAry L e s P o L iC e D e The Los Ang u T C o m e s in D is P A r A T e o

A report by Professor Ian Ayres, an economist and professor at Yale Law School and Yale School of Management, analyzes the LAPDs own data and finds substantial racial disparities in the rates Angelenos are stopped, frisked, searched, and arrested. The Ayres Report concludes that these disparities arent explained by differing crime rates in predominantly black or Latino neighborhoods or the likelihood that a search of a person of color will yield evidence of crime.

The results of this study raise grave concerns that African Americans

R Ac I A l P R o f I l I n g I n lA P D : R e f o R m & R e s I s tA n c e
Los Angeles officials have yet to acknowledge the scope of the problem of racially biased policing or to fully embrace solutions. Over the last five years, the LAPD has received nearly 1200 citizen complaints alleging racial profiling. The Department hasnt sustained a single one. The 2001 federal Consent Decree that mandates reforms for the LAPD includes provisions designed to address racial profiling, by requiring that officers collect data on who they stop and what they do on stops whether they frisk or search, cite or arrest. But the LAPD has not used this data to uncover the full extent of the problem of racial profiling. The Department commissioned only one analysis, released in 2006, that looked at a single year of data and ultimately refused to draw any conclusions about whether or not racial profiling occurs in the LAPD.

and Hispanics are

over-stopped, over-frisked, over-searched, and over-arrested.

[Ayres Report at Page 27]

ACLU of SoUthern CALiforniA

Lower CiTATion rATes

for AfriCAn AmeriCAns?
The Ayres Report finds that once a stop occurs, the likelihood that the officer will write a citation is lower for black subjects than for white subjects. Does this suggest LAPD is more lenient with blacks on citations? Not when the rest of

The Ayres rePorT:

BAsis & finDings

The rePorT PrePAreD for The ACLu By Professor iAn Ayres RESTS on ThE VERy SAME DATA USED foR ThE LAPDS 2006
PER 0,00 RESIDENT , NUM ER OF POLIC ACTIONS: REPoRT,1 BUT0 REAChESS VERyB DIffEREnTE ConCLUSIonS.

5000

4,569

4000
BLACKS

Per 10,000 resiDenTs, numBer of PoLiCe ACTions:

2,251 1,358
WHITES /OTHERS BLACKS

the data is considered. While an African American who is stopped may be less likely to get a citation on that stop, black residents are stopped so much more often that black residents still get citations at nearly twice the rate that whites or Hispanics* do. This result suggests that the lower citation rate doesnt indicate leniency, but that African Americans are more often subject to stops without justification where no ticket could be issued. Another fact supports this conclusionblack officers show much less disparity in citation rates for black subjects. This result suggests not that black officers are tougher, but that they are less likely to stop black subjects who havent committed any offense.

3000

2000

1,750
WHITES /OTHERS

1,773
HISPANICS

1,103
HISPANICS

1000

844
WHITES

159

BLACKS

277
HISPANICS

STOPS

ARRESTS

CITATIONS

stop rates:
African Americans are nearly three times as likely to be stopped by LAPD as whites. These disparities are not justified by crime rates in different neighborhoods where people of color live. In regressions controlling for both violent and property crime rates in the area where the stops occurred, the stop rates were significantly higher for people of color than for whites. nor do the disparities arise because more police are assigned to black or Latino neighborhoods. in fact, there was a greater racial disparity in stop rates in predominantly white neighborhoods than predominantly non-white neighborhoods.

These stark statistics . . . give a numeric lens for the lived experience of driving while black or driving while Hispanic.
[Ayres Report at Page 27]

A New BeNchmArk for DispArities sAme rAce stops

Assuming that an officer of the same race as the subject is less likely to be affected by racial bias, racial disparities that shrink when limited to same race interactions are more likely caused by racial bias. The report found that the disparities in arrest rates for stopped African Americans were smaller when the stops were conducted by African American officers, and African American officers were less likely to subject African Americans to no action stops (stops where no action was taken, calling into question the justification for making the stop in the first place).

* Because the LAPD uses the racial category Hispanic in collecting stop data, this report uses that term where discussing the LAPD data.

R un s W ith S ci ss or s/ K en

S te in P ho to gr ap

hy

Po s t - s t o p A c t i o n s :
Race can factor into officers decisions to stop people, but also to frisk, search, cite or arrest them once they have been stopped. As the graphs show, African Americans and hispanics are more than twice as likely to be ordered out of their vehicles than whites, and are vastly more likely to be frisked, asked to submit to a search, searched, and arrested.
0 200% 300%

R E L AT I V E T O W H I T E S U B J E C T S ,

LIKELIHOOD OF SUBJECT STOPPED OF BEING:

R E L AT I V E T o W h I T E S U B J E C T S , LIKELIhooD of SUBJECT SToPPED of BEInG:

166%

more likely

250%
BLACKS

more likely

132%
HISPANICS

more likely

127%
BLACKS

more likely

76%
BLACKS

more likely

81% 77%
BLACKS HISPANICS

more likely

150%

more likely

43%
HISPANICS

more likely

16%
HISPANICS

more likely

32% 29% more likely

HISPANICS

WHITES

50%

ORDERED OUT OF CAR

FRISKED

ASKED FOR NONCONSENSUAL CONSENSUAL SEARCH SEARCH

WHITES

WHITES

WHITES

WHITES

ARRESTED

BLACKS

100%

R E L AT I V E T O LIKELIHOOD

It is implausible that the higher frisk and search rates were justified by higher minority criminality, when these frisks and searches were less likely to uncover weapons, drugs or other types of contraband.
WERE OFFICERS SUSPICIONS JUSTIFIED?
L I K E L I H O O D T H AT A S E A R C H T U R N E D U P E V I D E N C E

[Ayres Report at Page 27]

125%

Another new Benchmark Search Effectiveness, or hit Rate Analysis

less likely

100%
WHITES WHITES WHITES

12%
HISPANICS

75%

HISPANICS

HISPANICS

less likely

HISPANICS

BLACKS

42%
BLACKS

less likely

BLACKS

less likely

32%

37%
BLACKS

less likely

33%

less likely

less likely

34%

WHITES

23%

The Report adds another analysis that no previous report has conducted on LAPD data, which examines whether searches of people of color were as effective as searches of whites. As the charts show, although African Americans and hispanics were searched far more often than whites, these searches and frisks of African Americans and his-

less likely

25%

50%

25%

FRISK (weapons)

CONSENT SEARCH (weapons)

CONSENT SEARCH (drugs)

CONSENT SEARCH (other evidence)

panics were much less likely to uncover weapons, drugs or other contraband. This result provides powerful evidence that these elevated rates of frisking and searching arise not

WERE offICERS SUSPICIonS JUSTIfIED?

L I K E L I h o o D T h AT A S E A R C h T U R n E D U P E V I D E n C E

from legitimate police goals, but because police require less justification to search African Americans or hispanics than to search whites.

s Chief protocols some step ission and hange its has taken e LAPD lice Comm racial profiling, began to c Th Po ent 2008, the e Departm perts on ling Last fall, th plaints. In August nt and ex racial profi partme m ng co the De andling of h ress profili orts from rly on its fficers add heard rep ort quarte uld help o at wo Bratton t to rep l training th Departmen nt. d additiona rdered the les judgme o idere eop filing, affect all p , and cons f racial pro that complaints the issue o tent biases la ntion to recent atte ds LAPDs eded. CLU applau more is ne While the A L L o w in g : continue Do The fo uLD st not only rtment mu LAPD sho a arning The is. The Dep its early w

IO s: M M E N D A T filinNand biased policinia.l O g a c l u R E C to address racial pro for investigating rac g

The robust

findings of racial disparity that

persist after controlling for crime rates and a host of other factors are hard to dismiss. To our mind, they shift the burden to the department to provide a response.

ugh Analys sis. ollects thro y-warning gular analy it already c on and earl Collecti f the data g through re Data etter use o cial profilin Continuing ust make b ms with ra and proble data, but m just to collect tify trends filing cant S II) to iden tem (TEAM to racial pro in laints sys he inquiry filing comp t process. T search. Pro g complain r a stop or n and the cial profilin grounds fo nit or statio have legal rm of the ra e officer, u Refo rns of th seemed to ing. of the patte r an officer itional train ry analysis sk whethe a mandato e with add n ger a y to interve should trig opportunit plaint rofiling com t of racial p acy after igh time overs s for adequ vestigation (IG) reall ation and f in ctor Genera a sample o fore adjudic e the Inspe w reviews gations be o Giv ecessary. the investi ivilian ig n proved if n uld review ons. The c ent to be im , the ig sho investigati stead Departm n closed. In back to the theyve bee send them ower to have the p mentwide. ing Depart cused on -bias Train l training fo d Anti d, Validate g additiona n judgment. Improve y consideri aking and n is properl decision-m officers Commissio aining. s bias from The Police from this tr unconsciou ng even ust benefit cers m eliminati hem But all offi nD Ask T 5.3531 A 213.48 fiLing. s s i o n AT CiAL Pro e Commi PoLiC ress rA LAPD To ADD CALL The se sTePs rt at: TA k e T h e To full repo ry or the s summa fi li n g py of thi p d ra c ia lp ro load a co Down - s c .o rg /l a .a clu

h tt p :/ /w w

[Ayres Report at Page 30]

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