Racial disparities in San Diego police stops are declining
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The San Diego Police Department was 3.6 times more likely to stop Black people than white people based on stops per 10,000 residents. But the rate at which SDPD officers are stopping Black people has declined for four consecutive years.
The big picture: The data comes from a San Francisco Chronicle database of police stops by nearly 400 law enforcement agencies in California.
Why it matters: At least four reports in the last decade found racial disparities in SDPD enforcement, and dissatisfaction over it galvanized into a political movement in southeastern San Diego.
By the numbers: Black people were stopped just under 2,500 times for every 10,000 Black residents in the city in 2023.
- White and Hispanic people were stopped nearly 1,000 times for every 10,000 city residents of those races in the same year.
- In 2019, stops of African Americans exceeded 4,500 per every 10,000.
- The rate of stops of Black people fell below 4,000 in 2020, under 3,500 in 2021 and fewer than 2,500 in 2022.
How it works: California passed the Racial and Identity Profiling Act in 2015, requiring every police agency to provide detailed demographic data on their officers' stops to the state's justice department.
- The Chronicle requested and compiled that data for all the agencies that have complied.
Zoom in: SDPD officers used force during 1.7% of stops of Black people, compared to 1.3% for Hispanic people, 0.7% for white people and 0.5% for Asian people.
Between the lines: San Diego County Sheriff's deputies were 1.3 times more likely to stop Black people than white people.
- The department's stops of Black people also peaked in 2019 before declining, but increased from 2022 to 2023.
- That number peaked at over 350 per 10,000 in 2019, and fell to about 150 in 2023.
- Chula Vista Police Department officers were 1.8 times more likely to stop Black people than white people.
What they're saying: An SDPD spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on whether any policy changes or directives to officers could explain the decline in racial disparities in stops.