Three civil rights groups have filed a complaint with the California Office of Traffic Safety demanding it cease funding the Los Angeles Police Department because of its alleged discrimination against motorists and bicyclists of color.
The complaint, submitted Wednesday, March 12, by the ACLU of Southern California, PUSH-LA coalition and UCLA School of Law students, notes it is illegal for agencies that engage in discrimination to receive state funding.
The OTS is obligated to report the LAPD to the California Civil Rights Department for investigation, the ACLU said in a statement.
“LAPD’s stop data confirm what community members have said for years: there is no legitimate justification for the disparate impact of LAPD’s traffic stop practices on Black and Latine community members,” said ACLU SoCal senior staff attorney Adrienna Wong.
OTS officials said Thursday they are reviewing the complaint but declined to comment further. The LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.
The mission of OTS is to deliver traffic safety programs to prevent deaths and serious injuries in California.
Through funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the OTS provides more than $100 million in grants annually to state and local agencies.
The LAPD announced in February it had been awarded a $6.6 million OTS grant to fund DUI checkpoints, distracted driving operations, community presentations, officer training and other traffic-related activities.
“This funding will strengthen our commitment to public safety in our community,” LAPD Traffic Division Cmdr. Craig Valenzuela said in a statement “We will be able to increase our efforts in making our roads safer for everyone and focus on critical areas such as distracted driving, impaired driving and speeding.”
In 2019, the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of Inspector General analyzed data from 712,408 LAPD officer-initiated traffic stops along with 190 videos.
“Much of the overall disparity in stop frequency was driven by high rates of stops in areas that had both high levels of violent crime and comparatively high proportions of Black residents,” the report states. “However, even in these areas, Black residents were overrepresented in the frequency of stops, including stops for traffic violations and other minor crimes.”
Traffic stops of White and some other groups were most likely based on driving violations, while traffic stops of Black and Latino people were most likely due to equipment or regulatory violations such as an expired vehicle registration, the report states.
Black or Latino individuals stopped by officers were more likely to be asked to step out of their vehicle, searched and handcuffed, and have a field interview report written about them, according to the report.
“In general, people identified as Black or Hispanic — and particularly Black or Hispanic males — were more likely to be the subject of all types of post-stop activity than were people identified as White or another race, states the report.
Racial disparities were more pronounced in traffic stops conducted by LAPD units focused on crime suppression, such as gang interdiction, than those specifically focused on traffic enforcement.
However, the rate of post-stop activity alone does not necessarily indicate disparate treatment by race, according to the OIG
“Overall search rates do not indicate, for example, whether there were specific factors or observations that may have prompted an officer’s decision to conduct a search or other post-stop activity,” the report states.
The reasons for racial disparity are not easily understood, the report says, because Los Angeles’ population is an inherently imperfect benchmark for traffic stops.
“For example, residential demographics do not indicate the rate at which different groups commit various violations, where these violations are committed, or even the rate at which such violations may be observed by police officers,” the report states.
The OIG recommended that the LAPD take proactive steps to eliminate or reduce racial disparities in stops, particularly those involving a high level of discretion.
“Prioritizing stops that are directly related to increasing public safety, including by limiting stops for minor technical violations, may help to reduce some of the racial disparity seen in the frequency of stops,” the report states.
In 2022, the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners updated its policy on “pretextual stops” to discipline LAPD officers if they fail to say why a traffic stop or minor traffic violation leads to a more serious criminal investigation.
According to the policy, police would be able to make pretextual stops only if they are “acting upon articulable information” and not just a hunch or based on general characteristics. Additionally, officers are required to explain on body-worn cameras why the stop was initiated. Officers who fail to comply are subject to additional training and other discipline if there are further violations.
Derek Steele, executive director of the Social Justice Learning Institute, said the LAPD treatment of bicyclists and motorists of color is disturbing.
“The data shows that Black and Brown communities have suffered disproportionate harm due to pretextual stops that serve as a gateway to further criminalization,” Steele said. “Instead of funding programs that perpetuate these injustices, funding should be redirected to community-led initiatives that prioritize safety, trust, and equity.”