Modesto police couldn’t analyze traffic stop data, so The Bee did it. Here’s what we found

Last month, the Modesto Police Department presented racial and identity profiling data to the Community Police Review Board. Board members asked the department to analyze the local data, but police said they were unable to do so in a “user-friendly way.” The Modesto Bee did and discovered disproportionate enforcement.

The Racial and Identity Profiling Act, passed in 2015, mandates that California police agencies submit to the California Department of Justice detailed data on every stop. Under RIPA, officers must document key information about every individual they stop and the actions they take.

Since 2022, MPD has reported to the state data on every vehicle and pedestrian stop officers conduct. Data analysis — not previously shared with the public — shows some disproportionality when it comes to racial and other identity categories.

Here’s what the data revealed.

Time

Overall, there were 3,528 stops in 2022. The highest number of stops occurred in January, while the fewest were in June. Most stops were conducted at 10 p.m.

Race and ethnicity

Officers perceived the majority of individuals they stopped to be Hispanic, though this is fairly proportionate to their population size in Modesto. Black individuals, however, were stopped at almost three times higher than their population.

Gender and sexuality

RIPA regulations include six gender categories: male, female, transgender man, transgender woman, gender nonconforming, and multigender. Overall, most individuals were perceived as cisgender male (72%) or cisgender female (27%).

No stops were reported for individuals perceived as gender nonconforming or multigender.

Individuals categorized as LGBT by MPD made up 1.6% of stops.

The 2022 RIPA report notes that LGBT identity is not always visibly apparent, so an officer’s perception of this characteristic may depend on contextual factors. For instance, an officer might perceive a driver and passenger as same-sex partners based on social cues or conversations. An individual’s gender expression — how they act, dress, behave and interact — can also influence how their gender may be perceived.

“Individuals who are seen as existing outside of gender norms in ways that are easily perceived often experience more significant surveillance or scrutiny from law enforcement or others. This is sometimes called hypervisibility,” reads the report.

Age and disability

The largest proportion of individuals stopped were perceived to be between the ages of 25 and 34, making up 38% of stops. Those perceived to be under the age of 10 represented the smallest proportion.

Additionally, 3% of individuals stopped were identified as having a mental health condition.

Reason for stop

Twenty-five percent of stops were made in response to calls for service, such as 911 calls, radio calls or dispatch.

RIPA regulations require officers to report the primary reason for initiating each stop. If multiple reasons apply, officers must choose the main factor that led to the stop.

Officers collect data on both pedestrian and vehicle stops. The most common reason given for a stop was a traffic violation (68.3%), followed by reasonable suspicion of criminal activity (27.3%).

Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard in criminal law that requires an officer to identify specific facts suggesting that a person is involved in, or likely to be involved in, criminal activity. It goes beyond a mere hunch but is a lower threshold than probable cause, which is required to make an arrest, according to the report.

The most common type of reasonable suspicion was categorized as “other,” followed by cases where the officer witnessed a crime being committed.

Result of stop and action taken

The majority of stops resulted in a warning, either verbal or written. About 20% of stops did not result in any official action, meaning the stop may have been unwarranted because the subject was not engaged in criminal activity.

Relative to their total number of stops, Black individuals represented the highest percentage of stops that led to no action taken by the officer, at 25%.

The majority of actions taken by officers during a stop involved searching a person. There were 130 instances of force used, with the most common being the pointing of a firearm, accounting for 43% of those cases. Black people made up the highest percentage of use of force instances, compared to their total number of stops.

Searches and seizures

The primary basis for searches is often incident to an arrest.

The majority of contraband or evidence found consists of drugs and narcotics.

The most common reason for property searches is the presence of evidence.

The majority of seized property consists of drugs and narcotics.

This story was originally published October 25, 2024 at 7:45 AM.

Julietta Bisharyan

The Modesto Bee

(209) 385-2402

Julietta Bisharyan covers equity issues for The Modesto Bee. A Bay Area native, she received her master’s in journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and her bachelor’s degree at UC Davis. She also has a background in data and multimedia journalism.