A recent analysis of a year’s worth of stops by San Diego police and county sheriff’s deputies found that black people across the county are searched, arrested and subjected to force at higher rates than white people.

The report also states that both the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department exhibit anti-Latino bias, anti-LGBTQ bias and bias against people with disabilities in their search practices.

The report was disputed by law enforcement officials, who say the findings don’t match their own data and unfairly paint the actions of officers as discriminatory.

The study, commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties at the beginning of the year, analyzed information collected under the state Racial and Identity Profiling Act. The 2015 law requires officers and deputies to gather data about the people they interact with in the field, including perceived age, perceived race, the reason for the stop and the result of the stop.


The findings and nearly 20 policy recommendations were presented to about 150 community members Tuesday night at the local United Domestic Workers of America union hall in Rolando.

“It was incredibly upsetting and troubling to see the sorts of disparities that exist,” said David Trujillo, advocacy director for the local chapter of the ACLU. “It points to why we need transparency and accountability when it comes to policing. It’s the only way we’re going to build trust.”

Law enforcement officials from both agencies pushed back against the report. San Diego police Capt. Jeffrey Jordon said the findings unfairly suggest that officers discriminate against members of minority communities. Sheriff’s officials said while they had not had time to review the entire report, some of the statistics didn’t match their in-house numbers.

“This document is completely designed to push a political agenda,” Jordon said. “There’s no context. There was no conversation with us about it. This isn’t about problem solving, and it’s not about enhancing public safety. It’s about pushing these agenda points.”


Samuel Sinyangwe, co-founder of Campaign Zero, an advocacy group working to end police violence, wrote the report, which examined about 230,600 officer and deputy stops between July 1, 2018, and June 20, 2019.

Across the county, black people were stopped at much higher rates when compared with the population of black people in the area where the stop occurred, the report said.

In San Diego, police officers made 35,038 stops involving black people; there are about 88,500 black residents in the city. According to the report, officers — not civilians calling 911 — initiated most of those contacts.

“This suggests racial disparities in police stops are the result of police decision-making, rather than the product of officers simply responding to calls for service from communities,” the report read.


The disparity was not unique to any particular neighborhood, according to the study. When the numbers were broken down by beat, officers stopped black people at higher rates than white people in 106 of 125 jurisdictions. And in 18 of those beats — including East Village, Mission Valley and Pacific Beach — black people were stopped at rates that were 10 times higher than white people stopped in the same area.

Jordon said some of the most disparate numbers may be the result of large homeless populations. About 28 percent of the people who are homeless in San Diego are black, according to local statistics.

“Even if we’re just stopping to offer services, it still has to be reported,” Jordon said.

San Diego officers also searched and used force against black people at higher rates than white people during stops, according to the report. People thought to be members of the LGBTQ community and people thought to have disabilities were also searched at higher rates than their non-LGBTQ and non-disabled counterparts.


Jordan said he plans to ask the Center for Police Equity — a think tank the department tasked in September with reviewing the same stop data — to take a closer look at the study. The organization aims to reduce police bias through policy recommendations shaped by data analysis.

He also said that although he believes the report was presented in an inflammatory way, he would be willing to meet with advocates to discuss some of the policy recommendations.

Similar disparities were noted in stops conducted by sheriff’s deputies.

According to the report, black people were stopped at higher rates than white people in all areas of the sheriff’s jurisdiction. Similar to San Diego officers, county deputies initiated most stops, not citizens calling 911.


Deputies also stopped, searched, arrested and used force against black people at higher rates than white people, the report said. Latino people had their property seized and were also subjected to force at higher rates than white people.

Force was used against black and Latino people at higher rates than white people, as well, regardless of whether contraband or evidence of a crime was found, the report said. Deputies also stopped, arrested without a warrant, searched and used force against people with disabilities at higher rates than those without disabilities.

Members of the LGBTQ community were arrested and searched at higher rates, despite a lower incidence of deputies finding contraband.

Sheriff’s Department officials said although they had not reviewed the analysis in its entirety, some of the report’s conclusions did not match the agency’s internal numbers.


“For example, the report seems to overstate the rate at which Blacks and Hispanics are stopped within Sheriff’s jurisdictions,” sheriff’s Lt. Justin White said in a statement. “The numbers in the (report) do not appear to be consistent with our data.”

He said the department plans to release a more comprehensive response once the report’s findings have been thoroughly reviewed. He also added that the department expects all of its stops, detentions, arrests and searches to be constitutional and within Sheriff’s Department policy.

The ACLU analysis included a number of policy recommendations — 10 for the San Diego Police Department and 12 for the Sheriff’s Department — designed to assist both agencies in reducing the disparities noted in the report.

Some of those suggestions included writing policies that require officers to use de-escalation prior to force when possible, expanding programs that can act as alternatives to arrests for low-level offenses and banning certain uses of force like shooting at moving vehicles and the carotid restraint.


“There is not one piece of research that establishes that police departments with more restrictive policies result in more dangers for officers or the public,” Sinyangwe said.

Trujillo, of the San Diego chapter of the ACLU, said he hoped the report and its findings would be a call to action for communities across San Diego. He encouraged people to contact their elected representatives to express their support for police transparency and accountability as well as the recommended policy changes.

Staff writer Alex Riggins contributed to this report.