STOPPED, FINED, ARRESTED - Racial Bias in Policing and Traffic Courts in California | 42
How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship
(University Of Chicago Press 2014). In San Jose,
a city where Black and Latino people are slightly
more than a third of the population, those groups
made up nearly two-thirds of all traffic stops. Black
drivers were 8% of the stops, compared with 3% of
the population, and Latino drivers were 57% of the
stops, but only 33% of the population. Kaplan et al.,
supra note 10. In Oakland, from September 2014 to
September 2015, more than 34,000 people were
stopped by Oakland police. About 70% were Black,
even though just 26.5% of all Oakland residents are
Black. Palomino, supra note 8.
14 In Fresno, Latino drivers are pulled over more
often than White drivers for “investigatory” stops,
based on non-observable offenses. In a 2014 study,
Latino drivers were 4.3 times more likely than
non-Latino drivers to receive a citation for driving
without a license as the sole offense without any
other infraction, with “probable cause” noted as
justification for the initial stop, instead of a concrete
traffic violation. Am. Civil Liberties Union of N. Cal.,
supra note 5. Similarly, in Berkeley, 66.2% of Black
people pulled over were released without an arrest
or citation, with Hispanics/Latinos close behind
at 56.4%. Only 38.1% of White people stopped by
Berkeley police were eventually released without
being either arrested or cited, indicating that while
police were stopping Black and Latino drivers more
frequently, they were not finding justification for
the stops at nearly the same rate. Emilie Raguso,
Berkeley Coalition Says Policy Stops Show Racial
Bias, Berkeleyside, Sept. 29, 2015, available at
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/09/29/berkeley-
coalition-says-police-stops-show-racial-bias/.
15 During a 12-month period in Oakland, more than
half of all people stopped for traffic violations
were Black, and the driver was searched in 1 of 5
of those stops. White motorists were four times
less likely to be pulled over, and those who were
stopped were nearly six times less likely to be
searched. Palomino, supra note 8. In San Diego,
Black drivers were searched three times more than
White drivers following traffic stops, and Latino
drivers were searched twice as many times as
White drivers. Burks, supra note 7.
16 In Los Angeles, searched African Americans were
37% less likely than searched Whites to be found
with weapons, 24% less likely to be found with
drugs, and 25% less likely to be found with other
contraband. Ayres, supra note 11, at 7. Despite the
highly disproportionate search rates for Black and
Latino drivers in San Diego, searches were less likely
to result in an arrest for Black and Latino residents,
and in more than 90% of all vehicle searches,
officers found no drugs or contraband of any kind.
Burks, supra note 7.
17 Please reference Appendix 1 for an explanation of
methodology for obtaining and interpreting the data.
18 If a person misses a court appearance for a traffic
violation or fails to pay a traffic or infraction ticket,
he or she is issued a Failure to Appear (FTA) or a
Failure to Pay (FTP). The power to issue that arrest
warrant is given by California Vehicle Code section
40508 and California Penal Code section 853.7. While
in Los Angeles County, traffic courts treat a Failure
to Appear or Failure to Pay as infractions added
to an individual’s initial traffic infraction(s), the
California Legislature has classified both Failure to
Appear and Failure to Pay as misdemeanors, and not
infractions, thereby affecting an individual’s criminal
record. Cal. Veh. Code § 40000.25. Additionally, the
California Penal Code states that willful failures to
appear constitute misdemeanors, “regardless of the
disposition of the charge upon which he or she was
originally arrested.” Cal. Penal Code § 853.7.
19 See Cal. Veh. Code § 14601.1(a).
20 In conversations with public defenders across
the state, the most common reason for a license
suspension when a defendant faces a charge of
Veh. Code § 14601.1(a) is a Failure to Appear in
court on a traffic ticket or Failure to Pay a traffic
ticket. Other reasons include insurance lapses
or medical conditions commonly recognized as
dangerous for drivers. See Interview with Theresa
Zhen, Skadden Fellow, A New Way of Life Reentry
Project, Los Angeles, Cal. (March 15, 2016.)
21 The data from the Sheriff’s Departments only
contains information about arrests and charges for
Veh. Code §§ 14601.1(a) and 40508(a) violations.