This just in: Driving While White or Asian in Orange County results in proportionally fewer police stops than Driving While Black or Hispanic, according to data from the California Department of Justice.
California Department of Justice
What does that mean?
It means that, based on the county’s demographics, White and Asian people were pulled over less often than you might otherwise expect. To wit:
– 36.7% of the population is White, while a slightly lower 35% of stops involved drivers perceived as White
-24.3% of the population is Asian, while a dramatically lower 11% of stops involved drivers perceived as Asian
On the perhaps-pernicious flip side:
-34.3% of the population is Hispanic, while a much higher 44% of stops involved drivers perceived as Hispanic
-2.3% of the population is Black, while a much higher 5% of stops involved drivers perceived as Black
All told, there were nearly 214,000 traffic stops in Orange County in 2024, the most recent year of data from the state. Statewide, there were almost 5.1 million stops.
California Department of Justice
O.C. was far from alone in having stops and demographics be out-of-whack. With very few exceptions, it was out-of-whack just about everywhere.
Perceptions
But what’s up with this “perceived” race and ethnicity, you wonder?
California has set the noble (if elusive) goal of eliminating racial and identity profiling in law enforcement. So when an officer pulls over a car, it’s not the actual race or ethnicity of the driver that matters; it’s the officer’s perception of the driver’s race or ethnicity that matters.
“This distinction is important because racial and identity profiling occurs based, in part, on an officer’s perception of an individual’s race and identity,” the report said.
California Department of Justice
To this end, officers must collect an impressive array of information every time they pull someone over — time, location, agency, reason, English fluency, race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, housing status, duration, etc. — details that translate into more than 70 columns for each stop recorded in our groaning Excel spreadsheet.
Suffice to say many cops like gathering this data just as much as we like getting pulled over.
Police unions have said it’s “intellectually dishonest” to compare stop rates to local demographic data because that glosses over the behaviors that lead to stops in the first place.
California Department of Justice
Many officers strongly dislike recording things like sexual orientation, race, housing status, etc. based on what they know are essentially guesses. They also bemoan the administrative burden of recording all that data, which takes time away from other policing endeavors. And, they argue, traffic stops can identify more serious crimes, so limiting them undermines public safety.
Objections duly noted. But Driving While Black and Driving While Brown have become almost laugh lines in those communities. Comparing demographic data to the perceived race of stopped drivers is not perfect, but the eggheads and statisticians and Ph.D.s who do this for a living believe that the information gives us a taste of what’s happening out there, and many well-meaning folks are inclined to agree.
All that data is published in an annual compilation by California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board. The picture is not exactly pretty.
‘At risk of racial profiling’
“California is the most diverse state in the nation,” says the report. “Over 67% of all Californians are people of color. California is also home to nearly 11 million immigrants — nearly 27% of our population, many of whom are people of color. In fact, diversity is central to California’s values and is the source of our strength as a community….
Laguna Beach City Manager Shohreh Dupuis interacts with an officer during a traffic stop recorded on police body-worn camera footage made public on Thursday, April 6. (Screenshot of video courtesy of City of Laguna Beach)
“The concept that more than two-thirds of our state’s citizens are at a heightened risk of racial profiling runs counter to the very fabric of what makes California great.”
The 2024 data continues to show what previous reports have shown, specifically: “that racial and identity profiling in California remains a concern that must be addressed…. continued disparities in the number and nature of stops for individuals perceived as Black, Native American, and Hispanic… and a very low rate of sustained complaints of racial and identity profiling.”
Understanding what’s happening is especially important in light of recent federal immigration enforcement actions, the report said. While racial and identity profiling is officially verboten in state and local law enforcement agencies, that’s not the case for federal law enforcement. And we know how that’s been going lately.
The report found that larger police departments tended to use force more often than smaller ones, and they had a higher percentage of stops that ended in arrest.
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California Department of Justice
There were interesting North-South divides as well. In the Bay Area, folks perceived as Black were stopped more often than population would predict, while in Southern California, folks perceived as Hispanic were stopped more often than population would predict.
Some Northern California counties stopped a higher share of folks perceived as White, while parts of the Bay Area stopped a lower share of folks perceived to be White.
California Highway Patrol officer Adib Zeid searches a car after a suspect was taken into custody during a felony stop on October 16, 2025 in Oakland, (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Agencies in counties with higher median incomes (read: O.C.) tended to stop folks perceived as Black at higher rates, but also tended to use force at lower rates. They also reported a lower share of stops ending in arrest than did less wealthy counties.
On the primary reason for the stop — officers can pick from 10 different options, including traffic violations, reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, probable cause, etc. — the most common were (drumroll please) traffic and equipment violations.
Folks perceived as Black or Hispanic had a higher chance of experiencing force during a stop than folks perceived as White. Those perceived as Asian or “Other Race” had a lower chance of experiencing force than folks perceived as White.
Officers conducted “Terry frisks” — pat-downs for weapons secreted beneath clothing — most frequently on folks perceived to be Black (3.32% of all stops but 17.45% of all searches) and folks perceived to be Hispanic (2.17% of all stops but 16.66% of all searches)
In coming weeks, my colleagues and I will be parsing the local data in greater detail, including by police agencies here in O.C. If you’re reading this story in print, please check in with the online version, as it contains many more illuminating graphics than can be smooshed into the newspaper. And if you have a stop experience you’d like to share — as a driver or as a police officer — please get in touch at tsforza@scng.com.
Until then, make sure your lights are working, your registration is current and that you respect those blasted “simulated islands” (two sets of double yellow lines) when making left turns. That was our last moving violation, and we’re still bitter about it. Who ever heard of a simulated island?!