ACLU report alleges Sacramento police disproportionately stop, search Black and Latino drivers

A civil rights nonprofit is accusing the Sacramento Police Department of disproportionately stopping and searching Black and Latino drivers, arguing the pattern amounts to a violation of civil rights and calls for policy changes.Read the full report here.The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said in a new report that its analysis of Sacramento traffic stop data from 2023 and 2024 found Black drivers accounted for 33% of all traffic stops, despite making up about 12% of the city’s population.More than 70% of those stops were for minor, non-safety violations, including expired tags, broken taillights, and tinted windows, according to the report.“Black drivers were 3.1 times more likely than white drivers to be stopped in the city during the period that we reviewed data for,” Alisa Victory, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California’s Criminal Law and Immigration Program, said in an interview.The ACLU contends officers are using those low-level violations as a pretext to investigate unrelated crimes, even when the stop itself is not tied to traffic safety.“After looking at all of the data, Black and Latino drivers were respectively two and 1.5 times more likely to be searched during all traffic stops than white drivers,” Victory said.Victory said the data used in the report comes from mandatory state reporting.“These are reports that are coming directly from Sacramento PD to our State Department of Justice. And we’ve just done the analysis,” Victory said.Under California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act, law enforcement agencies across the state are required to submit stop data to the California Department of Justice.Dr. Kristee Haggins, executive director of the Sacramento nonprofit Safe Black Space, said the findings were not surprising but instead validated what many Black residents have long experienced.“It was a confirmation and affirmation of the experiences that many Black people have experienced for years, decades, centuries in fact,” Haggins said.Haggins said the emotional impact of those interactions can be significant and long-lasting.“You live with this anger, with rage, with frustration, you know, with a sense of feeling disempowered, not seen in terms of your humanity in those moments,” Haggins said.The ACLU report also cites a 2023 audit from Sacramento’s Office of Public Safety Accountability. According to the report, the audit found that over a two-year period, misconduct complaints involving tinted-window stops involved only Black and Latino drivers.“We can continue to go around on reports and numbers all day long, but I think between 2023 and now 2026, we’re not seeing a big shift in the fact that there are disparities along racial lines,” Victory said.In a statement, Sacramento police said the department is aware of the report.“From the academy onward, our officers receive training on the practices of fair and principled policing,” the department said. “The department remains committed to providing high-quality police services, while constantly reviewing policies and practices to support effective policing and maintain public trust.”Still, advocates say training alone is not enough.“There needs to be an actual intervention of policy, change of practice, change of some direction that is different than just documenting the data of what is happening,” Victory said.The ACLU is calling on Sacramento leaders to follow other California cities that have adopted policies limiting low-level traffic stops not tied to public safety.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

A civil rights nonprofit is accusing the Sacramento Police Department of disproportionately stopping and searching Black and Latino drivers, arguing the pattern amounts to a violation of civil rights and calls for policy changes.

Read the full report here.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said in a new report that its analysis of Sacramento traffic stop data from 2023 and 2024 found Black drivers accounted for 33% of all traffic stops, despite making up about 12% of the city’s population.

More than 70% of those stops were for minor, non-safety violations, including expired tags, broken taillights, and tinted windows, according to the report.

“Black drivers were 3.1 times more likely than white drivers to be stopped in the city during the period that we reviewed data for,” Alisa Victory, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California’s Criminal Law and Immigration Program, said in an interview.

The ACLU contends officers are using those low-level violations as a pretext to investigate unrelated crimes, even when the stop itself is not tied to traffic safety.

“After looking at all of the data, Black and Latino drivers were respectively two and 1.5 times more likely to be searched during all traffic stops than white drivers,” Victory said.

Victory said the data used in the report comes from mandatory state reporting.

“These are reports that are coming directly from Sacramento PD to our State Department of Justice. And we’ve just done the analysis,” Victory said.

Under California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act, law enforcement agencies across the state are required to submit stop data to the California Department of Justice.

Dr. Kristee Haggins, executive director of the Sacramento nonprofit Safe Black Space, said the findings were not surprising but instead validated what many Black residents have long experienced.

“It was a confirmation and affirmation of the experiences that many Black people have experienced for years, decades, centuries in fact,” Haggins said.

Haggins said the emotional impact of those interactions can be significant and long-lasting.

“You live with this anger, with rage, with frustration, you know, with a sense of feeling disempowered, not seen in terms of your humanity in those moments,” Haggins said.

The ACLU report also cites a 2023 audit from Sacramento’s Office of Public Safety Accountability. According to the report, the audit found that over a two-year period, misconduct complaints involving tinted-window stops involved only Black and Latino drivers.

“We can continue to go around on reports and numbers all day long, but I think between 2023 and now 2026, we’re not seeing a big shift in the fact that there are disparities along racial lines,” Victory said.

In a statement, Sacramento police said the department is aware of the report.

“From the academy onward, our officers receive training on the practices of fair and principled policing,” the department said. “The department remains committed to providing high-quality police services, while constantly reviewing policies and practices to support effective policing and maintain public trust.”

Still, advocates say training alone is not enough.

“There needs to be an actual intervention of policy, change of practice, change of some direction that is different than just documenting the data of what is happening,” Victory said.

The ACLU is calling on Sacramento leaders to follow other California cities that have adopted policies limiting low-level traffic stops not tied to public safety.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel