Newly released data from the city show that Los Angeles police officers use minor traffic stops as a way to investigate Black and Latino people on suspicion of committing a more serious crime at a higher rate than their share of the citywide population.<\/p>\n
The LAPD adopted a policy about so-called pretextual stops and began tracking the practice in 2022.<\/p>\n
In a report released at the end of January,<\/a> the city\u2019s chief legislative analyst found that Black people were involved in nearly 31% of pretextual stops conducted by LAPD officers between spring 2022 and fall 2025. According to 2023 Census estimates, Black people make up 8% of the city\u2019s population.<\/p>\n According to the report, “Hispanic\/Latino” people, who make up just less than half the city\u2019s population, were the subjects of 56% of pretextual stops.<\/p>\n Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n That analysis, along with a separate report by LAPD,<\/a> found that of the more than 760,000 people involved in traffic stops between spring of 2022 and fall of 2025, 9% to 10% of them were stopped pretextually.<\/p>\n Chauncee Smith, an associate director of the racial justice-focused nonprofit Catalyst California, said LAPD\u2019s data is \u201cunder inclusive\u201d since it relies on officers subjectively deciding when a stop is pretextual.<\/p>\n He said an analysis of data from Catalyst California,<\/a> published in February, demonstrates that pretextual stops don\u2019t result in evidence discovery enough to make up for the negative impacts of the practice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s affecting the lives of many Black and Latinx Angelenos on an everyday basis,\u201d Smith said, adding that pretextual stops often result in harassment, dehumanization and excessive ticketing or fining of communities of color.<\/p>\n Pretextual stops\u00a0<\/p>\n Police sometimes use violations of the vehicle code to stop drivers and investigate them for a more serious crime unrelated to the traffic stop, such as possessing drugs or firearms, according to Deepak Premkumar, a research fellow for the Public Policy Institute of California.<\/p>\n \u200a\u201dLaw enforcement officers see tons of violations, and we give them a lot of discretion to determine who they should stop and when,\u201d Premkumar told LAist.<\/p>\n A plausible example of what a pretextual stop could look like is if police see a car matching the description of one that was involved in a crime in the area, then pull that car over for a broken taillight, Premkumar said.<\/p>\n The policy the LAPD adopted in 2022 outlines that officers:<\/p>\n Can only conduct pretextual stops as long as they are \u201cacting upon articulable information\u201d that the person is close to a serious crime that\u2019s worth investigating.\u00a0Should minimize stops for minor equipment violations, such as broken taillights, unless the violation \u201cinterferes with public safety.\u201dState the reason for the stop, whether pretextual or not, while their body-worn cameras are filming.<\/p>\n Despite the adoption of the policy, Catalyst California\u2019s analysis found that the proportion of all officer-initiated stops that are for minor traffic violations has \u201cremained relatively constant since 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n What to know about the recent analyses of pretextual stops<\/p>\n After the police adopted its policy in 2022, officers began indicating whether a stop was pretextual or not. The Chief Legislative Analyst and police department rely on this officer discretion in their analyses, which can be found in this council file. <\/a>As a result, they say they don\u2019t have a point of comparison for before the policy was adopted.\u00a0<\/p>\n