Vallejo police racial profiling data shows Black drivers are pulled over most often

VALLEJO – A new Vallejo Police Department report to the California Department of Justice reflects how Black people were overrepresented in traffic stops in 2024, drawing concern from advocates for police reform.

The Vallejo Police Department released its 2024 Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) report on July 14, giving an overview of officer-initiated stops, enforcement actions and outcomes during the calendar year. The 2015 law strengthened regulations against racial profiling and expanded them to cover identity profiling, requiring state and local law enforcement agencies to report data on traffic stops to the California Department of Justice each year.

The report shows that in 2024, Vallejo police officers conducted 3,037 stops of 3,379 people, with stops for traffic violations accounting for the majority. The report noted that traffic stops may occasionally involve more than one passenger.

This is an increase from 2023, when officers conducted 1,964 stops of 1,994 people. 

Approximately 75% of stops in 2024 were officer-initiated, while 25% occurred in response to calls for service. The most common outcomes of stops were verbal warnings, followed by custodial arrests without a warrant and citations. The most common reason for a stop was for a traffic violation, followed by reasonable suspicion.

The report includes demographic comparisons and highlights disparities in stop patterns, as the data is based on an officer’s perception of an individual’s demographics at the time of the stop. In 2024, people perceived as being Black were the majority of those stopped, totaling 1,398 (or 41% of the total), despite making up only 16% of the city’s population. This rate was about the same in 2023, when Black individuals were in 41% of police stops, while making up only 21% of the city’s population that year.

Black individuals in Vallejo were also the most likely to be stopped for traffic violations — the most common kind of stop — as well as for stops based on reasonable suspicion and probable cause to arrest or search, followed by Hispanic/Latino and white individuals. Those who were perceived as Hispanic/Latino totaled 975 (29%), and people perceived as white at 658 (19%). 

The report noted that people perceived as Asian were “notably underrepresented” in traffic stops, accounting for only 4.9% of stops despite comprising 23% of Vallejo’s population.

These findings concerned some closely watching the Vallejo Police Department’s work to fulfill 45 reforms required by the state Department of Justice under a settlement agreement. The department has faced allegations of internal racism, including that former Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams — the city’s first and only Black police chief — received verbal and written threats that pushed him to resign from his post in November 2022.

The police department in its 2024 report acknowledged the “significant overrepresentation” of Black people in traffic stops, noting, “These disparities highlight the importance of ongoing analysis to better understand the factors contributing to the racial and ethnic disparities in VPD’s stop data. While disparities in the number of stops persist, VPD recognizes the importance of continuously working toward bias-free policing.” 

The department also reported that it did not receive any bias-related complaints associated with officer stop activity in 2024, including both traffic and pedestrian stops. It received two such complaints in 2023. 

However, the department in the report also noted that “the absence of complaints does not necessarily indicate the absence of concerns” and it would “continue to evaluate accessibility and awareness of the complaint process.” 

The police department has been revising how people can file complaints against officers. The city’s Police Oversight and Accountability Commission in May approved a new policy which includes maintaining a new online public portal where community members can submit complaints.

Members of the commission did not immediately respond when contacted for comment about the data findings. 

Police Chief Jason Ta said in a July 21 press release that RIPA data should be used for improvement of policing. 

“While RIPA data serves as a starting point rather than a final conclusion, it provides a valuable mechanism to identify trends and holistically evaluate our field practices over time,” Ta said.

Alyssa Victory, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the disparities reflected in Vallejo’s data are “concerning.” 

“We’ve been working with Vallejo for several years now and there’s been a general history of racism, of general disparity in policing and a lack of community trust,” Victory said.

The ACLU recommends that cities “deprioritize low-level traffic stops,” or those which are unlikely to affect street safety. This year, the organization called for Sacramento city leaders to curtail such stops, saying that “racial bias often comes into play when police use non-safety related traffic violations as a ‘pretext’ to look for evidence of criminal activity.” Victory noted that the San Francisco Police Department in 2024 created a policy on restricting pretextual stops, for example. 

Victory added she hopes to see Vallejo’s Police Oversight and Accountability Commission and City Council discuss the report and make recommendations for future changes. 

“These are policy changes that can be made,” she said. “If there is a problem identified, there should be public discussion around nuances of the issue and how to resolve it.” 

She said the ACLU also encourages independent civilian oversight and allowing people to submit complaints about police officer conduct through systems which are independent of the police department. “Zero complaints doesn’t mean there weren’t concerns.”

The report notes the state’s RIPA Board will analyze the data collected and provide public reports and recommendations with the goal to eliminate racial and identity profiling and improve and understand diversity in law enforcement through training, education and outreach. 

The 2024 data is available for public review on the Vallejo Police Department website at vallejoPD.net.