On January 1, 2024, PORAC released its original analysis of the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) stop data set detailing the interactions between police and residents that occurred during traffic enforcement in 2021. The intent of the analysis is to determine if it is statistically possible for the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board to make a positive inference of discrimination in law enforcement behavior based on the available data.
In his analysis, racial profiling expert Dr. Brian L. Withrow found the process for collecting data during a traffic stop to be inadequate in several ways, and simply insufficient to make any kind of positive inference that racial profiling has occurred. To remedy these inconsistencies, PORAC has included in its analysis various considerations that would expand the data collection process and create a more detailed data set so that it can facilitate an accurate statistical analysis of stop data in California by the RIPA Board.
Before policymakers use the RIPA Board’s 2024 Annual Report as evidence for the need for additional legislation or policy changes, it is critical they understand the analytical constraints that make it nearly impossible to determine a causal relationship between a driver’s identity and the action taken by an officer within the currently available data.