On Monday night, the Livermore City Council accepted a research report that found “no clearly identifiable or concerning pattern of racial/ethnic disparity” in nearly 25,000 encounters that took place in Livermore over a 26-month period.
In late 2020, the City of Livermore contracted an independent research team of criminologists from the University of Texas at San Antonio to analyze two areas of possible disparities: traffic stops and arrests by the Livermore Police Department.
The researchers examined 22,737 traffic stops and 24,065 police and civilian encounters between January 1, 2019 and April 30, 2021.
In the analysis of LPD traffic stops, two benchmarks were used as comparison points. The first benchmark was a “veil of darkness” (VOD) analysis that examined differences in stop rates of non-White and White drivers during the daytime compared to the nighttime. Possible racial bias is suggested when there’s a higher rate of non-White stops during daylight hours when race and ethnicity are more visible to the officers.
The second benchmark used vehicle crash data from a State of California database and looked at the racial composition of not-at-fault and at-fault drivers involved in two-vehicle crashes.
For arrest analysis, the study examined whether civilian race/ethnicity predicted the likelihood of an arrest by Livermore Police after measuring other relevant factors, such as encounter, civilian and officer characteristics.
Key Findings:
- The VOD analysis found no statistical difference in the rates at which non-White drivers were stopped in Livermore during the day compared to at night.
- The traffic crash benchmark analysis found slightly elevated risks for stops of White, Black, and “Other” race drivers (at-fault benchmark only) and a slightly elevated risk for stops of Black drivers relative to White drivers (not-at-fault benchmark only).
- Together, the results from the two benchmark analyses do not show a pattern of disparity in traffic stops based on driver race or ethnicity.
- The results of the arrest analysis found Hispanic, Asian and “Other” groups were less likely to be arrested compared to White civilians.
“I’ve been doing this research close to 20 years and worked with a number of agencies and jurisdictions asking similar questions,” said Dr. Rob Tillyer, Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, the University of Texas at San Antonio. “The findings on the stop side in particular are somewhat uncommon. Livermore Police demonstrates a clear pattern of unbiased activity and should be commended.”
“I’m extremely proud of our officers and am not surprised by the results,” said Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young. “I think there’s a lot of value in data and we are always looking at ourselves to make sure we are the best we can be.”
A copy of the final report can be found here.
