Resourcesbreadcrumb separatorLaw Enforcement Resourcesbreadcrumb separatorRacial and Identity Profiling Act

Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA)

Assembly Bill (AB) 953
Impact on Law Enforcement Agencies

Background

The Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) was formed as part of AB953 (Weber, 2016). The Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA Board) is a diverse group of members that represent the public, law enforcement and educators. At the direction of the Legislature, their charge is to eliminate racial and identity profiling, and improve diversity and racial and identity sensitivity in law enforcement. The RIPA Board aims to strengthen law enforcement-community relations in California through collaboration, transparency, and accountability. The California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, has the primary oversight of the RIPA Board.

One of the responsibilities of the RIPA Board has been to develop the stop-data collection process, that has been included into Regulation (pdf).

Information for Agencies

When does this take effect?

Beginning July 1, 2018, law enforcement agencies, starting with the eight largest agencies, will begin collecting stop data and reporting the information to the DOJ.


Who has to report when?

NOTE: The first annual report is due April 2018, for data collection from the previous year.

  • The bill requires each state and local agency that employs peace officers to annually report to the Attorney General data on all stops. [DOJ will probably identify a date for report submission]
  • The bill requires an agency that employs 1,000 or more peace officers to issue its first annual report by April 1, 2019.
  • The bill requires an agency that employs 667 or more but less than 1,000 peace officers to issue its first annual report by April 1, 2020.
  • The bill requires an agency that employs 334 or more but less than 667 peace officers to issue its first annual report by April 1, 2022.
  • The bill requires an agency that employs one or more but less than 334 peace officers to issue its first annual report by April 1, 2023.

Who is required to report the stop-data?

Article 2 of the Regulation (CCR 999.225 (pdf)), identifies law enforcement agencies subject to stop-data collection, to include:

  • Only peace officers, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, as set forth below:
  • Probation Officers are not subject to this chapter
  • Peace Officers shall not report stops that occur in a custodial settings
    • DOJ Division of Law Enforcement Special Agent is exempt.
  • Peace Officers employed by a reporting agency, except Probation Officers, are subject to this chapter even if the officer makes a stop while assigned or contracted to work for another governmental agency or private entity.
    • Peace Officers employed by a “reporting agency”, defined as any city or county law enforcement agency that employs Peace Officers, including officers who are contracted to work at other governmental agencies or private entities. This includes, but is not limited to, Peace Officers assigned to work in cities or other jurisdictions that are not within the original jurisdiction of the city or county law enforcement agency; Peace Officers of city or county agencies assigned to or contracted to work at housing or transit agencies; and school resource officers assigned to work in California state educational institutions.

What data do we need to collect?

Article 3 of the Regulation (CCR 999.26 (pdf)) identifies the data elements to be reported, to include*:

  1. ORI number
  2. Date, time, and duration of the stop
  3. Location of stop
  4. Perceived race or ethnicity of person stopped
  5. Perceived gender of person stopped
  6. Person stopped perceived to be LGBT
  7. Perceived age of person stopped
  8. Person stopped has limited or no English fluency
  9. Perceived or known disability or person stopped
  10. Reason for stop
  11. Stop made in response to a call for service
  12. Actions taken by officer during stop
  13. Results of stop
  14. Officer’s Identification (ID) Number
  15. Officer’s years of experience
  16. Type of assignment of officer

* See Regulation for each item specific explanation

Recommendations

Agencies should be meeting regionally (perhaps by county) to discuss how to develop a plan on how peace officers will perform the data collection (MDT/MDC, notepad, etc.), how it will be stored, who will be responsible for the final report, and perhaps designate an agency AB953 liaison to collect and distribute new information. DOJ will provide an app or website interface to help with data collection; keep in touch with your DOJ representative for more information. Getting ahead of the curve and developing a data collection and reporting process now will provide dividends later.

Download a copy of the first RIPA Board report (pdf).