State of California

We know of only one California standard that faces a City Department. If you know of others, regardless of whether or not they apply to City Departments, please contact someone at DataSF.

Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 Regulations

Description of Standard

Under the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (AB 953), state and local law enforcement agencies must collect data regarding stops of individuals, including perceived demographic information on the person stopped. They must report this data to the California Attorney General's Office.

As part of this law, the California Attorney General’s Office issued regulations that detail how stops data must be collected. This data standard includes data on race and ethnicity. Below is the race and ethnicity excerpt from the state regulations. The full standard is available online.

Caution: This data standard only applies to the Police Department in the context of stops data. As a result, the data standard requires perception of race and ethnicity and the standard reflects this in the categories used. This is due to the purpose of the data collection, including to identify potential bias. In contrast, other standards rely on self-identification, which typically leads to different categories

Standard or Guideline

Below is an excerpt from the standard.

“Perceived Race or Ethnicity of Person Stopped” refers to the officer’s perception of the race or ethnicity of the person stopped. When reporting this data element, the officer shall make his or her determination of the person’s race or ethnicity based on personal observation only. The officer shall not ask the person stopped his or her race or ethnicity, or ask questions or make comments or statements designed to elicit this information.

When reporting this data element, the officer shall select all of the following data values that apply:

1. Asian

2. Black/African American

3. Hispanic/Latino(a)

4. Middle Eastern or South Asian

5. Native American

6. Pacific Islander

7. White

Example: If a person appears to be both Black and Latino(a), the officer shall select both “Black/African American” and “Hispanic/Latino(a).”

Definitions

• “Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East or Southeast Asia, including for example, Cambodia, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam, but who does not fall within the definition of “Middle Eastern or South Asian” or “Pacific Islander.”

• “Black/African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

• “Hispanic/Latino(a)” refers to a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

• “Middle Eastern or South Asian” refers to a person of Arabic, Israeli, Iranian, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Bhutanese, Maldivian, or Afghan origin.

• “Native American” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, and South America.

• “Pacific Islander” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands, but who does not fall within the definition of “Middle Eastern or South Asian” or “Asian.”

• “White” refers to a person of Caucasian descent having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe and Eastern Europe.

Who must comply

The Police Department in the context of collecting data on stops. This standard is not required for other types of data collection and may not be appropriate as it was designed to capture perceived race/ethnicity.

Authority

State of California Government Code Title 2 Section 12525.5.