A released report found that approximately 87% of those stopped by police in pretextual stops were Black or Hispanic
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to end the Police Department’s use of pretextual stops on Wednesday, following a report earlier this year that found a majority of these stops were on Hispanic and Black individuals.
Pretextual stops, which have long been criticized by civil rights activists, are a tactic used by police in which they use minor traffic violations as an excuse to pull over or detain individuals in an effort to further investigate them for an unrelated crime.
Residents across California have long called out police departments for the frequency with which officers were stopping individuals for minor infractions in order to investigate additional, unrelated crimes. In response, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) of 2015 required law enforcement to report data in all traffic stops, including race or ethnicity, gender and reason for the stop.
In January, Los Angeles Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso released a report of compiled traffic stop data between April 1, 2022, and Sept. 30, 2025. The report found that LAPD conducted 61,279 pretextual traffic stops, with approximately 87% of the individuals involved being Black or Hispanic. In Los Angeles, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the Black population was 8.4% in 2024, while the Hispanic population was 47.2%.
Prior to the vote, California residents spoke out at the meeting, with a gardener describing fears of being racially profiled and detained while working. South Central community member Kusema Thomas called pretextual stops a safety risk to the community.
“Justice demands courage, and everyone is here today asking for you to step into your courage,” Thomas said while asking the council to vote in favor of ending the stops.
District 1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez thanked the community for organizing and pushing the government to “do the right thing,” saying the data presented speaks volumes. She called pretextual stops a “massive waste of limited resources” and a “breakdown of trust.”
“The system is broken,” she said. “We are operating in a national moment where racism is being normalized and weaponized at the highest levels.”
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Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson also pointed out disparities in the law enforcement system following the vote and said he is proud of the council’s decision.
“Today, I’m happy to say that this council is going to go on record not only being against pretextual stops, but ending it as we know it here in this city of Los Angeles,” Harris-Dawson said.