The Community Police Review Commission renewed its call Wednesday for city leaders to examine why Black people account for a disproportionate share of police stops, advancing revised recommendations after discussions with police about the data’s limitations.
The commission voted to send the proposal to the City Council’s Safety, Wellness and Youth Committee, calling for additional analysis, standards for triggering audits and measurable reduction goals if further review determines profiling has occurred.
The commission first approved the recommendations in May. The revised report retains those proposals while explaining the limitations of comparing police stops with Riverside’s residential population.
The Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) requires law enforcement agencies to collect and report information on pedestrian and traffic stops to the California Department of Justice.
According to the commission’s report, Black residents make up 6.6% of Riverside’s population but accounted for 14.46% of police stops in 2024, 13.85% in 2025 and 15.02% in 2026. The three-year average was 14.44% — more than double the city’s Black population share.
After the May vote, the council committee’s chair and vice chair asked the commission to hold its recommendations until the ad hoc committee met with police to better understand the data. Several commissioners argued in July that the meetings would contribute little after years of discussion, but the commission extended the committee through January 2027.
The ad hoc committee met with police Sept. 9. Commissioner Jeffery Ward said much of the discussion centered on police officials’ concerns about using census figures as a benchmark because officers encounter commuters and visitors as well as residents, and because stop data includes calls for service and flag-downs.
To test how those factors affect the results, the commission recommends that the City Manager’s Office analyze the data without calls for service, flag-downs and nonresidents, where the necessary information is available, and compare the results with the full dataset.
The stop form does not record whether the person lives in Riverside, so that analysis isn’t currently possible, Ward said. The proposal does not ask police to begin collecting that information.
The revised report cites the state RIPA Board’s 2019 report, which said census comparisons should be considered alongside other measures rather than treated as standalone evidence of bias.
“Our recommendation is for the city to move forward with more fact finding that helps us answer the question: Do we think we have an issue or do we not?” Ward said.
The proposal asks city leaders to establish standards for when a disparity warrants monitoring or an audit. An example in the report would flag results that deviate more than 25% from a selected benchmark for monitoring and more than 50% for an audit.
Audits could examine when and where stops occur, including patterns by neighborhood and ward, and how stops involving Black people are distributed among officers. Responses could range from no further action to additional training or discipline.
If further review finds profiling occurred, the commission recommends a measurable reduction goal, with city leaders setting the target, timeline and measures of progress.
Commissioner Charles Dillon questioned the census comparison.
“You have no idea where somebody is from. How can you compare their numbers to local census data?” Dillon said.
Ward said the census comparison is a starting point and that the additional analysis is meant to answer those questions.
The report also suggests considering an outside expert to help develop the analysis and policies, while assigning clear responsibility within city leadership for the work.
Commissioner Eileen Teichert said answering the questions raised Wednesday would require resources beyond the commission’s own.
“We’ve teed this up to the best of our ability and now I think it’s time for us to move forward,” Teichert said.
