Santa Barbara Police present 2024 RIPA report: 11,581 stops; department says it complies with state reporting

Commander Kasapis of the Santa Barbara Police Department reviewed the department’s 2024 Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) data at the commission’s May 22 meeting and said the department is in compliance with state reporting requirements.

"RIPA took effect Jan. 1, 2016," the presentation noted, referencing Assembly Bill 953 and the CJIS-2000 form used to collect perceived demographic data at initiation of contact. Commander Kasapis described the RIPA data elements officers submit — perceived race and ethnicity, perceived gender, perceived disability, limited English proficiency, perceived unhoused status, reason for the stop, search types and outcomes — and said the department submits those entries annually to the California Department of Justice.

For calendar year 2024 the department recorded 11,581 RIPA entries, averaging roughly 900 entries per month and with a predictable August peak tied to Old Spanish Days festival activity. Distribution by perceived race reported in the presentation was 45% Hispanic, 43% white, 6.14% Black/African American, 1.75% Asian and smaller counts in other categories. Perceived gender in stops was reported as roughly 75% cisgender man and 24% cisgender woman. Officers recorded perceived limited English proficiency in about 7.65% of stops and perceived unhoused status in about 24.45% of stops.

Commander Kasapis described reasons for stops and results: the largest reason category was reasonable suspicion of criminal activity (detention), with traffic violations accounting for about 38.96% of entries (4,512). The most common result recorded was a verbal warning (33.51%); other common results included citations and custodial arrests (11.32%). On searches, 68.22% of stops resulted in no search; the largest search category when a search occurred was search incident to arrest (11.46%).

Staff noted that about two-thirds of RIPA entries (66.83%) were officer-initiated stops and about one-third (33.1%) were generated by calls for service. The presentation raised the issue of "bias by proxy" — when callers report suspicious persons based on bias rather than observed criminal conduct — and staff described dispatcher training, comprehensive applicant background checks and monthly supervisory audits of RIPA entries and body-worn camera usage as department measures to address bias.

Commander Kasapis and the police chief told commissioners the department’s sworn demographic profile is broadly similar to the city’s residential demographics: the presentation used U.S. Census figures showing the city as about 55.8% white and 36.7% Hispanic and the department’s sworn composition as about 48.8% white and 35.2% Hispanic. The presentation also noted the department’s gender balance among sworn officers (76% male, 24% female) compares favorably to national averages.

Commissioners asked how perceived mental health or disability is recorded, how the RIPA board is constituted, whether geographic breakdowns are possible, and whether the department evaluates the effect of training and audits on outcomes. Staff answered that RIPA uses the officer’s initial perception at the moment of contact, that the RIPA board is a 19-member body (chiefly non-law-enforcement appointments), and that monthly audits by supervisors include review of body-worn camera video and are meant to identify issues early.

No formal vote followed the presentation; commissioners thanked staff and asked for follow-up clarifications where needed.