The Brief

Electric bikes and scooters can be spotted in most major cities in the United States, zooming past their non-motorized counterparts and pedestrians. Despite the devices’ rising popularity, colleges across California can’t come to a consensus on just what to do about them.

Some campuses allow students to ride both e-bikes and e-scooters, while others only allow one or restrict them to certain zones. Several ban them completely.

For college students, these modes of transportation mean shorter commute times compared to walking. They’re far cheaper to rent or buy than vehicles, and easier to park, too. Since they run on electric-powered batteries, the devices are also more sustainable than gas-powered cars and produce fewer harmful emissions.

Riding an e-scooter allows Kristine Bhan, a fourth-year Cal State Long Beach student majoring in studio art, to haul heavy art supplies up the campus’ many hills.

“I hang my art supplies in a folder and the folder has a little hook, so I could hook it onto my scooter and I just ride it to upper campus,” said Bhan, who also prefers her e-scooter over her car during peak traffic.

E-bikes and e-scooters aren’t just booming on and near college campuses: Motorized micro-mobility is gaining traction across the country.

Shared e-bike trips, which are bikes that can be borrowed or rented from automated stations, or docking stations, rose from 9.5 million in 2018 to 17 million in 2021, according to a report from the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

While the devices are attractive in their speed and convenience, they also pose safety risks. They can travel more than 30 mph, meaning accidents can be severe if the rider isn’t wearing protective gear. Pedestrians are also at risk of being struck.

At UC Davis, nearly a quarter of students (22%) who rode an e-bike had an on-campus fall that resulted in an emergency room or hospital visit, according to a campus-wide travel survey conducted in 2022. Among students who rode a regular bicycle, that number was just 7.5%. Nearly 90% of e-scooter riders who fell or crashed reported an injury that didn’t need medical attention.

The devices pose another safety concern: Their lithium-ion batteries have caught fire in some cases.

Weighing the devices’ benefits and drawbacks, California’s public universities are split on whether e-bikes and e-scooters should roam campus. All 10 UCs allow e-bikes while only five UCs allow e-scooters. In the 23-campus CSU system, 10 campuses allow both e-bikes and e-scooters, while of the 116 community colleges in the state, at least 40 allow both devices. Some of those campuses restrict them to certain routes or zones.

Regulating motorized micro-mobility

Micro-mobility refers to all transportation devices smaller than a car — including bikes, scooters, skateboards, unicycles and tricycles. E-bikes and e-scooters are electric-powered with motors of up to 750 watts. The devices typically cost between $150 and $3,000.

The vehicle code allows state colleges and universities to regulate the use of bicycles, e-bikes, skateboards, electric skateboards, roller skates and “electrically motorized boards,” but does not specifically include all scooters and e-scooters. For this reason, some campuses, such as Sacramento State, allow e-scooters because campus officials don’t believe the state gives them the power to deny their use on campus.

“We actually don’t have authority, as the state of California, to tell an electric scooter operator where they can and cannot go,” said Sacramento State Director of Transportation and Parking Services Jeff Dierking.

A student rides their scooter past a dismount sign as they enter the zone where she can be on the scooter rather than walking alongside it at Cal State Long Beach on Oct. 4, 2023.

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Lauren Justice

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CalMatters

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Senate Bill 295, introduced in February by state Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat, would add e-scooters to the vehicle code. The UC Office of the President approached Dodd after several student accidents led the UC to review the code.

“College campuses have long been home to multimodal transportation, and they should pursue safety through effective education, engineering and enforcement,” Dodd said in a statement to CalMatters. “I’m standing by to help to the extent any clarification in law or other support is needed.”

The bill is pending further evaluation by the Assembly Transportation Committee.

Convenience vs. safety

It’s not hard to see why e-bikes and e-scooters are trending among students: they’re fast, fairly light and can be parked at bike racks.

After trying out her friend’s e-scooter, Anjali Patel, a senior majoring in journalism at USC, bought one of her own last year. USC allows e-bikes and e-scooters on most of its campus but prohibits the parking of rented scooters, which would cause congestion, said USC Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief David Carlisle.

Riding an e-scooter shortens Patel’s commute from her off-campus apartment from a 15-minute walk to less than 10 minutes, which means a lot, she said, when she’s running late for class or during a Southern California heat wave.

“It’s the fastest option. It’s not the most unsafe option,” Patel said. “For me, it’s the best.”

Since some motorized micro-mobility devices can reach speeds of up to 30 or even 40 miles an hour, and users often ride unprotected without helmets and other safeguards, rider safety is a concern. An October 2022 report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that micro-mobility injuries rose 127% from 2017 to 2021, with e-scooter trips resulting in the most rider deaths. Last year, the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System recorded 225 crashes involving an e-bike, up from 80 crashes in 2021.

A student rides his scooter among walkers at Cal State Long Beach on Oct. 4, 2023.

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Lauren Justice

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CalMatters

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“[E-scooters] are very vulnerable to irregularities in the roadway and can toss a rider off easily if they’re going too fast,” USC’s Carlisle said.

Though Patel admits to going a little faster than she should on her e-scooter — 18 mph at most — she said she’s attentive. When others aren’t, safety becomes an issue.

“People are like, ‘Scooters and bikers are so rude and so unsafe, and they’re going so fast,’” Patel said. “I can’t use my phone while I’m scootering — my eyes are up. If anything, it’s the people walking that are not looking.”

Although she considers herself a safe driver, Patel was injured while riding her e-scooter in December. As she crossed a small intersection near her off-campus house, an idling car began moving — to Patel’s surprise — and hit her.

Luckily, the fall wasn’t too bad and, amid finals week, Patel nursed a scraped chin. The accident hasn’t led her to change the way she rides. She’s always been careful on roads and when riding around pedestrians, Patel said, though she doesn’t wear a helmet.

But some schools have seen serious student injuries — and even fatalities — from motorized micro-mobility accidents.

After a freshman died from falling off his e-skateboard near campus in 2020, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials cracked down on most micro-mobility devices on campus, where e-scooters, scooters and skateboards have been prohibited for over a decade. E-bikes and bicycles, however, are allowed.

UC Irvine bans e-scooters from the campus’ inner core, which consists primarily of pedestrian walkways. Bikes, e-bikes and non-motorized scooters, however, are allowed on a road that circles the school’s central park.

Erika Rule, UC Irvine’s sustainable programs manager, said excluding e-scooters, which are commonly ridden on sidewalks, is a matter of “protecting pedestrian safety.”

The motorized devices come with another safety concern: the chance of starting a fire. Improperly charging e-bikes and e-scooters and using damaged chargers can overload electrical circuits, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

In March and April, Berkeley’s fire department responded to six fires related to mobility devices, including one inside a UC Berkeley dormitory. A charging e-skateboard plugged into a power strip caused an accidental fire in March at Ida Sproul Hall, resulting in damage to the room. The school’s principal mobility planner, David Sorrell, said that despite a campus-wide rule against doing so, students often ride inside buildings and charge their devices indoors.

UC Berkeley currently prohibits rented e-scooters from entering campus, but personal devices are allowed in campus bike lanes.

Disseminating information about safe riding practices has been difficult, Sorrell said, given UC Berkeley’s large student and employee populations. That’s why some at the university are eyeing a ban on micro-mobility in their areas of campus. But Sorrell has pushed back.

“The scooters are a necessity. E-bikes are a necessity,” Sorrell said, adding that high-grade hills on campus make motorized devices the easiest way to get around. “Why would we discriminate against those vehicles?”

Some campuses have struck a balance

Managing congestion, traffic flow, parking availability and student safety is a tall task for colleges deciding on micro-mobility policies.

Laney College in Oakland allows e-scooters on campus, while e-bikes have to be dropped off in designated zones on campus, Public Information Officer Mark Johnson wrote in an email to CalMatters.

Sacramento State redesigned its policy on e-bikes and e-scooters in 2019 and allows personal devices on campus with designated pedestrian-only zones, where campus police watch for violators and ask them to dismount their devices. Storage locations — bike racks and a bike compound — border the zones. A geofence around the campus perimeter deactivates all rented e-scooters and e-bikes.

“Those are high-traffic areas, and those are intended so that we can have a safe environment on campus to facilitate all equitable modes of transportation,” said Dierking of Sac State.

Electric scooters are locked at a bike rack on campus at the UC Davis on Oct. 3, 2023.

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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

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CalMatters

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Safety concerns arise, Dierking said, when pedestrian-only zones converge with areas allowing wheeled devices. At the start of each school term, the university deploys workers wearing yellow vests to chat about safety with students on mobility devices. It also puts up signage telling road users to slow down at these intersections.

At UC Davis, a fatal student accident involving a non-electric bicycle in May 2022 led university officials to evaluate all micro-mobility policies and safeguards. The university formed working groups and conducted a campus-wide survey about safety and theft.

The working groups heard that motorized micro-mobility devices go too fast and that bikes are often stolen, said Active Modality Manager Jeff Bruchez, who heads the school’s bicycle program. According to the same study, 12% of UC Davis students who rode a bike to school in 2021-22 reported having their bike stolen.

To limit speed and theft, UC Davis introduced a shared e-bike and e-scooter program. UC Davis and the City of Davis launched a partnership with Spin on Sept. 8, making 400 e-bikes and 200 e-scooters available to students while eliminating personal liability for theft and allowing the university to regulate the devices’ maximum speeds, Bruchez said.

“By bringing a shared system onto campus, we can ensure that everyone can operate a device that fits within the ecosystem that we have, specifically that 15-miles-an-hour speed limit,” he said.

A student carries his scooter down the sidewalk at Cal State Long Beach on Oct. 4, 2023.

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Lauren Justice

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CalMatters

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The university is hoping that revving up public education programs — including its “Helmet Hair Don’t Care” campaign that rewards students with free helmets after the completion of an eight-minute online safety course — will help reduce the number of severe collisions involving micro-mobility devices.

Across the UC system, another initiative is underway to incentivize e-bike use.

In December, an agreement UC reached with the United Auto Workers union, which represents postdoctoral workers and academic researchers, gives employees access to an e-bike discount program starting with the fall 2023 term.

The program has “made it possible” for UC San Diego sociology master’s student Beatrice Waterhouse to consider buying an e-bike. Climate demands were a key part of bargaining, she said, so the devices’ low environmental impact interested them.

“We care about the environment and we care about our universities being part of change, trying to fight for a more climate-just California and world,” Waterhouse said.

All you have to do is grab a drink with a friend, eavesdrop at a coffee shop, or open your eyes to see that entertainment professionals in L.A. are hurting these days. Last year there was a 16% decline in filming in the region, according to Film LA, and between 2022 and 2024, L.A. County is estimated to have lost more than 42,000 motion picture-related jobs.

I know this pain, personally. I was a TV writer for years, but my last writer’s room job was in 2021. Luckily, I was able to pivot to copywriting as I continue to work on my own projects, but I do wonder what the rest of my colleagues are up to. Where have the thousands of highly skilled entertainment professionals gone?

Turns out, school.

Specifically, to become therapists.

I first noticed this trend over a decade ago in 2013. I had just moved back to L.A. from New York and I started seeing a new therapist. Over the course of our sessions, she revealed to me that she used to be an actor — and quite a successful one. She was a co-star on a hit sitcom for nine seasons.

But despite the consistent work, she wasn’t fulfilled. She said acting was mostly sitting around in a trailer waiting and she craved more intellectual stimulation. So she went back to school and became a therapist, the irony being that she never fully escaped Hollywood. Today, as an L.A. based therapist, she spends most of her days listening to frustrated actors and writers complain about the biz. Ahh, the circle of life!

Not only was my therapist a former actor, I started to notice more and more of my peers and friends making the switch. I met Alan, 40, who prefers to be anonymous because he doesn’t want his patients knowing about his private life, at a co-working space. We both belonged to a charming apartment-turned-writer’s haven in Silver Lake.

At the time, Alan was a busy film producer, plugging away at his own feature script on the side. But despite having a shiny career working with hip actors and directors, he wasn’t happy.

He remembers going to schmoozy parties where everyone would name drop and brag about what they were working on.

“I had all those fancy things to drop, too, but it meant nothing, it didn’t make me feel any better about myself,” he said. “If I can’t even talk about what I’m up to without feeling sad, that’s kind of a problem.”

Alan started to realize maybe producing wasn’t his destiny. He was going through the motions. Things started to fall into place when he started therapy.

“Therapy made me feel more like myself. I just felt a little bit more enlivened… the rest of the week kind of deadened me,” he said.

He loved how real and deep the conversations were and became intrigued by the idea of becoming a therapist himself. He started taking a few psychology classes and was instantly hooked. Now, he has a thriving private practice and hasn’t looked back.

Primal emotions

Julie Mond is a therapist and an actor. Unlike Alan, Mond still loves acting, it’s not something she grew out of. She just needed a more stable career as she continued to pursue her passion. Becoming a therapist has actually liberated her to focus on the kind of acting she actually wants to do. Because she’s financially stable she can now pick and choose the kinds of projects that feel worth her time.

When I ask Mond why so many entertainment professionals become therapists she reflects on a couple of things. She said performers and directors crave “connecting authentically, being present moment-to-moment, being real and honest. We’re digging for these primal emotions.” All things you have to do as a therapist.

She also has another theory: “A lot of artists go to therapy. Many of us who become therapists have been in therapy and it's changed our lives. I think people in L.A. have been on a healing journey and want to give back.”

Charley Lang, who teaches at Antioch University.

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Jaymes Mihaliak

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Courtesy Charley Lang

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Even though I'm personally meeting more people who are becoming therapists, I wondered if it was an actual trend or just a coincidence.

So I talked with psychology professor Charley Lang at Antioch University to get his take. Lang, who's been teaching psychology for 30 years, said that in his graduate classes, at least 50% of the students come from entertainment careers.

When I asked why they make the switch, he’s blunt: stability.

That’s why Lang himself became a therapist decades ago.

Lang was an actor on Broadway, but eventually hit a wall.

“I had a nice career as an actor, I essentially got to do everything I wanted to do," he said. "But then I was in my late 30s and I was like, ‘Do I always want to be praying for another guest spot on a sitcom in order to feel secure and OK?’”

Does he have any regrets or miss acting? On the contrary, he tells a story:

“I had become a therapist and stopped acting and a friend of mine was directing a play at the Ahmanson and he was like, ‘Please do this play.’ And I was able to figure it out and I was just dipping my toe back in to see what it was like and it was a six-week run of the play. And at the end of the first week I remember standing in the wings waiting to make my entrance and thinking, ‘Oh my god haven’t we already told this freaking story?’ It was like Groundhog Day. It was the same story over and over.”

As a therapist, he said he loves that every day is different.

The point isn’t that working in entertainment is bad and therapy is perfect. To me, the takeaway is that it’s never too late to make a change. That just because something used to work for you doesn’t mean you’re committed to doing it forever.

Or in Mond's case, maybe there is a way to continue doing what you love, but more sustainably.

In today’s fragile and volatile job market, it’s nice to know that you can always begin again. Just because a job or career ends, doesn’t mean your life is over.

If, in the future, I’m too fried, burnt out, or tired of the rollercoaster of being a writer, maybe I’ll embark on a second career.

But until then, I’m still riding the dragon.

Folks, we’ve reached peak art-weird. There’s a group show opening Sunday in an abandoned Sizzler. I am not making this up. Get your fill at the art fairs around town — Frieze, The Other Art Fair, Butter and Felix, for starters — or explore some of the neighborhoods with galleries, like Melrose Hill, West Hollywood and the Arts District. You’re sure to see a lot. It’s almost like we live in a city where you could just wander around and randomly come across things.

If music is more your thing, Licorice Pizza has your go-tos. On Friday, German singer-songwriter and producer Monolink’s "The Beauty Of It All Tour" stops at The Wiltern, Brandi Carlile is with The Head And The Heart at the Forum and the Fiery Furnaces are at the Masonic Lodge. At the Peacock Theater, there’s an epic “Legends Of Hip Hop” bill with Big Daddy Kane, Kurtis Blow, Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel & Scorpio from The Furious Five, Doug E. Fresh, KRS‐One and more. Saturday, experimental hip-hop group Clipping is at the Fonda, and the artist formerly known as June Marieezy — (((O))) — is at a cool new Chinatown venue called Pacific Electric. Or you can spend the whole weekend at Ace Mission Studios in Boyle Heights, immersed in Factory 93’s two-day underground techno festival, Skyline L.A.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can visit the community hub East L.A. Film Shop, dance like it’s the 70s at the immersive theater experience Brassroots District: L.A. ’74 and head to the new Studio Ghibli exhibit at the Academy Museum with superfan Makenna Sievertson.

Events

Amadeus

Through Sunday, March 15
Pasadena Playhouse
39 S. El Molino, Pasadena
COST: FROM $48; MORE INFO

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Jeff Lorch

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Pasadena Playhouse

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Our friends at the L.A. Times called the new production of Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse a “marvel to behold,” and I don’t think you can get a bigger rave than that. Tony winner Jefferson Mays plays Salieri in director Darko Tresnjak’s (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) take on Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play about the rivalry between Salieri and Mozart in 19th-century Vienna.

Spooky Stories After Dark

Saturday, February 28, 7 p.m.
The Wolves
519 S. Spring St., Downtown L.A. 
COST: FREE, TWO DRINK MINIMUM; MORE INFO

One of my favorite L.A. Instagram follows is Spooky Foodie, aka Ansley Layne, who goes to restaurants in L.A. and tells all about the ghosts haunting your favorite haunts. She’s bringing her ghost stories and encouraging you to tell your own at Spooky Stories After Dark, a Moth-inspired storytelling competition night at The Wolves downtown. After each story, the speaker will be interviewed by Spooky Foodie and co-host Your Cousin Trev. You can also expect some surprise celebrity guests.

Sleep, a film by Andy Warhol featuring John Giorno

Friday, February 27, 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Marciano Art Foundation
4357 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Film stills of John Giorno in Andy Warhol's Sleep. New York, NY, United States, 1963. Photo credit: Andy Warhol. 8 x 10 inches, b/w, photographic print.

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Studio Rondinone/Courtesy of the John Giorno Collection, John Giorno Archives. Studio Rondinone, New York, NY.

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Andy Warhol

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It’s not every day you can screen Sleep, the 1964 groundbreaking avant-garde film by Andy Warhol, so take advantage and grab a ticket for this evening at the Marciano Art Foundation. Coinciding with their John Giorno: No Nostalgia show, the film is five hours and 21 minutes of artist and poet (and Warhol’s then-lover) John Giorno sleeping, so needless to say, you probably don’t need to be there the whole time. The galleries will be open throughout the entire screening, so it’s also a fun chance to see some late-night art!

Black History Greens Festival

Saturday, February 28, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Virginia Ave. Park 
2200 Virginia Ave., Santa Monica
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Courtesy City of Santa Monica

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Check out three greens-cooking demonstrations with local chefs at the Black History Greens Festival in Santa Monica. The day also features family activities, including book readings and giveaways, plus performances. KJLH radio’s Arron “BOBO” Arnell returns for a second year as the master of ceremonies, and DJ Dense will be spinning throughout the event.

48th L.A. Chinatown Firecracker-Lunar New Year Celebration

Saturday, February 28 to Sunday, March 1
943 Broadway (starting line), Chinatown 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Courtesy Firecracker 10K

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Usher in the Year of the Fire Horse with the annual run/walk in Chinatown, plus a celebration with lion dances, music, a dog contest and more. Saturday features the long 20-mile run and century bike ride, while Sunday is a festival atmosphere with the 5K and 10K races, fun runs, kids' activities and more.

Opera Noir at L.A. Opera’s Akhnaten 

Saturday, February 28, 7:30 p.m.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. 
COST: Opening night from $134, other performances from $44; MORE INFO

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Craig T. Mathew

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L.A. Opera

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L.A. Opera welcomes back Philip Glass’ opera about ancient Egypt, Akhnaten, featuring John Holiday as the title king and mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as his queen, Nefertiti. The opera is on at the Dorothy Chandler through March 22, but opening night is also Opera Noir, an event with the San Fernando Valley Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, which brings Black artistry and community together with opera. No matter which night you go, get there early for a pre-performance talk with Dr. Tiffany Kuo in Stern Grand Hall one hour before every performance.

Art Fairs

You have your pick of art fairs and related art events all weekend long. From the big Frieze Art Fair, which has been the jewel of L.A. Art Week since its launch here in 2019; to Felix, which makes a very cool use of space at the Hollywood Roosevelt; to The Other Art Fair in a new Culver City location (with art you might actually be able to afford for your wall); to the Black-artist focus of Butter in Inglewood, there’s really no shortage of places to see the newest artists’ work as well as old favorites.

Frieze L.A.

Through Sunday, March 1
Barker Hangar
3021 Airport Ave., Santa Monica
COST: FROM $79; MORE INFO 

Butter

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Courtesy Butter

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Through Sunday, March 1
Hollywood Park
1011 Stadium Drive, Inglewood 
COST: $60; MORE INFO

Felix Art Fair

Through Sunday, March 1
Hollywood Roosevelt 
7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
COST: $75; MORE INFO

The Other Art Fair

Through Sunday, March 1
3Labs
8461 Warner Drive, Culver City
FROM $30; MORE INFO

Post-Fair

Through Saturday, February 28 
128 Fifth St., Santa Monica
COST: $12; MORE INFO

We're in for another warm and sunny day in SoCal.

Daytime highs for the beaches will reach the mid-70s and up to the low 80s more inland. Downtown L.A. will see temperatures up to 83 degrees.

Temperatures for the valley communities and the Inland Empire will reach the mid-80s. The western San Fernando Valley will see temps in the upper 80s, up to 89 degrees for Woodland Hills.

In Coachella Valley, expect another day with highs in the 90s, up to 96 degrees.

Friday is expected to be the warmest day of the week.

Newly released data from the city show that Los Angeles police officers use minor traffic stops as a way to investigate Black and Latino people on suspicion of committing a more serious crime at a higher rate than their share of the citywide population.

The LAPD adopted a policy about so-called pretextual stops and began tracking the practice in 2022.

In a report released at the end of January, the city’s chief legislative analyst found that Black people were involved in nearly 31% of pretextual stops conducted by LAPD officers between spring 2022 and fall 2025. According to 2023 Census estimates, Black people make up 8% of the city’s population.

According to the report, "Hispanic/Latino" people, who make up just less than half the city’s population, were the subjects of 56% of pretextual stops.

That analysis, along with a separate report by LAPD, found that of the more than 760,000 people involved in traffic stops between spring of 2022 and fall of 2025, 9% to 10% of them were stopped pretextually.

Chauncee Smith, an associate director of the racial justice-focused nonprofit Catalyst California, said LAPD’s data is “under inclusive” since it relies on officers subjectively deciding when a stop is pretextual.

He said an analysis of data from Catalyst California, published in February, demonstrates that pretextual stops don’t result in evidence discovery enough to make up for the negative impacts of the practice.

“It's affecting the lives of many Black and Latinx Angelenos on an everyday basis,” Smith said, adding that pretextual stops often result in harassment, dehumanization and excessive ticketing or fining of communities of color.

Pretextual stops 

Police sometimes use violations of the vehicle code to stop drivers and investigate them for a more serious crime unrelated to the traffic stop, such as possessing drugs or firearms, according to Deepak Premkumar, a research fellow for the Public Policy Institute of California.

 ”Law enforcement officers see tons of violations, and we give them a lot of discretion to determine who they should stop and when,” Premkumar told LAist.

A plausible example of what a pretextual stop could look like is if police see a car matching the description of one that was involved in a crime in the area, then pull that car over for a broken taillight, Premkumar said.

The policy the LAPD adopted in 2022 outlines that officers:

• Can only conduct pretextual stops as long as they are “acting upon articulable information” that the person is close to a serious crime that’s worth investigating. 
• Should minimize stops for minor equipment violations, such as broken taillights, unless the violation “interferes with public safety.”
• State the reason for the stop, whether pretextual or not, while their body-worn cameras are filming.

Despite the adoption of the policy, Catalyst California’s analysis found that the proportion of all officer-initiated stops that are for minor traffic violations has “remained relatively constant since 2019.”

Racial disparities

The analysis from the city’s chief legislative analyst included a comparison of pretextual stop rates for different ethnic and racial groups in L.A. compared to their share of the citywide population.

The analysis found that "Hispanic/Latino" and Black people were overrepresented in data on pretextual stops compared to their share of the population.

L.A. Police Capt. Shannon White drafted the department’s report of the same data, which did not include an ethnic or racial breakdown of those involved in pretextual stops.

At a Los Angeles Police Commission Meeting in February, when she presented the department’s analysis, White said Census estimates for the city don’t necessarily align with “the actual breakdown of our suspects of crime,” who, theoretically, are the subjects of pretextual stops.

“When you look at the actual breakdown of our suspects of crime…what you will find is that they skew towards communities of color for various societal reasons,” White said.

According to the LAPD’s analysis, people in Central and South L.A. were subjects of pretextual at higher rates than in the Valley and West L.A.

Some commissioners at the meeting questioned that disparity.

“Something just doesn't add up,” Commission President Teresa Sánchez-Gordon said. “Is it racial profiling? Is that bias? Implicit, explicit bias that's in the report?”

Discovery rates

The police’s analysis found that searches during pretextual stops yielded contraband, such as firearms and other weapons or drugs, in about every 3 in 10 cases. “Narco-related” evidence is what’s most commonly found in the searches.

Catalyst California’s report looked more specifically at different kinds of searches and how likely they are to lead to evidence discovery.

The nonprofit found that since 2022, when officers used consent-only searches during stops for minor traffic violations, they discovered evidence 3% to 10% of the time. The rate was similarly low when the person stopped was on parole or probation.

According to Catalyst California’s analysis, the type of search most likely to lead to discovery of evidence is when there’s an existing search or arrest warrant for the person stopped.

“This was likely because they occurred in situations when there was a higher likelihood of a significant violation, beyond mere pretext,” the nonprofit's researchers wrote.