Traffic enforcement and collisions
Traffic enforcement and collisions
in Berkeley, CA from 2015 to 2019
in Berkeley, CA from 2015 to 2019
Police stop data was downloaded from the City of Berkeley Open Data Portal on August 27, 2020.
Collision data was downloaded from SafeTREC's SWITRS query and map tool on August 27, 2020. Collision data is only fatal and injury crashes. Property damage only crashes are not included.
City of Berkeley 2019 demographic data was taken from the U.S. Census QuickFacts.
Copies of raw collision data is here and raw police stop data is here.
COLLISIONS
During the same time period, Berkeley Police Department made 55,187 stops in the city of Berkeley.
There was 43,433 traffic stops, 6,284 pedestrian stops, 2,404 bicycle stops, and 3,066 suspicious vehicle stops.
The police stop data includes some information about the reason for the stop, whether there was a search, and the enforcement outcome.
The most common reason given for the stop was traffic followed by investigation.
The majority of stops did not include a search.
The most common enforcement outcome was a warning followed by a citation.
About one quarter of pedestrian stops are for reasonable suspicion.
The police stop data also includes information about the race, gender, and age of the person stopped.
Black people make up only 8.1% of the population of Berkeley but 33.5% of police stops.
This pattern of disparities is not limited to one year. It has been constant over the five year period.
Black people are overrepresented in each type of stop.
Stops involving black people are the most likely to result in a warning.
Black people are the most likely group to be searched.
Black people are more likely than white people to be given a warning after a search.
White people are more likely than black people to be arrested after a search.