By Jorge Casuso

November 21, 2023 -- Santa Monica's Police Reform Commission this month approved a report recommending that officers state the reason for all traffic and pedestrian stops on body-worn video (BWV).

The proposed policy -- meant to deter "pretextual stops that disproportionally target people of color" -- requires officers to "respond to inquiries from drivers as (to) the reason for detainment."

The 6 to 3 vote on November 7 comes after Police Department data released in July show Black motorists were involved in a disproportionate number of traffic stops in Santa Monica last year ("Police Reform Commission Takes Up Identity Profiling," July 10, 2023).

The report recommends the Police Department adopt the LAPD’s policy, which places clear safeguards "to limit the potential for racially biased stops while still preserving the police officer’s ability to investigate based on reasonable suspicion, regarding a serious crime."

The vote came after the Commission discussed whether it is an "undue burden" for officers to "record the reason for the stop leading up to or at the start of the interaction with the driver," according to the meeting minutes.

The Commission also discussed whether the policy "is appropriate for SMPD which has not been accused of the violations of principle and policy found in LAPD."

The minutes of the meeting obtained by The Lookout, which provide only cursory information, have not been made available online, and there is no video of the meeting.

The Commission made only minor additions to the wording of the draft report, which is based on 2022 data compiled by SMPD under California's Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA).

The data show that Blacks were involved in 15.4 percent of the stops, while they made up 4.3 percent of Santa Monica's population and 9 percent of LA County's population.

Police officials have cautioned that drawing demographic conclusions is difficult because Santa Monica is a tourist destination with a population that can swell from 90,000 to half a million on a holiday weekend.

The Commission's report calls the data "a red flag that needs addressing" because the numbers reflecting the tourist population "aren’t equally inflated" across racial groups.

"Unless the tourism population is a wave of minorities while there is an exodus of white people, the data seems inconsistent with the population," the report says.

"It certainly doesn’t explain the difference in stops for equipment violations."

Voting to approve the report were Commission Chair Derek Devermont, a former member of the Social Services Commission; former Social Services Commissioner Brian Stedge-Stroudwere, and former Arts Commissioner Angela Scott, a member of the Santa Monica Black Agenda.

Also voting for approval were Dante Harrington, a social justice advocate, and the two members filling the "young adult" positions, Adya Mohanty and Miranda McLaughlin-Basseri, who is an SMC student.

Voting against approving the report were Vice-Chair George Centeno, a former SMPD officer and retired Chief of Police for LAX; Santa Monica resident Joseph Palazzolo, and Manju Raman, vice chair of the Wilshire Montana Neighborhood Coalition (Wilmont).

Craig Miller, founder of AIDS Walk Los Angeles, who made the suggested changes to the report, abstained. Youth advocate Jaime Cruz, a member of the Pico Neighborhood Partnership, was absent.