Curbing Pretextual Stops: Police Efficiency and Racial disparities

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of pretextual stops in the context of Los Angeles. Pretextual stops occur when police officers use minor violations as a reason for stops, aiming to uncover more serious offenses. We investigate the effect of a special order implemented in March 2022 by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) that restricted pretextual stops. Using an extensive LAPD dataset from 2018 to 2022 and a regression discontinuity in time design, we find that the policy led to a significant reduction in minor violation stops, with similar reductions across all racial groups. We also find faster 911 response times and higher arrest rates conditional on a stop following the policy, concentrated in the immediate post-policy period. Moreover, the decrease in minor violation stops did not lead to increases in crime rates.

Note: In this published version of the paper, we merge two separate contemporaneous working papers: my job market paper and another by Beland, Huh, and Kim.