MVFREE Continues to Advocate for Bias-Free Policing
MVFREE’s Data Analyses and Reports of data collected pursuant to the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) reveals widespread disparities between the detention rate of Black and Latinex people when compared to detention rates of White people in Mill Valley and in Marin County.
MVFREE’s October 2022 Analysis & Report of Mill Valley Police Department data collected pursuant to the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) revealed MVPD stopped Black and Latinx people at between 3 and 7.42 times the rate of Whites.
In January 2023, MVFREE’s Analysis & Report of Marin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) data collected pursuant to the California Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) provided powerful confirmation of the problem and demands powerful remedial action.
The data analysis detailed in this Report reveals that, from April 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022:
The MCSO detained Black people at 8.71 times the rate they did White people;
The MCSO detained Latinx people at 2.38 times the rate they did White people; and
There is no correlation between the elevated MCSO detention rates for Black and Latinx people and rates of unlawful conduct.
The MCSO racial detention disparities for Black and Latinx people are among the highest of all 58 California law enforcement agencies included in the 2023 RIPA Report Appendix, pp. 50-79. The impact on Marin’s Black and Brown communities from the disparate rates of MCSO detentions is truly staggering. In just a single year,
MCSO detentions of Black people equaled 44.63% of the total Black population of unincorporated Marin;
MCSO detentions of Latinx people equaled 12.28% of the Latinx population of unincorporated Marin;
By contrast, MCSO detentions of Whites amounted to just 5.15% of the White population of unincorporated Marin.
To date, the MCSO has not only turned a blind eye to the disparities reflected in its RIPA data but appears to have made no effort to institute bias-free policing policies and practices prescribed by the RIPA Board. Sheriff Scardina continues to deny the MCSO’s serious and well documented problem of racial profiling. Silverstein, Pacific Sun (9-20-23).
MVFREE continues to advocate for bias free policing. Recently, members of the MVFREE Police Team shared their data analyses during a community forum on Policing in Marin and members of MVFREE participated in public meetings hosted by the Meliora consulting firm. Meliora is owned and operated by former law enforcement professionals and exclusively serves law enforcement agencies and personnel. The firm has no expertise in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, criminal defense, or independent law enforcement oversight. Yet, in May, as the Board of Supervisors was set to vote on a proposal for independent Sheriff’s oversight, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) hired a consulting firm, Meliora Public Safety Consulting, for $174,500 to conduct its own “organizational assessment” planned and overseen by the Sheriff himself.