By Center For Policing Equity
Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
Los Angeles, CA — September 15, 2025 — The Center for Policing Equity (CPE), in partnership with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), has released two new Justice Navigator Assessments (JNAs) analyzing policing data from LASD’s Palmdale and Lancaster stations.
The findings reveal significant racial disparities in police activity and opportunities for policy and organizational changes to improve public safety outcomes and community trust.
“The reports provide community members, law enforcement and policymakers with data-driven insights that can serve as the foundation for real changes,” said Matt Graham, a senior analyst at CPE. “By surfacing disparities in police practices, we create a roadmap for safer, fairer and more effective public safety systems.”
The assessments are available online:
- Palmdale Station Assessment → View Full Report
- Lancaster Station Assessment → View Full Report
Key findings include:
Palmdale Station
- 36% of all people deputies used force against were Black, who made up 11% of the population of Palmdale. Similar disparities were not observed for other racial groups nor in pedestrian stops.
- Deputies searched Black drivers 1.4 times as often as White drivers. They searched Latinx drivers 1.2 times as often as white drivers.
- Deputies were 2.9 times more likely to use force on Black people than White people.
- 89% of recorded Calls for Service that officers responded to did not involve reports of Bodily Harm, Property Harm, or Threats. These types of police actions are known to lead to unnecessary use of force and may be better handled by other, non-police personnel. Such calls for service unrelated to direct threats to public safety include “Nuisances” and “Public Assistance,” which together constitute 72% of all Calls for Service.
- 26% of all pedestrians deputies stopped were Black, who made up 11% of the population of Palmdale. Deputies searched pedestrians across racial groups at roughly the same rate.
- There were also no significant racial disparities in the reasons people of different racial groups were stopped, or the outcomes of those stops.
Lancaster Station
- Over half (52%) of all people deputies used force against were Black, who made up 18% of the population of Lancaster for the assessment period. Similar disparities were not observed for other racial groups nor in pedestrian stops.
- Deputies searched Black drivers 1.6 times as often as White drivers, though they found contraband on Black drivers less often than on White drivers. They searched Latinx drivers at about the same rate as white drivers.
- Deputies were 4.7 times more likely to use force on Black people than White people. While they were 1.4 times more likely to use force on Latinx people compared to White people.
- 90% of recorded Calls for Service that officers responded to did not involve reports of Bodily Harm, Property Harm, or Threats. These types of police actions are known to lead to unnecessary use of force and may be better handled by other, non-police personnel. Such calls for service unrelated to direct threats to public safety include “Nuisances” and “Public Assistance,” which together constitute 74% of all Calls for Service.
- Despite making up 18% of the population of Lancaster, 44% of all pedestrians deputies stopped were Black. Deputies searched pedestrians across racial groups at roughly the same rate.
- There were also no apparent disparities in the reasons people of different racial groups were stopped, or in their stop outcomes.
This marks the latest in several steps LASD has taken to reduce racially disparate policing in the Antelope Valley. Both Lancaster and Palmdale stations have launched several new programs in recent years to enlist non-police in responding to mental health emergency calls, reduce use of force, and more.
Read more about these changes in the Departmental Context page of their Justice Navigator Assessment. Over the coming months, CPE will publish assessments for eight additional LASD stations, offering one of the most comprehensive examinations of racial disparities in policing across Los Angeles County to date.
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