African Americans And Hispanics Arrested And Booked Disproportionately In Contra Costa County, According To Report

By Tony Hicks – African American and Hispanic suspects represent higher percentages of those arrested and booked into county jail than their overall representation in Contra Costa County, according to a report Sheriff David Livingston gave to the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Fulfilling a request from supervisors during his last quarterly report earlier this year, Livingston’s report showed that during the second quarter ending June 30, African Americans represented 28% of those booked into county jail, but make up only 8% of the county’s population.

Hispanics, who represent 27% of the county’s population, comprised 32% of those arrested and booked from April 1 to June 30.

White residents comprised 32% of arrests and bookings but make up 39% of the county’s population.

People of Asian descent made up 1% of the arrests and bookings but represent 19% of the county’s population. Other percentages were either “unknown” or classified as “other/unknown.” Both numbers were at 7%.

Livingston also brought reports for 18 Contra Costa cities. In all 18 cities, a higher percentage of African Americans were arrested and booked into jail than lived in the city.

The same was true for Hispanics in 14 of the 18 cities. The only exceptions were Richmond, Antioch, Pittsburg, and San Pablo.

People of Asian descent were arrested and booked at a lower percentage than their overall representation in all 18 cities.

White people were arrested and booked at lower rates than their percentage of population in 14 cities, with the exceptions being Hercules, San Pablo, San Ramon, and Martinez.

Supervisor John Gioia, whose District 1 represents Richmond, San Pablo, and other West Contra Costa County cities, said all the facts aren’t clear, but one thing is definitely clear.

“African Americans are booked at a much higher disproportionate rate than their percentage of the population in the county and in these cities, without pointing fingers at any particular city,” Gioia said. “Across the board is the best way to put it. And that raises a pretty strong red flag to understand what’s going on. Why is this happening? What are the practices?”

Livingston told the board repeat offenders are more likely than first offenders to be booked into jail. Of those incarcerated in Contra Costa County with prior felonies, 42% were African American, 32% were Hispanic, 20% were white, 2% were of Asian descent and 2% were “unknown.”

Livingston called the report “pretty telling” as far as the disparities. He also pointed out that people travel from out of county to commit crime in Contra Costa County, and that multiple police pursuits headed west on state Highway 24 have ended up in Oakland, where deputies have terminated pursuits because they don’t know the area.

Much of the report, which contains details like inmate numbers and total bookings, didn’t change much since the last report three months earlier. Livingston did point out the number of Narcan deployments for opioid overdoses doubled since last year, from 11 in the first half of 2023 to 22 over the same period in 2024.

“We’re of course happy to report there are no in custody deaths in the reporting of Narcan deployments,” Livingston said.

The board unanimously accepted the report after asking plenty of questions and suggested asking the board’s racial justice oversight body to brainstorm solutions.

Members also asked Livingston to come back with additional information next time, if possible, including whether his department can track what cities inmates are from, demographic information on victims, racial breakdowns of those cited and released as well as those arrested but not convicted. They also asked about data breaking down how many are arrested as the result of county residents’ reports as opposed to officers initializing contact.