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.
Seems to indicate that some populations commit more crimes than others. I think you
would find that to be true anywhere you question ethnicity vs crimes committed. Just
the way it is.
Responsi-Damn-bility
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT2v64Ykxc0
So, from the Sheriffs report, I can feel justified in being worried when I’m around black and brown folk. Got it.
Same with white folk. Got it.
Asians, not so much.
Interesting, seem to remember from school something called The Declaration of Independence,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…
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But those in charge and politicians with a woke agenda evidently want us to believe by percentages a person’s ethnic group and skin color determines if they will be arrested ? ? ?
How many of those arrested are high school dropouts and do not have a skill set employers want ? ? ?
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A kid learns morals, ethics, empathy from parents, church and from school supposedly a skill set employers desire then they can becoming productive members of society. IF kids are deprived of character building and skills, quite simply they learn skills of the street, becoming predacious upon society with zero empathy for their victims.
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals
is to educate a menace to society.”
–Theodore Roosevelt
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Prediction, there will be much woke hand wringing along with speeches of indignation about poor down trodden of society, who in their eyes are unfortunate victims and will demand action. Actually another day glow excuse to spend taxpayer dollars.
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We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken,
society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker.
It is time to restore the American precept that each individual
is accountable for his actions”
–Ronald Reagan
I would never know that from watching local news, YouTube clips, and witnessing many criminal acts in this county.
I don’t give a damn about your report, take accountability for your actions! Just another race baiting article.
First off, the idiocrats need to focus on culture not race. Only then they will begin to understand.
There’s lies, damn lies, and statistics.
Said somebody once.
I’m sure it’s because the judicial system and all law enforcement personnel are racist and it has nothing to do with the fact that these are the people committing the crimes. Right?
Yeah the liberal thought process. smh.
This isn’t hard to figure out. Blacks commit the highest percentage of crimes, followed by Hispanics, Whites and Asians. I knew this prior to reading the article. And we’re well aware they travel from Oakland.
What exactly do they mean by “African American?” Are they referring to Blacks? I say this because not everybody with an African heritage is Black. Elon Musk comes to mind. There are a lot of non Blacks in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Lybia and South Africa. If they are indeed referring to Blacks, then maybe it’s because Blacks and Hispanics disproportionately commit more crime than their White counterparts, and Asians on the most part are taught respect at an early age, and are prone to be more studious than most of us. The police deal with this everyday, and they know who is responsible for most of the crime. When reality is denied, and the truth is never to be admitted, and the problem will never be solved.
Hmmm, soooo, is Kamala Harris black? One parent from India, one from Jamaica.
She is whatever flavor of the month that allows her to move foward. Wishy Washy and good for nothing. No backbone, spineless tag along. She ebs with whomever is paying her to get ahead in her game. She has sold her soul to move up the ladder. She does not know how to think independently, only does what her handlers tell her.
She’s black if the Party says so.
I smell BS
That is because those groups disproportionality commit more crimes. Stop it with the race baiting please
Blacks , according to FBI stats, commit about half of the murders, rapes and robberies. No shock they’re arrested disproportionately .
When you see videos from security cameras and see who are breaking in/stealing, ….
Guess that pretty much answers the question.
I don’t care what your skin level of eumelanin is…listen to Sammy Davis Jr. (Baretta theme song)…if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!
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https://youtu.be/6sHA7Uuz4oY
Where does it say the percentage of a population needs to equal the percentage of arrests?
Let’s just blame the police for arresting the people who are committing crimes.
Maybe the real problem is we just need more White, Asian and unknown race criminals.
Dr
We should make a new policy that requires police to ask the suspected criminals what race they identify as; and if they identify as a person of color, the police policy should then require then to check their monthly quotas. If they are under, they can then start the process of chasing them … if they are over, the police should just give them a ride to their next destination.
And for all of you that cannot understand sarcasm – THAT was sarcasm!
How about we just arrest the criminals. Who gives a crap what color they are, if they are violating the law, arrest them!
David Livingston is my cousin – I used to have respect for him.
But as the years go by, I view him more nd more as a spineless coward.
What he should have said is that – per capita – blacks commit more crime than hispanics, who commit more crime that white people, who commit more crimes than asians. It’s pretty simple.
My peoples here have covered this well already.
I agree. I used to have more respect for him at Concord PD. All I’ve seen is that he changed the uniforms to black and repainted the patrol cars. I am not impressed with him. Thank you for that comment, it was nice to get my comment off my chest. I voted for him.
Because true statistics that are rarely allowed to be viewed prove that these two ethnic groups commit the vast majority of crimes every year.
Oh, the Hypocrisy.
Crickets when reporting crimes or BOLO what the race is.
Or when reporting flash mobs, organized retail thefts, side shows etc.
Also, maybe don’t FIGHT with police and turn a simple traffic infraction into a Felony.
It’s a cultural problem.
A case study in wilful blindness and pretending not to notice something obvious.
Any child of moderate intelligence would wonder whether different demographics engage in criminal behavior at the same rate. Isn’t this what we want to know: whether there are racial disparities *because of some different treatment on the part of law enforcement*? For that, we need to have some way to compare the underlying behavior of different demographics. Just looking at arrest #s is absurd.
I mean, the vast majority of those arrested are men, compared to women. Do we take that as evidence of matriarchy and anti-male bigotry? Um, no.
All of this is so obvious that the real story is elsewhere. It’s how so many people can be made to talk and act as if something is true when they know it’s not.
The incarcerated population across the US is 93% male vs 7% female. The population of the US is 49.5% male vs 50.5% female. These dolts would conclude that the US justice system is misandrist.
Miss Andrist was my 5th grade teacher.
Well it’s true that some people groups do more crime than other people groups- totally out of proportion for their percentage of the population. Your FBI statistics will back that up. ie: African Americans, which are 13% of the population, do something like 48% of the crimes.
I’m not meaning that hateful or racist, it’s just a fact. And that one reason the liberal social justice people don’t want anyone who’s black to go to jail because I think it’s unfair, not considering the actions. If you do the crime you should serve the time. That’s true color blind Justice.
Another let’s just say example would be what if Germans were the ones that did all the speeding on the freeway. So you stop them give them tickets and punish them. But when the statistics show that it’s the Germans disproportionately being stopped for speeding, would that then be prejudice? Racist? Or is it because they are breaking the law?
The truth is that criminals and those that commit crimes(regardless of skin color or race) are disproportionately booked in Contra Costa County.
The whole thing is just a ploy by democrat politicians who support, enable and encourage criminals, and by the members of society that are criminals or supporters of criminals.
Democrats coddle and protect criminals. To get their votes.
…. and the undocumented
They are the omes doing all the crime.Now tell us who actually gets filed on though..all the caucasians are charged,all the minorities let go or dismissed..you’re being lied to if youre a liberal,if youre not a liberal you can see the truth as plain as day
Just do what the public schools do to improve their numbers with problem kids… don’t arrest them. Send them to the counselors office for some restorative justice talks and back out into the world. That will teach them to stop and everything will be fine. What could possibly go wrong?
This is the statistic that is truly amazing: “People of Asian descent made up 1% of the arrests and bookings but represent 19% of the county’s population. “ Sounds like we have one segment of the population that is peaceful and law abiding, and the rest of us are barbarians by comparison.
People seem to forget what put CoCo county on the radar of criminals, happened roughly four years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6UtgOisoc
Note all the arrests being made.
That video sums it up.
I attended an event this year where the Walnut Creek Mayor was asked what they are doing about the dramatic increase in crime. She looked ashen faced.
Then she stated triumphantly they have installed barriers on one end of Broadway, and that it’s really hard to find and hire well qualified policemen.
Telling.
Pathetic. Just going to encourage more criminal activity. Example of dereliction of duty by the police force. Hard to watch.
They commit more crimes. Pretty simple math. Think of all the ones seen on social media stealing and running out. They should be in jail too.
Just arrested more white people. It’s really simple.
The lies of America are slowly coming to light over the last few days,but wait for the biggest:If you vote for Trump,youre a racist,a sexist and an extremist.
BOHICA at it’s best.
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Grape or cherry Kool-Aid?
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Get over it already, it’s not disproportionately at all it is what it is and the facts are right in our faces who and where to point fingers
A blatant logical fallacy that, somehow, a race’s proportion to population and crime stats must be equitable, without any discussion to those race’s much higher rates of committed crimes. When Politicians, Society and those races involved come to terms with their disproportionate rates of crime, only then will some solution take hold.
According to the FBI, black folks represent 12% of the population (2nd lowest), with a 55% homicide rate (highest). Um
This should clear everything up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ssxUxyaG0
I believe I now know everything I need to know about the writer of this article, Tom Hicks.
So, the point of the report is ….? Who are they blaming for the disparity? The State? The County? The taxpayers who don’t commit crime? This report doesn’t make any sense.
I listen to the Concord & Clayton PDs constantly on my scanners. Facts are facts. Anyone can listen for free on Broadcastify.com or buy a $500 scanner and find out for yourself WHO commits the most crimes. Descriptions of suspects are given to dispatchers by complainants. Those descriptions are related to officers in the field by the dispatchers. That is how it works. The police do the best the are ALLOWED to do and they are absolutely awesome people. Complaints go to DA Becton.