City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: INFORMATION REPORTS
Lead Department: City Manager
Meeting Date: March 9, 2026
Report #:2512-5589
TITLE
Informational Report: Report from the National Policing Institute Regarding Palo Alto's RIPA Data (Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015); CEQA – Not a Project
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council accept this informational report containing the report from the National Policing Institute regarding Palo Alto’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (RIPA) data as well as information from City staff as context related to the report.
BACKGROUND
Assembly Bill 953, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (RIPA), requires all California law enforcement agencies to collect specific information on certain types of police contacts (detentions and contacts during which a person is searched). It also requires that this data be reported to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and publicly shared. RIPA also requires the Attorney General to issue regulations for the collection and reporting of this stop data (statewide). (Gov. Code, § 12525.5, subd. (e)).
The implementation timeline for law enforcement agencies varied based on the number of sworn officers employed by the agencies. The first wave of agencies required to start data collection were those with 1,000 or more officers; this data collection began mid-2018. The second wave of agencies, with 500-999 officers started data collection in January 2020. The third wave of agencies, with 250-499 officers started data collection in January 2021. The last wave of agencies, with fewer than 250 officers, started data collection in January 2022. Palo Alto was in the fourth wave of agencies for implementation and began the first year of RIPA data collection, per state law, in 2022. Thus, the data shared with the National Policing Institute (NPI) for analysis was the full year data of 2022 and 2023, both of which were also publicly available on the City’s RIPA data dashboard.
The City’s RIPA dashboard published the first round of data in 2023. The information in the dashboard has been available for public review through an interactive RIPA data dashboard
that display that same data by applying user-defined filters. In addition to the data dashboard, the public can also download the raw data. The dashboard is one of the only RIPA data dashboards among nearby law enforcement agencies.
The City’s Wellness and Belonging Action Plan is a result of work done in 2020 and 2021. The Action Plan follows these year-over-year broad objective areas to support ongoing consistency in the City's wellness and belonging work even beyond the initial action plan years. The objective areas are:
Cultivating Experiences and Appreciation
Fostering a Welcoming Environment
Applying an Equity Lens: Strategic Review of the Organization through an Equity Lens The City’s desire to analyze the RIPA data is included in the Action Plan as an item to complete with an outside partner in recognition of the fact that the interpretation and analysis of RIPA data is complex and nuanced. The outside partner the City sought to find was an independent, third-party, qualified data analyst group to review the City’s RIPA data and provide a report on it. It took some time to find a researcher who could be an independent reviewer without a particular outcome intended on the data. Staff researched options and landed on the National Policing Institute (NPI) based on NPI’s background as an organization and the opportunity to advance the work with NPI at no cost to the City.
The City worked with NPI through The Knowledge Lab which is a resource for communities and law enforcement agencies to advance researching, identifying, and sharing of fair and effective policing practices and technical assistance. The Knowledge Lab collaborates with stakeholder organizations, researchers, and agencies to leverage and share resources and guidance already developed within these professional networks and works to create resources where they are needed.
As a project sponsored by The Knowledge Lab, there was no financial obligation from the City required for this work and the project was supported by Grant No. 15PBJA-21-GK-04011-JAGT awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (which is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office).
The National Policing Institute (NPI) is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and training institute committed to addressing policing’s most complex challenges through evidence-informed, innovative solutions. By translating research and lessons learned into practice, NPI assists law enforcement organizations in adopting and adapting the most effective programs, resources, and tools available to serve their communities. NPI partnered with the City to advance this report to the City Council.
ANALYSIS
Palo Alto’s RIPA data is entered by officers at the completion of their interaction with the person/contact. The data required to be collected includes:
The date, time, duration, and location of the stop
Information about the stopped person, as perceived by the officer:
Race or ethnicity
Gender
Age
If the officer perceived the person to be LGBT[QIA+]
If the officer perceived the person as having limited or no English fluency If the officer perceived the person as having a disability The reason for the stop
If the stop was made in response to a call for service Actions taken by the officer during the stop
The basis for any search and if property was seized
If any contraband or evidence was discovered
The result of the stop
The officer's unique identification number, years of experience at the time of the stop, and assignment at the time of the stop
At the end of each calendar year, Palo Alto staff compile the data and submit it for review to the California Department of Justice for certification. Upon certification of the data, the City uploads the data to the City’s website and makes it available on the City’s RIPA Dashboard.
The City asked NPI to work collaboratively with the City to assist in understanding the context of police encounters with members of the public during stops and to advise the City on the interpretation and policy implications of RIPA data from analysis findings. The City also asked NPI to examine the public dashboard and to recommend any enhancements. The key findings in the report, found on report pages 34-36 in more detail, are:
- Expand and improve data collection
- Implement ongoing trend monitoring
- Improve the utility of the RIPA Dashboard
- Integrate officer and community perspectives
Regarding the Dashboard, the key findings are:
- Clean and pre-process data before publication
- Enhance visualizations and functionality
- Expand methodological documentation
The recommendations related to the Dashboard are intended to improve the Dashboard usefulness and functionality. As stated in the Police Department responses (Attachment B), the Police Department will seek to implement some aspects of these recommendations. It is noteworthy that the NPI report references the Dashboard as a compliance tool for State law.
However, the State RIPA requirement is for an agency to collect the data, report it to DOJ, and then make the data publicly available. The Palo Alto Dashboard goes beyond State RIPA data requirements by having a publicly available interactive data dashboard. Of all the cities in the State, Palo Alto is one of the few cities with a dashboard and is one of the smallest cities with a dashboard. The Dashboard recommendations are suggestions to make the existing dashboard more user friendly and better able to assist individuals that are seeking to interact with the data differently. The Police Department will continue to improve the Dashboard as resources allow.
The full NPI report is included in Attachment A and responses from the Palo Alto Police Department regarding the recommendations and key findings are in Attachment B. In addition to those responses, staff also wanted to provide some additional information below as considerations when reviewing the report.
Note, this report is being presented as an informational report because it is funded by the BJA and as of 2025, that Federal agency has created more limitations on NPI‘s ability to give presentations about this type of data. In future analysis projects related to the City’s RIPA data, if the project is funded by the City, these limitations will not be factors/concerns.
Next Steps:
The NPI analysis provides the City with data analysis of two (2) years of RIPA data and offers some additional methodologies for RIPA data analysis especially beyond general Census data comparison. It is an opportunity for the City to establish baseline analysis of the RIPA data and as a baseline, now the City can consider moving forward with more analysis on additional years of data since the City now has data for 2022, 2023, 2024, and soon to be data for 2025. As NPI referenced, with multiple years of data the City can monitor for trends over time which can be useful to the City while also learning from this initial analysis.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
This report was provided to the City at no cost to the City as it was funded through the Bureau of Justice Administration’s Knowledge Lab program for the City to partner with the reputable National Policing Institute (NPI). Any future analysis the City would like to engage with regarding the RIPA data would require funding for a contract with research firm.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Staff has provided updates about this RIPA data at Policy and Services Committee members.
Staff also kept interested stakeholders in the Palo Alto community apprised about this report being forthcoming. Note, this report is being delivered well after the original timeline due to focus on other Council priority assignments as well as navigating changes with the federal funding agency.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because this report is an administrative or maintenance activity. CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(2).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: National Policing Institute (NPI) RIPA Data Report, 2026 Attachment B: Palo Alto Police Department Responses to NPI Recommendations APPROVED BY:
Ed Shikada, City Manager