Bias on the Streets: The Heightened Danger of Police Encounters for

Not all traffic stops are equal: transgender Californians face far higher searches and arrests, with no greater contraband findings.

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California police didn’t just stop millions of people in 2023—they searched and arrested those they perceived as transgender at strikingly higher rates, even though those encounters were no more likely to uncover contraband. That pattern exposes a civil-rights problem, not a public-safety success.

Higher search and arrest rates for transgender Californians, without higher contraband findings, point to discrimination rather than safety.

Officers logged about 4.6 million stops statewide, and nearly 18,000—roughly 0.4 percent—involved people they perceived as transgender or gender nonconforming. Within those encounters, Disproportionate searches and Heightened arrests stand out as the defining facts.

The search data is blunt. Officers searched 24 percent of people they perceived as transgender. By comparison, they searched people perceived as cisgender men at a 14 percent rate and people perceived as cisgender women at an 8 percent rate. Yet those extra searches didn’t produce better results.

Contraband appeared at nearly identical rates across groups, about 26 to 27 percent. In other words, police intensified intrusions on transgender Californians without any evidence that those stops presented greater objective risk or yielded more illegal items.

Arrest data deepens the concern. Officers arrested 19 percent of people they perceived as transgender men and 20 percent of those they perceived as transgender women. Those rates far exceeded the arrest rates for people perceived as cisgender men, 10 percent, and cisgender women, 7 percent.

When the state permits this gap, it signals that gender nonconformity itself can trigger more severe treatment.

Researchers reached the obvious determination: officers’ perceptions of gender, not stronger evidence or higher danger, drove these disparities. That matters because constitutional policing requires individualized suspicion, equal protection, and restraint. California can’t defend a system where transgender people face greater invasion and punishment while producing the same contraband hit rates as everyone else on the street.

Profile Author / Editor / Publisher

Dora Saparow: Dora Kay Saparow came out in a conservative Nebraskan town where she faced both misunderstanding and acceptance during her transition. Seeking specialized support, she moved to a big city, where she could access the medical, legal, and social resources necessary for her journey. Now, fourteen years later, Dora is fully transitioned, happily married, and well-integrated into society. Her story underscores the importance of time, resources, and community support, offering hope and encouragement to others pursuing their authentic selves.