So far, the city has only provided the MBPD’s arrest logs from 2015–2020, totaling 1,092 pages. We have analyzed the data. All of our calculations, percentages, and other relevant information within is included below. These are the most striking findings[1]:

1. If you are a Black person in Manhattan Beach, you are 120 times more likely to be arrested than a white person in Manhattan Beach.

2. If you are a Latinx person in Manhattan Beach, you are 9 times more likely to be arrested than a white person in Manhattan Beach.

3. The percentage of Black people arrested in Manhattan Beach is 52 times higher than the percentage of Black Manhattan Beach residents.

4. The percentage of Latinx people arrested in Manhattan Beach is 4 times higher than the percentage of Latinx Manhattan Beach residents.

5. While some argue that outside visitors to Manhattan Beach account for this racial disparity, even if you recalculated this data to take into account the Black population of the County of Los Angeles (11%)[2] and left the white population of Manhattan Beach stable (79%)[3]— most generous scenario possible—Black people would still be 5 times more likely to be arrested in Manhattan Beach than white people.

6. Even recalculating for Latinx people on the basis of County of Los Angeles data (44.6%)[4], Latinx people are still 1.5 times more likely to be arrested in Manhattan Beach than white people.

7. What would it take to make that data equitable—how many Black people would have to visit Manhattan Beach on average each day to make the population percentage match the arrest rate? We know from the tourism data that Manhattan Beach receives an average of 10,400 visitors per day.[5] For the arrest rate to be equitable, we would have to have 21,025 Black people visit Manhattan Beach on average per day—over twice as many people of all races who visit Manhattan Beach on any given day.

8. In order to make the data equitable for Latinx people, there would need to be 26,636 Latinx people visiting Manhattan Beach on average per day—again over twice as many.

This data conclusively proves inequality in policing in Manhattan Beach—even if 100% of our visitors in any given day were Black, or even if 100% of our visitors in any given day were Latinx, the arrest rate would still be inequitable.

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Police Chief Derrick Abell argued in the public forum on June 9 that calculations such as those above are inaccurate because of high rates of recidivism—that is, he argues that such statistics are wrong because he claims the MBPD are arresting the same Black people over and over again rather than different Black people. However, if he is correct, we see only two possible explanations. Either:

1. The MBPD is racially profiling by picking up the same Black people repeatedly for crimes they did not commit. Or,

2. The MBPD is failing to prevent crime and does not serve a rehabilitative function. If the same people are in fact committing crimes repeatedly, the criminal justice system is not rehabilitating them or fixing the circumstances that led them to commit a crime in the first place.

The disparity that this data reveals is—and should be treated as—a serious problem for equity and justice in Manhattan Beach, regardless of the recidivism rate.

[1] Manhattan Beach Police Department, “Daily Jail Booking Log – Public Distribution,” January 1, 2015 – July 6, 2020. Results are calculated over the past five years.

[2] United States Census Bureau, “Los Angeles County, California,” https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/losangelescountycalifornia.

[3] United States Census Bureau, “Manhattan Beach, California,” https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/losangelescountycalifornia.

[4] United States Census Bureau, “Los Angeles County, California,” https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/losangelescountycalifornia.

[5] Linwood Pendleton et al, “Estimating the potential economic impacts of climate change on Southern California beaches,” Climatic Change 109, Suppl. 1 (2011): S277–S298, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0309-0, which models beach attendance.