California law enforcement officers disproportionately targeted people they perceived as Black teenagers at nearly six times the rate of perceived White teens during pedestrian and vehicle stops in 2021, according to a new state report published on Jan. 3.

The annual study by the California Racial and Identity Profiling Board analyzed millions of vehicle and pedestrian stops in 2021 by 58 California law enforcement agencies under the state’s Racial and Identity Profiling Act. The law mandates all state and local law enforcement agencies to collect and report detailed information about every person detained and/or searched by police.

According to the data collected, officers searched suspects they perceived as Black adolescents, between ages 15 and 17, almost six times the rate of those they perceived as White teens. Further, the police detained, searched, or handcuffed suspects they perceived as Black adolescents and children (ages 10 -14) at a higher percentage than any other race or ethnic groups.

Although cops targeted Black teens and children, they reported “no action taken” approximately 2.2 times as often as individuals they perceived as White. That means “a higher rate of those stopped who were perceived as Black were not actually engaged in unlawful activities,” according to a statement from the California Attorney General office.

“The data show that racial and identity disparities persist year after year,” the report stated. “The Board remains committed to analyzing and highlighting these disparities to compel evidence-driven strategies for reforming policing and eliminating racial and identity profiling in California.”

Among the list of solutions to racial profiling, the board recommended that the state lawmakers mandate more officer training. That includes requiring officers to take the 8-hour Procedural Justice training course, which is currently voluntary.

The board also recommends involvement of the most profiled communities in reviewing and providing feedback on existing police training courses and new ones in development.

Police racial profiling of Black and Brown people is a national problem that has persisted despite legislative efforts to end the practice, according to the American Bar Association. In March 1998, the U.S. House of Representative passed the Traffic Stops Statistics Act of 1997, representing the first attempt to legislatively address driving while Black. But the practice of using racial or ethnic appearances as reasonable suspicion of criminality “intensified” over the decades.