LOS ANGELES (AP) — California law enforcement searched teenagers whom officers perceived to be Black at nearly six times the rate of teens believed to be white during vehicle and pedestrian stops in 2021, according to a state report released Tuesday.

The annual report by California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board — part of a law that initially took effect in 2018 — is among several reforms taken by the state in recent years amid increased focus on police brutality and racial injustice nationwide.

The board’s report includes data on vehicle and pedestrian stops by officers from 58 law enforcement agencies in 2021. The data includes what officers perceived to be the race, ethnicity, gender and disability status of people they stop so that the state can better identify and analyze bias in policing.

The 58 agencies — which include the 23 largest departments in the state — collectively made more than 3.1 million vehicle and pedestrian stops in 2021. By April, all of California’s more than 500 law enforcement agencies must submit their data.

The data includes how officers perceive an individual’s race or gender, even if it’s different than how the person identifies, because the officer’s perception is what drives bias. The board’s work informs agencies, the state’s police office training board and state lawmakers as they change policies and seek to decrease racial disparities and bias in policing.

In more than 42% of the 3.1 million stops by those agencies in 2021, the individual was perceived to be Hispanic or Latino, according to the report. More than 30% were perceived to be white and 15% were believed to be Black.

Statewide, however, 2021 Census estimates say Black or African American people made up only 6.5% of California’s population, while white people were about 35%. Hispanic or Latino people made up roughly 40% of the state’s population that year.

“The data show that racial and identity disparities persist year after year,” the report said. “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.”

For example: Police handcuffed, searched or detained — either curbside or in a patrol car — individuals whom they believed to be Black youths between 15 and 17 years old during a higher percentage of traffic stops than any other combination of perceived race or ethnicity and age groups.

Law enforcement also searched people who were perceived to be Black at 2.2 times the rate of people thought to be white, the report said. And police were more than twice as likely to use force against people they thought were Black, as compared to people whom officers believed to be white.

Yet law enforcement officials reported taking no action most frequently after making stops of people they believed to be Black individuals, as compared to other racial and ethnic groups, “indicating those stopped Black individuals were not engaged in criminal activity,” the report said.

“Based on the research, the Board believes that public health officials and policymakers should treat racial and identity profiling and adverse policing as significant public health issues,” according to the report. “It is imperative to recognize that police interactions can negatively affect the mental and physical health of individuals who are Black, Hispanic/Latine(x), Indigenous, and people of color.”

This year’s report includes data from 40 more agencies than the 2020 report, meaning it analyzed an additional 246,000 stops. Of the 18 agencies that collected data in both years, 13 made fewer stops in 2021. The report said the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted those figures.

The 2021 findings were consistent with previous reports by the board that similarly showed law enforcement’s racial and identity profiling through the traffic stops.

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — The suspect in a Southern California triple homicide who died in a shootout with police was a Virginia law enforcement officer who investigators believe drove across the country to meet a teenage girl before killing three members of her family.

Austin Lee Edwards, 28, also likely set fire to the family’s home in Riverside, California, on the day of the shooting Friday before leaving with the girl, according to the Riverside Police Department.

Deputies exchanged gunfire with and fatally shot Edwards after locating him with the teenager later that day, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and Riverside Police said in news releases.

Until last month, Edwards was a Virginia State Police trooper and was recently hired as a sheriff’s deputy in that state, spokespersons said.

Edwards, a resident of North Chesterfield, Virginia, met the girl online and obtained her personal information by deceiving her with a false identity, known as “catfishing,” Riverside Police said.

The bodies found in the home were identified as the girl’s grandparents and mother: Mark Winek, 69, his wife, Sharie Winek, 65, and their 38-year-old daughter, Brooke Winek. Police said the exact causes of their deaths remain under investigation.

The teenager was unharmed and taken into protective custody by the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services, Riverside Police said.

Police in Riverside, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown Los Angeles, received a call for a welfare check Friday morning concerning a man and woman involved in a disturbance near a car. Investigators later determined the two people were Edwards and the teenager, whose age was not released.

Authorities believe Edwards parked his vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway, walked to the home and killed the family members before leaving with the girl.

Dispatchers were alerted to smoke and a possible structure fire a few houses away from the disturbance. The Riverside Fire Department discovered three adults lying in the front entryway.

The cause of the fire was under investigation but appeared to have been intentionally set, police said.

Riverside authorities distributed a description of Edwards’ vehicle to law enforcement agencies and several hours later, police located the car with Edwards and the teenager in Kelso, an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County. Edwards fired gunshots and was killed by deputies returning fire, police said.

Edwards was hired by the Virginia State Police and entered the police academy on July 6, 2021, Virginia State Police Public Relations Manager Corinne Geller told The Associated Press in an email. He graduated as a trooper on Jan. 21, 2022, and was assigned to Henrico County within the agency’s Richmond Division until his resignation on Oct. 28.

Corinne Geller, a state police spokesperson, said that during Edwards’ 15-month tenure there, he “never exhibited any behaviors to trigger any internal administrative or criminal investigations.” During his background and psychological tests, there weren’t “any indicators of concern,” she told the Los Angeles Times.

Edwards was hired as a deputy in Washington County, Virginia, on Nov. 16 and had begun orientation to be assigned to the patrol division, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. During the hiring process, “no employers disclosed any troubles, reprimands, or internal investigations pertaining to Edwards,” the statement said.

“It is shocking and sad to the entire law enforcement community that such an evil and wicked person could infiltrate law enforcement while concealing his true identity as a computer predator and murderer. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Winek family, their friends, officers, and all of those affected by this heinous crime,” Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office was assisting California agencies in the investigation.

Ron Smith, a longtime friend of the victims’ family, said he met Mark Winek three decades ago when they were both coaching baseball at Corona High School. Smith told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that Winek was a beloved figure in the local school sports community, respected by athletes and coaches alike.

“It’s a shock,” Smith said. “He’s a dear friend, there’s going to be a hole in my heart that’s going to be hard to fill.”

Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez called the case “yet another horrific reminder of the predators existing online who prey on our children.”

“If you’ve already had a conversation with your kids on how to be safe online and on social media, have it again. If not, start it now to better protect them,” Gonzalez said.

An online fundraising campaign was launched Monday to help cover funeral expenses and support the victims’ families.

The kidnapping and killings were reminiscent of the 2013 abduction of 16-year-old Hannah Marie Anderson in National City, California. The bodies of the girl’s mother and brother were found in the burned home of the suspect, 40-year-old James DiMaggio. Hannah was found alive in Idaho, where DiMaggio was killed by FBI agents during a shootout.

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