Redwood City Releases Police Data Tracking Arrests, Use Of Force

REDWOOD CITY, CA — Redwood City released updated police data dashboards last week tracking police activity, arrests and use of force since 2015.

Redwood City police made an average of 5.2 arrests a day from 2015 to 2020. Fifty-six percent of arrests were initiated by a call for service, and 1 in every 9 incidents was classified as a serious or violent crime.

The police department used force 292 times from 2015 to 2020 on a member of the public, with four incidents resulting in death and two in serious injury.

Hispanics made up 48 percent of arrests over that span despite making up 35 percent of the population. A third of the arrests were of white people, who make up 44 percent of Redwood City’s population.

The most arrests resulted from a person or location check, which made up 27 percent of arrests, followed by traffic and parking.

Of Redwood City police activity during the five-year span, the majority of activity (21 percent) took place in the downtown area.

The department noted that the public should explore the dashboards “without formulated conclusions or framed narrative.”

The dashboards can be viewed here.