Mapping police stops in San Francisco, one data point at a time
Overview Where Why Outcomes Demographics
San Francisco · Traffic Stop Analysis · 2020

Where do
stops happen,
and what follows?

This project examines how traffic stops vary across San Francisco — connecting location, reason, and enforcement outcome to reveal patterns in policing intensity and decision-making across neighborhoods.

DATA SOURCE: SFPD STOP DATA · ca_san_francisco_2020_04_01.csv
San Francisco · Stop Density Map
Geary Blvd Market St Cesar Chavez High density Mid density Low density
24k
Stops
analyzed
3
Outcome
types
10+
Stop reason
categories
01
Where

Spatial Patterns

Which neighborhoods see concentrated stop activity? Heatmaps reveal policing intensity across San Francisco's districts.

Mission
4.2k
SoMa
3.1k
Tenderloin
2.6k
Bayview
2.1k
02
Why

Stop Reasons

Traffic violations, equipment checks, or suspicion-based stops? See how stop reasons distribute across neighborhoods.

Traffic viol.
52%
Equipment
31%
Suspicion
12%
Other
5%
03
What Happens Next

Enforcement Outcomes

Does the same violation result in a warning here but an arrest there? Outcome disparities across areas and demographics.

Citation
48%
Warning
38%
Arrest
14%
Few tools connect spatial patterns, stop reasons, and enforcement outcomes in a single, integrated view. StopAtlas does.
2020
SFPD
Stop Data
Dataset