Sentiments about the police have graced headline for a few years now as the relationship between the public and law enforcement was brought into sharper focus during the pandemic. Names like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, protests, and rallying cries of defunding the police are just some examples of the civil unrest nationwide.
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26,000 fake traffic tickets in Connecticut
In fact, in 2020, a Gallup poll reported Americans’ confidence in police has dropped to a record low— declining to 48%. It was the first time in 27 years that confidence in law enforcement was below the majority. The latest news to exacerbate this confidence hails from the state of Connecticut, where 26,000 fake traffic tickets were issued to make law enforcement appear busier, get paid overtime, and skew racial profiling. 26,000 fake citations over a period of five years, involving hundreds of Connecticut police officers Business Insider and other news outlets reported.
Connecticut law prohibits quotas for traffic stops and tickets
32,000 inaccurate police citations
According to an internal audit (conducted by University of Connecticut data analysts,) of Connecticut State Police records, troopers logged in extensive discrepancies in their traffic stops. One police officer falsified 1,350 traffic tickets, from 2014 to 2017. The CT Insider also reported 32,000 citations were “inaccurate,” but didn’t report what exactly wasn’t factual or consistent. All these citations were submitted to the Connecticut’s racial profiling database too, resulting in skewed crime statistics making it appear that more white people had been stopped by law enforcement.
CT’s Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Law
The Connecticut State Police not only provide enforcement on Connecticut interstate highways and state roads, but also oversee local policing for 80 towns. When stopping a vehicle, CT police gathers the driver’s license, vehicle registration, and insurance information. The officer also verifies, through a statewide system, that the information is up to date, and there are no outstanding warrants related to the driver or passengers in the vehicle.
SEE ALSO: HOW TO REGISTER A RECENTLY BOUGHT VEHICLE IN CONNECTICUT
Regardless of the stop outcome, police are required to complete a racial profiling form, in compliance with the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Law. This law requires officers to note the perceived racial identity of all subjects of a traffic stop, as part of efforts to reduce racial profiling.
In 2021, the Connecticut State Police employed 885 sworn personnel of all ranks
As many as 58,553 falsified traffic citations
In total, the internal CT police audit found 387 troopers and constables (peace officer with limited policing authority) logged a “statistically significant” number of traffic stops that couldn’t be substantiated in at least one year of the audit. The total number of false records could ultimately be as high as 58,553. NBC CT reported “a pattern of having records where you cannot find a corresponding record in the court system.” The timeline of when the allegedly fake tickets were created is said to go back to 2016.
On average, there are over 580,000 traffic stops that occur in Connecticut, every year
A public hearing will be held on Thursday, July 27 2023.
