HARTFORD, Conn. — The U.S. Attorney's Office has dropped its investigation into the Connecticut State Police ticket scandal, according to state officials Thursday.
While no reason was provided for dropping the case, Gov. Ned Lamont said that there were a lot of "unsubstantiated allegations about state police" and that a thorough investigation was conducted regarding the allegations made about state troopers falsifying or skewing racial data with more than 25,000 traffic tickets.
"The investigation does us proud, it speaks to the integrity of our state police, the overwhelming majority trying to go out there and do the right thing," Lamont said. "If there are six or seven bad apples, we're going to hold them accountable."
According to state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner Ronnell Higgins, six state police troopers and one active constable have not been cleared and are currently on administrative leave while under review.
After a Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project audit from 2023 showed that more than 25,000 traffic tickets written by state police troopers may have been falsified or had skewed racial data, the state's Division of Criminal Justice began an investigation into the audit, which was then taken over by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In an independent report released by the Governor's Office regarding the audit, investigators said they found that most of the errors were not a result of intentional actions by the troopers but instead due to data entry mistakes and technical failures.
The report included that while most troopers' misconduct was unintentional, there were concerns about the traffic records that were both overreported and underreported.
Recommendations were included such as enhanced supervision and auditing by state police, improved training for troopers and dispatchers, technology changes and legislative actions to address the issue of falsifying traffic data and racial profiling data.
For more information and a full timeline on the ticket scandal, including the report on the audit, click here.
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