CONNECTICUT, USA — For years, criminal justice advocates have been calling for greater transparency regarding who gets pulled over by police in Connecticut.
Now, there's a new study out about racial profiling, and it shows promising data.
For nine years, the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project (CTRP3) has conducted its "Traffic Stop Data Analysis and Findings." The data dropped today is from 2022, and overall, the project did not find any disparities in who was pulled over by police statewide.
Ken Barone, the manager of Connecticut’s Racial Profiling Log, said that for a long time, they were seeing a disproportionate number of Black and Hispanic drivers being searched.
"The other thing we look at is are people being treated fairly when they are stopped – in particular people that are being stopped for speeding," Barone explained. "Are they all receiving similar outcomes? Similar fines? Tickets? Warnings? Regardless of where they are stopped and the color of their skin? And we are also seeing improvements there."
According to CTRP3, there were over 300,000 traffic stops in Connecticut in 2022. About 60% of those pulled over were white, and about 18% were Black with nearly 18% also being Hispanic.
The study also looked at local police departments. According to the report, the Guilford Police Department was the only one to cause some concern, but after a deeper look at the data, Barone said he and his team found that the numbers were skewed due to the regional work that Guilford police were doing.
The Guilford Police Department issued a response to the study, saying:
As a service-oriented organization that places great value on its partnership with the community, we were eager to support the follow-up analysis process to better understand the cause of this preliminary finding and appreciated that you and your team were equally committed to finding the contributing factor(s).
As members of the Guilford Police Department, we take great pride in our partnership with our community and our commitment to excellence.
State Sen. Harron Gaston (D-23) said that the report contained positive news but also served as a "sobering reminder" that by raising awareness about disparities in the system, there is a shift in behaviors and attitudes.
"I would like to commend the vast majority of our state’s law enforcement agencies for recognizing this is an issue and taking steps to address it," Gaston said. "Connecticut is moving in the right direction, but it would be irresponsible not to recognize that some departments and troops are still stopping members of underrepresented communities. While we must remain vigilant and continue to monitor these statistics, I look forward to more good news in the future.”
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Alexa Farrell is a reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at afarrell@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
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