Statistics on Connecticut crime rates refuel political debate with election six weeks away

With only six weeks before election day, state police released new crime statistics Monday that refueled the political battle between Republicans and Democrats over whether crime is a major problem in Connecticut.

The statistics showed that overall crime declined by 2.82% last year, while rape was up by 23% and manslaughter up by 2%. Murders increased to 150 statewide in 2021 — the highest in 10 years and up sharply from the recent low of 80 statewide in 2016, according to the statistics from the state police. Murders increased slightly from 147 in 2020 as the numbers fluctuate each year.

Crimes in various categories showed a wide range of ups and downs with aggravated assaults down by 16.76% and motor vehicle thefts down by 10.57%.

Gov. Ned Lamont, who is locked in an election battle with Republican Bob Stefanowski, told reporters that he did not ask the state’s public safety commissioner to release the statistics in the middle of the election season.

“No, it’s up to James [Rovella] to make that call,’' Lamont said during a news conference at state police headquarters in Middletown.

Rovella said that some other states have recently released their annual statistics for 2021.

“This is traditionally the time that we put them out,’' Rovella said.

Lamont hailed the work of the police at both the state and local level.

“These numbers show a very positive trend,’' Lamont said. “I remember President Trump’s inaugural where he was talking about American carnage and carnage in the streets and a lot of fear-mongering. I think that was incredibly unfair to police forces across the country and what a difference they are making. Especially in the Northeast, where our crime rate is dramatically lower than it is in some states down in the South — those red states that are much more permissive when it comes to guns, much less training, and you see that reflected in much higher crime rates as well. I think what we are doing is working.’'

But Stefanowski said that citizens across the state are keenly aware that crime is a problem.

“These statistics are largely a year or more old, including when the state was dealing with COVID,’' Stefanowski said. “Unfortunately for Gov. Lamont, the people of Connecticut aren’t stupid, and they’re not blind. You only need to turn on your nightly news, open a newspaper, or talk with your neighbors to know crime in Connecticut is a problem and a growing threat to communities all across our state due to policies that have handcuffed and scapegoated our police and made it harder for them to do their jobs.’'

For more than a year, Republicans have been blasting Democrats over crime — calling for legislative action to address a rash of automobile thefts and car break-ins that are often done by juveniles.

The Democratic-controlled legislature responded with a bill — signed into law in May by Lamont — that directly addresses the thefts of catalytic converters by prohibiting junkyards and motor vehicle recyclers from receiving a catalytic converter that is not attached to a vehicle. That move is designed to stop criminals from cutting converters off cars and bringing them to junkyards in return for cash.

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford said Republicans still want to make changes in the police accountability law that was passed largely by Democrats two years ago and signed into law by Lamont. Democrats have said they are open to discussions, but they have rejected various proposals by Republicans.

Republicans say the complicated, 71-page bill is too tough on police, particularly the “qualified immunity” provisions regarding civil lawsuits that can be brought against officers on a personal basis. Legislators still disagree about the impact of the provision with some saying it makes it easier to file lawsuits regarding split-second, on-duty decisions and others saying that the only major impact would be against officers who act recklessly, rather than making a good-faith mistake. The disagreement was so split that a Republican amendment on the issue failed on a tie vote.

Candelora also cited the banning of “consent” searches that officers say lead to fewer guns and drugs being taken off the streets during routine traffic stops. Democrats, though, say that officers still have wide latitude on “consent” searches that allow police to search a vehicle if they have probable cause because, for example, they saw a gun sticking out from under a seat.

“To suggest that crime is down statewide — if you take that information to any individual, they would laugh at that remark,’' Candelora said Monday in an interview. “We just don’t have enough troopers to enforce the speeding and reckless driving laws on our roads. ... In my sleepy town of North Branford, it was nonexistent. You never heard about car break-ins or house break-ins. It is a regular conversation now throughout my community. So I don’t care what the governor tried to roll out today. He needs to come into these communities and see what their [Democratic] policies have done to crime in the state of Connecticut.’'

While retirements change the numbers constantly, state police have dipped below 900 troopers at times — down sharply from 1,283 under then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2009. The latest class of 33 new troopers will graduate in October, but that class is far smaller than some in the past. In March, 53 troopers graduated, but that did not include eight colleagues who were fired in a cheating scandal at the academy.

As the number of troopers decreased, so did the number of traffic stops during the pandemic.

Traffic stops by troopers peaked most recently in 2014 with nearly 235,000 stops, according to statistics from the Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy at UConn in Hartford. That total fell to 157,007 in 2019 and then 75,988 in 2020 — the year that the ongoing pandemic started. The total dropped further to 73,311 for 2021. But officials said those numbers went back up to more normal levels as the state emerged from the pandemic. The total for the first six months of 2022 was nearly 50,000, which is subject to change and revision.

In another development, Hartford Courant columnist Kevin F. Rennie released an audio tape from a local radio debate in Putnam with Democrat Christine Maine, who is running against incumbent Republican Rick Hayes in three towns in northeastern Connecticut. Maine said she had known many police in her prior career as a magistrate in Virginia, adding “some of them joined the police department because they wanted to beat people up with impunity, they wanted to have sex because the uniform attracted women and they wanted to speed.”

The issue arose during the radio debate when Maine was asked about recruiting more officers at a time when some are shying away from a career in law enforcement.

The thefts of catalytic converters have occurred in numerous cities and towns across the state. In Glastonbury, thefts had jumped to a record-breaking 56 in less than three full months at the start of 2022, compared to only 14 for the entire year in 2020, according to police statistics.

Some thieves have been particularly emboldened, creating dangerous situations as they flee when police arrive.

In Farmington, Officer James O’Donnell suffered serious injuries when he was struck by a fleeing, stolen vehicle on Sept. 20, 2021 after arriving at the scene on a call about a suspected stolen catalytic converter. O’Donnell was squeezed between his police car and a car driven by New Britain resident Pedro Acevedo, who was charged with first-degree assault and other criminal counts, police said.

O’Donnell endured several surgeries and now has a permanent screw in the bone between his hips and tailbone. O’Donnell recently returned to work as a police officer — one year after the incident.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com