CT police falsified thousands of reports to the racial profiling database, new report finds
A recent audit shows Connecticut State Police Troopers submitted over 25,000 falsified traffic stop records to the state’s racial profiling database, resulting in a vast overrepresentation of traffic stops involving white drivers.
The Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project compared self-reported records of traffic tickets in the database to official records, or the Centralized Infractions Bureau, of actual traffic tickets from 2014 to 2021.
While the audit found with confidence that there were 25,966 overreported incidents, the number could be as high as 58,553.
On average, each trooper issued 4.7 unmatched (or likely falsified reports) per year. Only 19% of troopers did not have any overreported racial profiling records.
The report also found a high prevalence of underreporting, with 16,298 infractions found in the CIB system without a matching report in the racial profiling database.
Of the 1,301 troopers audited, 42% had a significant number of underreported records and 8% of troopers had more than 25 underreported records in a given year.
The falsified incidents more often involved white drivers, while unreported incidents involved more Black and Hispanic drivers. The resulting data underrepresents how frequently officers give non-white drivers tickets.
In 1999, Connecticut enacted the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act prohibiting racial profiling of motorists. In 2013, the law was amended to require all police agencies in the state to submit traffic stop data for analysis to the state’s database.
Without accurate reporting, it is difficult to determine the actual racial demographics of the recipients of traffic tickets and identify potential racial profiling.
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Ken Barone, Associate Director for Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at UConn, is on the team tasked with overseeing the data to determine if police departments are abiding by this state law.
He said a 2018 incident, in which four officers were found to be falsifying their reports in the database, prompted the audit. The falsified information poses serious concern both for being able to analyze racial profiling data and for the integrity of the police officers involved.
“The legitimacy of law enforcement is dependent upon law enforcement being honest, in everything they do,” Barone said. “If your integrity is now questioned, it opens the door to allow people to question arrests, use of force, and other interactions that law enforcement have with the public."
Barone said police could face repercussions for falsifying records, including investigation and suspension.
Additionally, under the Brady doctrine, every time the officer testifies in court about a case, the defense is made aware of the previous infraction, reducing the officer’s credibility.
“Regardless of career consequences, or potential criminal consequences, at the very least, you have consequences in terms of how effective you can be as a police officer,” said Barone. “You are now fairly limited in your ability to participate in criminal investigations.”
Barone mentioned the research did not identify the intent behind officers who falsified reports. He did note that in the 2018 case, officers cited fears of not seeming productive enough when asked why they made up traffic reports. He notes that more productive officers have easier access to overtime, choosing where they work and new equipment like patrol cars.
More than 20 million Americans are stopped by police each year, and Black drivers are 20% more likely to get pulled over than white drivers, according to a study from the Stanford Open Policing Project.
The audit recommends stricter reporting processes and enforcement on troopers to report accurately.
Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CT police falsified reports to racial profiling database, report finds
