Connecticut State Police Fake Traffic Ticket Scandal

What happened?

The CT Racial Profiling Prohibition Project conducted an audit of state police traffic stop records after a Hearst CT investigation revealed that at least four troopers had been investigated in 2018 for falsifying traffic stop records.

The Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project’s full report, released in June 2023, is available here.

This audit revealed that from 2014 to 2021, Connecticut State Police have submitted at least 25,966 false and inaccurate traffic stop records.

A crowd of people is gathered around the clock tower in Waterbury, Connecticut. The sky is blue and it is sunny. A Black man is in the foreground, back to the camera, with fist raised. He is wearing a backpack.

The Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project’s full report, released in June 2023, is available here.

This audit revealed that from 2014 to 2021, Connecticut State Police have submitted at least 25,966 false and inaccurate traffic stop records.

What do we learn from the audit of state police fake traffic tickets?

From the audit, it's revealed that the following things have occurred from 2014 to 2021...

Connecticut State Police submitted at least 25,966 false and inaccurate traffic stop records;
The majority of all Connecticut State Police troops, including the entire Eastern District, overreported traffic stops, which disproportionately reported stops of white people;
Of hundreds of thousands of records, state police underreported at least 2.5% and disproportionately underreported traffic stops of people of color;
At least 311 troopers and 76 constables submitted false and inaccurate traffic stop records
Some of the Connecticut State Police employees who submitted more than 200 false of inaccurate records each remain on the Connecticut State Police payroll.

In addition, the audit found that the entire Eastern district of Connecticut overreported traffic stops, which disproportionately reported fake stops of white people. This is an example of how, in certain parts of the state like Eastern Connecticut, the state police often act as the only police, meaning the harms of police’s bad behavior cut deeply into the community.

Ultimately, the audit revealed that, for years, Connecticut troopers have been overstating how often they stop white drivers and understating how often they stop Black, Latinx, and other drivers of color, with the end result that racial disparities in police traffic stops have most likely been worse than reported.

This photo captures a legislative forum about the fake traffic ticket scandal from the back of the room. Several people's backs are towards the camera with legislators in the background of the photo.

Connecticut State Police submitted at least 25,966 false and inaccurate traffic stop records;
The majority of all Connecticut State Police troops, including the entire Eastern District, overreported traffic stops, which disproportionately reported stops of white people;
Of hundreds of thousands of records, state police underreported at least 2.5% and disproportionately underreported traffic stops of people of color;
At least 311 troopers and 76 constables submitted false and inaccurate traffic stop records
Some of the Connecticut State Police employees who submitted more than 200 false of inaccurate records each remain on the Connecticut State Police payroll.

In addition, the audit found that the entire Eastern district of Connecticut overreported traffic stops, which disproportionately reported fake stops of white people. This is an example of how, in certain parts of the state like Eastern Connecticut, the state police often act as the only police, meaning the harms of police’s bad behavior cut deeply into the community.

Ultimately, the audit revealed that, for years, Connecticut troopers have been overstating how often they stop white drivers and understating how often they stop Black, Latinx, and other drivers of color, with the end result that racial disparities in police traffic stops have most likely been worse than reported.

What are the implications of state police lying about traffic tickets?

The state police falsifying and inaccurately reporting thousands of traffic stop records violates our state’s racial profiling prohibition law and disrespects that law’s goal of reducing systemic racism in policing.

At its core, this law, the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act, is all about protecting Black, Latinx, and other drivers of color by preventing racist traffic stops by police intending to reduce systemic racism in policing.

Whether intentional or not, the impact of police falsifying and inaccurately reporting records is the same: police have obscured the true information about how often they stop drivers of color compared to white drivers, contributing to and perpetuating systemic racism in policing.

The facts are very clear from this audit: the repeated violations of the state’s anti-racist traffic law, the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Law, are a direct result of a lack of systemic oversight and accountability for police.

A crowd of protesters walk past the camera. The focus is on a sign that says," Black Lives Matter" around a fist.

At its core, this law, the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act, is all about protecting Black, Latinx, and other drivers of color by preventing racist traffic stops by police intending to reduce systemic racism in policing.

Whether intentional or not, the impact of police falsifying and inaccurately reporting records is the same: police have obscured the true information about how often they stop drivers of color compared to white drivers, contributing to and perpetuating systemic racism in policing.

The facts are very clear from this audit: the repeated violations of the state’s anti-racist traffic law, the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Law, are a direct result of a lack of systemic oversight and accountability for police.

What do we see as the solution?

We urge swift, transparent, meaningful accountability for all individual police who falsified traffic stop records and for the State Police as a whole because a problem this big is systemic.

Our call to action to Governor Lamont, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC), and the Connecticut General Assembly includes the following:

an outside, independent investigation that identifies not only the individuals but lack of oversight that allowed police to break the anti-racist law thousands of times;
decertification of all police involved, including those who have retired or are no longer employed by the Connecticut State Police and their supervisors who enabled or allowed false records to flourish;
mandatory reporting of verbal warnings by police;
a comprehensive plan for outside, independent oversight of the Connecticut State Police moving forward;
introduction and passage of legislation to end secondary traffic stops in Connecticut.

A crowd of protesters walk past the camera. The focus is on a sign that says "No Justice, No Peace, Prosecute the Police."

Our call to action to Governor Lamont, the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC), and the Connecticut General Assembly includes the following:

an outside, independent investigation that identifies not only the individuals but lack of oversight that allowed police to break the anti-racist law thousands of times;
decertification of all police involved, including those who have retired or are no longer employed by the Connecticut State Police and their supervisors who enabled or allowed false records to flourish;
mandatory reporting of verbal warnings by police;
a comprehensive plan for outside, independent oversight of the Connecticut State Police moving forward;
introduction and passage of legislation to end secondary traffic stops in Connecticut.

FAQs

Below are some questions and answers to frequently asked questions regarding the state police fake traffic ticket scandal.

What does it mean to have falsified traffic stop records? Were real tickets and real consequences given to real people?
- Through this audit, Connecticut State Police were found to have over-reported stops of white drivers by logging fake tickets of white drivers and underreported real traffic stops of drivers of color by failing to log those records. Let it be very clear that by violating our state’s anti-racist law tens of thousands of times, State Police have caused real harm to real people as a direct result of state police falsifying and inaccurately reporting tickets. Whether intentional or not, the impact of police falsifying and inaccurately reporting records is the same - police have effectively obscured the true information about how often they stop drivers of color compared to white drivers, contributing to and perpetuating systemic racism in policing.
What is the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act?
- Enacted in 1999, the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act is a state law that prohibits any law enforcement agency from stopping, detaining, or searching any driver when the stop is motivated solely by the consideration of the race, ethnicity, color, age, gender, or sexual orientation of that individual. This law, with all of its amendments, has come to be known as Connecticut’s anti-racial profiling law.
What jurisdiction does the Connecticut State Police have?
- In Connecticut, we have both municipal and state police. Municipal police have jurisdiction to enforce laws within the municipality they serve and, in the case of traffic stops, must communicate with a dispatcher to report and complete a traffic stop. Connecticut State Police enforce state laws at the state level, dividing the state into the three districts of Central, Eastern, and Western Connecticut, and can directly report a traffic stop in their records system. However, only 94 of the 169 cities and towns in Connecticut have municipal police departments, which leaves the remaining 75 cities and towns completely reliant on state police for law enforcement.
What is a secondary traffic stop?
- Secondary traffic stops are defined as police stopping drivers for things that are unrelated to whether someone is driving safely or whether their car is safe to drive, and are instead only related to administrative or equipment violations that don't affect safety. We’re calling upon the Connecticut General Assembly to introduce and pass legislation to end secondary traffic stops in Connecticut to cut this problem off at its root while honoring the anti-racist goals of the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act.

What does it mean to have falsified traffic stop records? Were real tickets and real consequences given to real people?
- Through this audit, Connecticut State Police were found to have over-reported stops of white drivers by logging fake tickets of white drivers and underreported real traffic stops of drivers of color by failing to log those records. Let it be very clear that by violating our state’s anti-racist law tens of thousands of times, State Police have caused real harm to real people as a direct result of state police falsifying and inaccurately reporting tickets. Whether intentional or not, the impact of police falsifying and inaccurately reporting records is the same - police have effectively obscured the true information about how often they stop drivers of color compared to white drivers, contributing to and perpetuating systemic racism in policing.
What is the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act?
- Enacted in 1999, the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act is a state law that prohibits any law enforcement agency from stopping, detaining, or searching any driver when the stop is motivated solely by the consideration of the race, ethnicity, color, age, gender, or sexual orientation of that individual. This law, with all of its amendments, has come to be known as Connecticut’s anti-racial profiling law.
What jurisdiction does the Connecticut State Police have?
- In Connecticut, we have both municipal and state police. Municipal police have jurisdiction to enforce laws within the municipality they serve and, in the case of traffic stops, must communicate with a dispatcher to report and complete a traffic stop. Connecticut State Police enforce state laws at the state level, dividing the state into the three districts of Central, Eastern, and Western Connecticut, and can directly report a traffic stop in their records system. However, only 94 of the 169 cities and towns in Connecticut have municipal police departments, which leaves the remaining 75 cities and towns completely reliant on state police for law enforcement.
What is a secondary traffic stop?
- Secondary traffic stops are defined as police stopping drivers for things that are unrelated to whether someone is driving safely or whether their car is safe to drive, and are instead only related to administrative or equipment violations that don't affect safety. We’re calling upon the Connecticut General Assembly to introduce and pass legislation to end secondary traffic stops in Connecticut to cut this problem off at its root while honoring the anti-racist goals of the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act.

Updates

This is an ongoing issue. Below, you'll find links to articles that will keep us in the loop as the scandal develops.

On July 26, 2023, the ACLU of CT published a press release about the legislative forum held regarding the CT State Police traffic ticket scandal.

On August 4, 2023, the ACLU of CT published a press release regarding the U.S. Department of Justice would be taking over the criminal investigation into the CT State Police traffic ticket scandal.

On August 11, 2023, CT Insider published an article regarding the police union suing the CT State Police to block the release of the 130 troopers who were flagged in the original audit.

On August 17, 2023, the CT Mirror published an article revealing that one of the CT State Police Union's top officials was found to have the second-most underreported, or falsified, number of traffic tickets.

On October 13, 2023, the CT Post published an article regarding the retirement announcement of two members of CT State Police leadership that week amid the scandal's development.

On January 31, 2024, Finn Dixon & Herling, an independent firm, released a report of its investigation into the CT State Police.

On February 1, 2024, CT Insider published an article regarding the report's findings, including that over a dozen troopers and constables would still need to undergo further internal investigations. This highlighted the widespread and systemic nature of the lack of oversight and accountability among the state police.

On February 9, 2024, WSHU published an article regarding Gov. Lamont's proposed legislation, which would have made it illegal for police to submit false or inaccurate information in law enforcement records. This bill passed the House, but did not make it to the Senate floor for a vote in the 2024 legislative session.

On February 14, 2024, the ACLU of CT published a press release regarding the report from the state-orderd, independent investigation that was released on January 31, 2024. The press release included reactions to the report as well as recommendations for serious new measures to ensure accountability.

On August 1, 2024, the CT Mirror published an article covering the announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice was dropping its criminal investigation into and examination of the CT State Police ticketing data.