Darien PD Stops Minority Motorists More Often, New Report Claims

DARIEN, CT — Seven police departments have been highlighted in an annual report that analyzes possible racial disparities during traffic stops. The report data is compiled and analyzed every year by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Project.

The data comes from stops made between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016. An in-depth follow-up analysis will be done on Berlin, Monroe, Newtown, Norwich, Ridgefield, Darien and State Police Troop B (North Canaan) departments after some disparities were noted. The departments are invited to share in the analysis.

“...racial and ethnic disparities in any traffic stop analysis do not, by themselves, provide conclusive evidence of racial profiling,” researchers wrote in the report. “Statistical disparities do, however, provide significant evidence of the presence of idiosyncratic data trends that warrant further analysis.”

In 2016 the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association released a press release that said to date no police chief has been informed that their department or officers have engaging in biased based policing from the reports findings. Executive Director Pamela Hayes said that the association was looking to identify actual driving populations because many of the departments singled out for further review are next to a larger and more metropolitan city.

During the study period, Darien police conducted 3,106 traffic stops, of which 572 were of Hispanic drivers and 355 were of African-American, or Black, drivers.

"The Darien municipal police department was observed to have made 32.3 percent minority stops of which 18.4 percent were Hispanic and 11.4 percent were Black motorists from October 2015 to September 2016," the report states. "The descriptive analysis indicated that the department exceeded the disparity threshold level in two of the three benchmark areas as well as in five of the nine possible measures. Darien received a disparity score of 4.5 out of a possible nine points."

Darien Police Chief Ray Osborne said in a statement that the Darien department aims to treat all motorists fairly and equally, and that the public should not draw final conclusions from the report's findings.

"The Darien Police Department is strongly committed to treating all motorists who use our
roadways in a fair and impartial manner," wrote Osborne (his full statement can be viewed at the bottom of the story). "We believe that it is of the upmost importance to treat all people that we encounter with respect and dignity. While we applaud the efforts to ensure public trust in law enforcement, peer review of previous reports has raised questions about some of the methodology used. It is our intention to meet with the project managers of the report in the near future for additional clarification and evaluation."

Data from stops is analyzed in a number of ways such as a comparison between daylight and complete darkness stops. The assumption of the technique is that officers profiling motorists are more likely to do it during the daylight where a motorist’s race is apparent.

Researchers also compare the number of minority traffic stops to the town’s minority population over the age of 16.

The towns with the highest rate of traffic stops overall compared to population are:

1. Wilton: 464 stops per 1,000 residents
2. New Canaan: 456
3. Ridgefield 441
4. Orange: 390
5. Old Saybrook: 377
6. Ansonia: 341
7. Berlin: 327
8. Monroe: 310
9. Waterford: 309
10. Westport: 307

Towns with the lowest rate of traffic stops compared to population are:

1. Middlebury: 10
2. Shelton: 23
3. Portland: 27
4. Wolcott: 29
5. Waterbury: 38
6. Meriden: 43
7. Stratford: 48

Bridgeport, Middletown and Hartford appeared in the lowest rate of traffic stops, but researchers noted many weren’t correctly entered into the system.

These departments are most likely to pull a motorist over for a speeding violation:

1. Ledyard: 67.9 percent of all stops
2. Suffield: 60.8 percent
3. Simsbury: 56.9 percent
4. Easton: 55.9 percent
5. Portland: 55.3 percent
6. New Milford: 54.9 percent
7. Enfield: 53.5 percent
8. Guilford: 53 percent
9. Redding: 52.4 percent
10. Ridgefield: 52.3 percent

These departments are most likely to pull a motorist over for a registration violation:

1. Branford: 28.3 percent
2. North Branford: 23.1 percent
3. Troop L: 21.1 percent
4. Trumbull: 19 percent
5. Watertown: 17.3 percent
6. Troop G: 16.9 percent
7. Troop B: 16.7 percent
8. West Haven: 16.7 percent
9. Troop A: 15.9 percent
10. Redding: 15.8 percent

These departments are most likely to pull a motorist over for cell phone violations:

1. Hamden: 41.9 percent
2. Danbury: 41.2 percent
3. Middlebury: 28.8 percent
4. West Hartford: 28.3 percent
5. Stamford: 27.1 percent
6. Berlin: 25.3 percent
7. Bridgeport: 24.8 percent
8. Westport: 24.5 percent
9. Norwalk: 22.1 percent
10. Brookfield: 19.8 percent

Departments with the highest rate of issuing an infraction during a traffic stop:

1. Danbury: 67.6 percent
2. Bridgeport: 61.9 percent
3. Norwalk: 59.7 percent
4. Meriden: 58.6 percent
5. New Haven: 56.6 percent
6. Hartford: 56 percent
7. Derby: 54.9 percent
8. Branford: 54.3 percent
9. Stamford: 52.9 percent
10. Hamden: 52.6 percent

State Police

1. Headquarters: 87.8 percent
2. Troop F: 78.9 percent
3. Troop C: 74.2 percent
4. Troop H: 73.4 percent
5. Troop G: 71.5 percent

Departments with the highest rate of issuing a warning during a traffic stop:

1. Eastern CT State University: 95.3 percent
2. Redding: 92.8 percent
3. Middlebury: 91.5 percent
4. Portland: 91 percent
5. Torrington: 89.8 percent
6. Putnam: 87.8 percent
7. Plainfield: 87.2 percent
8. Suffield: 87 percent
9. Weston: 87 percent
10. Central CT State University: 86.3 percent

Among State Police Troops:

1. Troop L: 43 percent
2. Troop B: 37 percent
3. Troop D: 30.9 percent
4. Troop K: 29 percent
5. Troop A: 27 percent

These departments are among the highest where a stop results in a search:

1. Waterbury: 16.6 percent
2. Stratford: 13.6 percent
3. Middletown: 10.4 percent
4. Bridgeport: 9.8 percent
5. Vernon: 9.4 percent
6. Yale University: 9.2 percent
7. Danbury: 8.5 percent
8. Wallingford: 7.9 percent
9. Derby: 7.9 percent
10. Trumbull: 7.5 percent

Darien Police Chief Ray Osborne's complete statement:

The Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project has released its latest report covering the
period of October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016. This report contains raw traffic stop data
collected from every Connecticut community as well as the Connecticut State Police. Since the
inception of this program on October 1, 2013, the Darien Police Department has fully complied
with the requirement mandating the submission of traffic stop data to the State of Connecticut.
In this latest report, the Darien Police Department is listed as one of the Connecticut agencies
that will be invited to be a part of follow-up analysis based on conclusions they have made from
examining traffic stop data from this one-year period. This is the first time that Darien has been
so listed in any of these reports.

Readers of this report are cautioned not to draw any final conclusions from this report. As stated
in the executive summary of the report “racial and ethnic disparities in any traffic stop data
analysis do not, by themselves, provide conclusive evidence of racial profiling. Statistical
disparities do, however, provide significant evidence of the presence of idiosyncratic data trends
that warrant further analysis.”

The Darien Police Department is strongly committed to treating all motorists who use our
roadways in a fair and impartial manner. We believe that it is of the upmost importance to treat
all people that we encounter with respect and dignity. While we applaud the efforts to ensure
public trust in law enforcement, peer review of previous reports has raised questions about some
of the methodology used. It is our intention to meet with the project managers of the report in
the near future for additional clarification and evaluation.

Fairness and transparency is essential in law enforcement. We are fortunate to live in a diverse
region of Fairfield County and we pledge to work hard to maintain the confidence of all people
who live, work and travel through our community.

Image via Shutterstock

— By Rich Scinto (Patch Staff); Patch Editor Alfred Branch (Patch Staff) contributed to this report