Report Lists Top Reasons Why New Canaan Police Officers Pull Your Vehicle Over

A recent report by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project found that the New Canaan Police Department conducted 5,355 traffic stops from Oct. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015.

Top reasons for getting pulled over:

Speeding: 27.71%

Cell phone violation: 15.41%

Defective lights: 14.32%

Traffic control signal violation: 9.9%

Other: 9.17%

Outcome of stop:

Verbal warning: 71.3%

Infraction: 24.13%

Misdemeanor summons 2.35%

Written warning: 1.29%

• Related story: Where and Why You Are Most Likely to be Pulled Over in CT: New Report

About 10% of all stops were of Hispanic motorists and about 3% of New Canaan's population is composed of Hispanics 16-years-old and older. New Canaan's black population over the age of 16 is listed as about 1% and blacks accounted for about 6% of all stops.

The report states that in Connecticut 14.1 percent of 585,000 traffic stops between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015 involved black residents and 12.5 percent involved Hispanic motorists. Traffic stops are more likely during daylight hours.

Five municipal departments and one state police troop in Connecticut were identified to “exhibit a statistically significant racial or ethnic disparity that may indicate the presence of racial and ethnic bias” including: Bloomfield, New Milford, Norwalk, West Hartford, Wethersfield and State Police Troop H.

Additionally, 25 police officers throughout Connecticut were deemed to be more likely to pull people over based on race, the report notes.