Newtown Traffic Stop Racial Profiling Data Report

By Wendy Ann Mitchell (Patch Staff) & Brian McCready (Patch Staff)

In January 2012, at the Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 54-1m, also known as the “Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act,” requires the state to submit an annual report to the Governor and General Assembly to review the “prevalence and disposition of traffic stops and complaints” in Connecticut.

“Over the past fifteen years, racial profiling has been recognized as an issue of national, state, and
local concern facing law enforcement agencies,” William Dyson, Chair of the project wrote in the report.

The state of Connecticut released their report in September 2014 of traffic stop data from information collected October 1, 2013 through May 31,2014. According to the report, “Connecticut’s requirement for police agencies to collect and report traffic stop information is the most extensive of its kind anywhere in the country.”

There are 2.54 million Connecticut residents who are of driving age or older. During that time frame there were 366,000 traffic stops across the state. The language that police agencies used to describe ethnicity and background information of traffic stops in their report is “Blacks,” Whites,” and “Hispanic,” rather than “African American” and “Caucasian.”

Blacks account for 8 percent of the population and were pulled over 14 percent of the time, while Hispanics account for 10 percent of Connecticut’s population and were pulled over about 12 percent of all traffic stops.

In Newtown there is a population of 20,556 residents 16 or older.

There were 1,518 traffic stops in Newtown from October 1, 2013 through May 31,2014. Whites account for 91.8 percent of the population, Blacks, 2.63 percent and Hispanics, 5.73 percent. According to the report, Blacks were stopped 5.22 percent or 101 times and Hispanics were stopped 5.22 percent or 101 times.

Photo: State of Connecticut Traffic Stop Data report.