Here's Why Ridgefield Police Are Most Likely To Stop Your Vehicle

RIDGEFIELD, CT — Central Connecticut State University’s Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy released its annual report of traffic stop data, which includes a department-by-department breakdown. Data is from 2017.

The annual study primarily looks for disparate treatment of racial and ethnic minorities during traffic stops. Researchers work on more in-depth analyses when disparities are noted and communicate with departments to learn more. The researchers emphasize that disparate statistics don’t automatically mean a department engages in biased policing.

Data showed that there are large and statistically significant disparities in how minorities are treated statewide during a traffic stop.

"The new post-stop test for differential outcomes provides compelling evidence that minority motorists receive different dispositions (tickets, warnings, searches) after a stop is made, even after we condition on the basis for the stop and other potentially confounding factors," the study authors wrote.

Related: Here’s Where You Are Most Likely To Get Pulled Over In CT

Other evidence found that the bar for searching a minority motorist was lower than that of white drivers. It also found that police are far less likely to be successful finding incriminating evidence when searching a minority motorist compared to a white motorist.The top overall reasons for being pulled over in Connecticut during 2017 were for speeding (28.2 percent), cell phone use (9 percent) and defective lights (8.9 percent). However, different departments tend to enforce certain violations more than others and the results vary widely from department-to-department.

Here is a detailed look at Ridgefield’s stats:

Ridgefield placed fourth in the state for traffic stops, with 372 pull-overs per 1,000 residents.

The top 5 municipal departments with the highest rate of traffic stops per 1,000 residents were:

1. Wilton: 402
2. New Canaan: 388
3. Westport: 384
4. Ridgefield: 372
5. Windsor: 365

Your chance of getting out of a traffic stop with a warning or ticket highly depends on the department. Some departments give a warning more than nine times out of 10 while with others there is more than a 60 percent chance of getting a ticket.

When you are pulled over in Ridgefield, you're probably moving too fast. Nearly 58 percent of the motorists stopped by Ridgefield's finest are pulled over for speeding, making the town third in the state overall for cracking down on speedsters.

Here are the top three reasons the Ridgefield PD pulls motorists over:

1. Speed
2. Cellphone use
3. Defective lights

Across the state around a third of traffic stops ended with a verbal warning, 15 percent with a written warning and 43 percent with a ticket.

Highest warning rates:

1. Weston: 94.3%
2. Eastern CT State University: 90.8%
3. Torrington: 89.3%
4. Redding: 88.6%
5. State Capitol Police 86.8%

Highest infraction rates

1. Danbury: 63.7%
2. Bridgeport: 59.9%
3. New London 58.5%
4. DMV 58.3%
5. Trumbull: 57%

Highest search rates:

1. Waterbury: 17.8%
2. Stratford: 15.9%
3. Yale University: 12%
4. Vernon: 11.6%
5. Bridgeport: 10.8%

Highest cell phone violation rates

1. Danbury 34.9%
2. West Hartford 30.4%
3. Hamden 27.4%
4. Brookfield 23.4%
5. Bridgeport 23.3%

Registration stop

1. Trumbull 23.9%
2. Troop L 22%
3. North Haven 21.2%
4. West Haven 20.6%
5. Redding 18.8%

Speeding stop

1. Ledyard 63.5%
2. CSP Headquarters 58.8%
3. Ridgefield 57.9%
4. Weston 57.8%
5. Simsbury 57.4%