Racial Disparity Observed In Ridgefield Traffic Stops: New Study

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 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.”

As the report states, the statistics do not, by themselves, provide conclusive evidence of racial profiling. We will work cooperatively with the authors to discover the reasons for the disparity.

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.

"As the report states, the statistics do not, by themselves, provide conclusive evidence of racial profiling," Capt. Jeff Kreitz of the Ridgefield Police Department said."We will work cooperatively with the authors to discover the reasons for the disparity."

The Ridgefield Police Department conducted 7,979 stops during the study’s time period.

How the stop ended:

• Infraction issued: 37 percent
• Verbal warning: 14 percent
• Written warning: 46 percent
• Misdemeanor summons: 2 percent
• No disposition: 1 percent
• Arrest: Only 10 total arrests

Here is a breakdown of reasons for a stop rounded to the nearest percent

• Registration violation: 5 percent
• Defective lights: 6 percent
• Cell phone violation: 15 percent
• Speeding: 52 percent
• Display of plates: 0 percent
• Stop sign: 7 percent
• Moving violation: 2 percent
• Window tint: 1 percent
• Seatbelt: 3 percent

The Ridgefield municipal police department was observed to have made 19.2 percent minority stops of which 11.3 percent were Hispanic and 5 percent were Black motorists from October 2015 to September 2016. The annual VOD analysis indicated a statistically significant disparity in the rate that Hispanic motorists were stopped during daylight relative to darkness. Within the inter-twilight window, the odds that a Hispanic motorist was stopped during daylight was 2.5 times larger than the odds during darkness. These results were statistically significant at the 99 percent level and robust to the inclusion of a variety of controls, officer fixed-effects, and a restricted sample of moving violations," the researchers wrote.

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

Story by Rich Scinto, Patch Staff. Image via Shutterstock.