Name: Huge drop in traffic tickets in Connecticut from 2019-20; police blame pandemic and accountability law
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Huge drop in traffic tickets in Connecticut from 2019-20; police blame pandemic and accountability law

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantJan 11, 2021 at 6:00 amThe number of traffic tickets issued for speeding, distracted driving and other violations plummeted last year, a drop that police attributed to both the coronavirus pandemic and the police accountability law.Total tickets dropped from 216,296 issued from March 19 through Dec. 31, 2019, to 74,346 last year during the same period, figures from the state Judicial Branch show. The number of charges (a single ticket may include more than one charge) sank from 243,305 to 85,851 in the same comparison.AdvertisementSeveral police union leaders said officers were stepping back from proactive traffic enforcement due to anger and concerns over a sweeping police accountability bill that became law last fall.“This pull-back is not some organized conspiracy among cops, or even intentional,” East Hartford police union President Frank Iacono said. “It’s a natural reaction by officers to the actions of the legislature to protect ourselves and our families from undue liability and politically motivated prosecutions.”Advertisement“I think there are multiple things at play here,” Manchester police union President Lt. John Rossetti said. “Obviously, COVID caused officers to attempt to decrease their interactions, if possible. But just as important, law enforcement has simply endured a total lack of support from the local leaders, the lawmakers and much of the public in general.”Several department spokesmen, however, said the pandemic had more to do with the decline in tickets than anything else.“April was the first month we saw a significant drop, which was clearly precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, predating any discussion about the police accountability bill,” Glastonbury police spokesman Lt. Corey Davis said.“There were less cars on the road due to many people working from home and the closure of restaurants and retail businesses,” Davis said, “and officers wanted to limit their personal contact with the public at the time to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”“I do not have evidence or data to support that officers are less willing to stop vehicles because of the police accountability bill,” West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick said. “I do know that for several months during the pandemic, people were not working or they were working from home. As a result, there was virtually no vehicular traffic on the highways and local roads.”State police spokesman Trooper Josue Dorelus said, “I think it’s safe to say that the difference is definitely COVID. It’s not that there’s a lack of motivation to enforce the laws.”The accountability bill was drafted after nationwide protests spurred by police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville.Part of the law limits circumstances under which police may search vehicles when the driver is stopped solely for vehicle violations. An officer may not ask for a driver’s consent to search a vehicle, and any search must be based on probable cause, or “after receiving the driver’s unsolicited consent in writing or recorded from body-worn recording equipment or a dashboard camera.”AdvertisementOfficers say the law is unclear and hinders their ability to discover illegal guns or drugs during traffic stops. But Rep. Steve Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat who helped write the statute, said police still have wide latitude.“All we’re talking about is those instances where someone is pulled over just for a purely motor vehicle violation,” Stafstrom, chairman of the legislature’s judiciary committee, has said. “We know that minorities are much more likely to be subject to a consent search. In those instances where you don’t have probable cause that there is some other crime, you can’t ask to go on a fishing expedition through somebody’s car.”“I find it hard to believe,” the lawmaker said Thursday, “that honorable police officers are willfully choosing not to do their job based on legislation, particularly since the substantial portion of that legislation wasn’t taking effect until calendar year 2021.”Drawing a solid conclusion about how much influence the accountability bill and law had on traffic stops, Davis said, is not possible.In Manchester, police spokesman Lt. Ryan Shea cited local statistics that showed 3,962 motor vehicle stops with 1,624 tickets issued from May 20 to Dec. 31, 2019. In the same period last year, Manchester police made 1,660 stops and issued 364 tickets.Because of the pandemic, enforcement operations were put on hold from March to June, including directed patrols for DUI enforcement and DUI and Click It or Ticket checkpoints. Those operations, Shea said, usually account for a significant number of infractions, “and with these put on hold, it definitively influenced a dramatic decrease in total infractions issued.”AdvertisementAs in other towns, in an effort to safeguard officers and the public, traffic enforcement was reduced to more serious violations, Shea said.In South Windsor during the early days of the pandemic when questions remained about how the virus was spread, “we asked our officers to do their best to limit their direct contact with citizens when feasible,” department spokesman Sgt. Mark Cleverdon said.Efforts to limit officers’ exposure to the virus preserved staffing levels “enough to ensure our ability to protect the public and immediately respond to emergencies,” East Hartford police spokesman Lt. Josh Litwin said.Local figures, Litwin said, show a drop from 7,326 motor vehicle stops in 2019 to 4,263 stops last year.DailyWe're providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning. &gt; “However, with our available resources, we continued to deploy based on community input and cooperation, and thankfully we also saw a reduction in traffic accidents,” he said. “Going forward through this pandemic and beyond we will continue to work cooperatively with our community as the cornerstone of our commitment to maintain community trust while keeping our roads and our community safe.”Police union leaders, however, said the drop in tickets was more about officers’ uncertainty over the accountability bill.Advertisement“At first it was COVID,” Bloomfield police union President Steve Graboski said, “but then we adjusted to that. At this point for us, I would say yes, there is a direct correlation between the drop-off of motor vehicle stops and the accountability bill.”Iacono also pointed to an increase in fatal crashes in the state, citing figures from UConn’s Connecticut Crash Data Repository () that list 310 traffic deaths last year compared with 249 the previous year.“So people are obviously still out on the roads, breaking the laws and causing fatalities,” Iacono said. “Connecticut Democrats have made it clear. They do not want police aggressively doing our jobs enforcing the laws, and now they’re getting what they voted for, and the citizens are paying for it with their lives.”Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.comCourant staff writers Christine Dempsey, Steve Goode and Don Stacom contributed to this story. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantJan 11, 2021 at 6:00 amThe number of traffic tickets issued for speeding, distracted driving and other violations plummeted last year, a drop that police attributed to both the coronavirus pandemic and the police accountability law.Total tickets dropped from 216,296 issued from March 19 through Dec. 31, 2019, to 74,346 last year during the same period, figures from the state Judicial Branch show. The number of charges (a single ticket may include more than one charge) sank from 243,305 to 85,851 in the same comparison.AdvertisementSeveral police union leaders...

Huge drop in traffic tickets in Connecticut from 2019-20; police blame pandemic and accountability law

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