State police union officials on Wednesday said that 20% of the 130 state troopers accused of either submitting false ticket data or underreporting their numbers to a racial profiling database have been exonerated since the a few weeks ago.
At a hastily called press conference, attorney Andy Matthews, a former state trooper who was the union president for years, criticized the media, state police command and Ken Barone, project manager for the 黑料吃瓜网 Racial Profiling Prohibition Project, a group collecting traffic data and helping to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities in traffic stops.
Barone is one of the authors of a 79-page released by state auditors earlier this summer that alleges state troopers and constables may have eroded the accuracy of the state鈥檚 profiling system by submitting phony traffic tickets or not reporting traffic stops 鈥� the former referred to as 鈥渙verreporting,鈥� the latter as 鈥渦nderreporting.鈥�
The report identified about 130 troopers who had more than 20% of their overall traffic stop records uncorroborated in any given year, combined with those who had more than eight unmatched records in any given year. Their names have not been released to the public, and the union has gone to court to fight requests to release the names.
鈥淗ow is it that to this date, almost a month after a legislative hearing on this report, they鈥檝e already cleared almost 20% of the troopers? Does anybody in the press find that concerning?鈥� Matthews said.
Matthews said 26 troopers had been exonerated. State police officials have not confirmed the number.
Matthews said the records of the other troopers whose names were flagged were still being reviewed.
Matthews said the coverage has had repercussions for troopers who have been threatened. He referred to a post on the union鈥檚 Facebook page, which read in part, 鈥淚f you were a person of color, and have been harassed by one of these troopers, please don鈥檛 march or pray just find their names and follow them home and handle business outside of the courts. The only way to fix the corrupt police is to take their life.鈥�
Matthews said the union has asked for a state police crime squad to investigate that threat.
Matthews said he would welcome a forensic audit of his records.
Last week, the CT Mirror out of the 1,301 state troopers examined from 2014 to 2021.
Matthews鈥� badge number is associated in the data with 224 infractions from 2014 through 2021 that were not reported to the profiling database, an apparent violation of state law. Fifty percent of his infractions were flagged as underreported. He also may have overreported 27 traffic tickets, the data shows.
Matthews denied any wrongdoing to the CT Mirror and on Wednesday repeated why he believes he is among the 130 troopers on the list.
Matthews said the underreporting, which he doesn鈥檛 think 鈥渋s the real issue,鈥� likely stems from him having to drive an outdated work vehicle that didn鈥檛 have electronic reporting equipment. Therefore, he hand-wrote many of his tickets, he said, and communicated the required information to dispatchers. He said it鈥檚 possible dispatchers didn鈥檛 enter his information as required. He thinks auditors failed to account for the latter in their report.
鈥淚鈥檓 calling in, either on the radio or on the phone, and I鈥檓 saying to the dispatchers who are not very happy that we鈥檙e calling in and bothering them, 鈥楬ey, this is a traffic stop I had 鈥� this is the racial profiling information.鈥� It鈥檚 their responsibility to put it into the computer,鈥� he said.
鈥淚鈥檒l be the first person they can investigate. Bring it, bring the DOJ, bring the state police, bring the Chief State鈥檚 Attorney鈥檚 Office, bring whoever 鈥� but in return, let鈥檚 be fair,鈥� Matthews said on Wednesday. 鈥淕rab every transmission on the radio that I called in. Bring every audio recording from the phone calls. Bring every motor vehicle recording that shows me actually physically handing a ticket to the operator. Bring every hand-written ticket and every e-ticket, every transmittal, and I guarantee you 100% without hesitation there鈥檚 not one falsified record.鈥�
Union officials have been critical of the methodology used by Barone and his team to do the analysis 鈥� and of state police command for not standing behind the troopers. The union recently issued a vote of no confidence in both state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella and State Police Colonel Stavros Mellekas and asked Gov. Ned Lamont to relieve them of their duties.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not only here today to question the methodology of the audit. We鈥檙e here to question the procedure,鈥� Matthews said.
鈥淚n the future, for any other law enforcement agency, Mr. Barone should do a couple of different things. He should sit down with the command staff of each department. He should sit down with the people that represent the police officers and say, 鈥業s there anything that happens in the field that could affect the data without trying to present to the public the perception that there鈥檚 corruption or illegal or improper conduct?鈥欌��
Matthews said the union believes that should have happened before the audit was released, instead of scrambling now to say that people have been exonerated.
Barone has said the numbers are 鈥渃onservative.鈥�
鈥淚t is not my job to do a forensic review,鈥� Barone said. 鈥淲e took all of the information we had, and we spent time and gave ample opportunity for the State Police to weigh in to tell us things that they wanted us to consider. And we did that,鈥� Barone said. 鈥淎t some point, the product has to be done. And I鈥檓 sure the State Police would have appreciated it if we just waited for them to come up with every reason why there could be a discrepancy.鈥�
Barone described the report鈥檚 methodology as 鈥渃onservative,鈥� so much so that it accounted for any scenario that he thinks would have called the conclusions into question.
鈥淎t some point, you just have to accept the findings,鈥� Barone said.
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