Legislation and Litigation
Legislation
CONNECTICUT
Public Act No. 99-198, An Act Concerning Traffic Stop Statistics, was enacted by the Connecticut General Assembly and signed into law in June of 1999. The statute prohibits the State Police, municipal police departments, and all other law enforcement agencies from engaging in racial profiling. It mandates both state and local police to collect traffic stop data, and establishes a process for investigating citizen complaints of profiling. Each law enforcement office must compile collected traffic stop data and submit it to the Chief State’s Attorney, who then must analyze the data for the Governor and General Assembly. As originally enacted, police departments were to begin collecting data on January 1, 2001 and the statute was to expire on January 1, 2002. The statute now has been extended to require data collection until January 1, 2003.
H.B. 55674, General Assembly. (Conn. 2003), Substitute House Bill No. 5674, Public Act No. 03-160, AN ACT CONCERNING THE ALVIN W. PENN RACIAL PROFILING PROHIBITION ACT.
Status: Enacted June 06, 2003 ; Effective January 01, 2000
all jurisdictions required to collect data
Scope of Collection: vehicle stops
Data Collected: age, race, color, gender, ethnicity, reason for stop / alleged violation, date, action taken, warning given, citation given, arrest made, personal search conducted, search of vehicle conducted
Other Information: AN ACT CONCERNING THE ALVIN W. PENN RACIAL PROFILING PROHIBITION ACT.
To repeal the law pertaining to racial profiling and requiring police departments to record data on all motor vehicle stops.
Introduced by: Public Safety Committee
Pub. Act 198, General Assembly (Conn. 1999), An Act Concerning Traffic Stop Statistics
Status: Enacted June 28, 1999 ; Effective October 01, 1999
all jurisdictions required to collect data
Scope of Collection: vehicle stops only
Data Collection Dates: January 01, 2000 through December 31, 2001
Data Collected: age, race, gender, ethnicity, number of passengers, reason for stop / alleged violation, date, time, action taken, warning given, citation given, search of vehicle conducted, other information necessary
Other Information: Prohibits law enforcement agencies from engaging in racial profiling; mandates data collection; establishes a committee of law enforcement officials to develop a form to be used for recording traffic stop data; establishes a process for investigating citizen complaints of profiling. The Chief State’s Attorney’s Office and OPM then analyze the data with the assistance from professors at Central Connecticut State University. As of March 2002, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office has released two reports on the collected data.
Data collection was extended until December 31, 2002 under 2001 Conn. Pub. Act 9 § 128, codified as Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-1M (2002)(see below).
Related Articles:
Journal Articles and Law Reviews:
- Connecticut 2000-2001 Report of Traffic Stop Statistics
Office of the Chief State's Attorney, Division of Criminal Justice - Connecticut Interim Report on Traffic Stop Statistics (January 2000 - June 2000)
Office of the Chief State's Attorney, Division of Criminal Justice
Contact Information:
Office of Policy and Management
Patricia O'Hagan
450 Capitol Ave.
Hartford, CT 06106-1308
860-418-6355
2001 Conn. Pub. Act 9 § 128, codified as Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-1M (2002), Adoption of Policy Prohibiting Certain Police Actions. Data Collection and Reporting.
Status: Enacted Effective July 01, 2001
all jurisdictions required to collect data
Scope of Collection: vehicle stops only
Data Collection Dates: January 01, 2002 through December 31, 2002
Data Collected: number of passengers, race, complexion color, ethnicity, gender, age, reason for stop / alleged violation, warning given, citation given, other information necessary
Other Information: Extends requirement for data collection through December 31, 2002.
