The audit, conducted by UConn analysts and released in June, alleged that 130 Connecticut State Police troopers may have falsified information on at least 26,000 traffic stops from 2014 to 2021, potentially skewing reports on the race and ethnicity of drivers who were pulled over.
“We’re questioning the process and the methodology used in the process to get the results,” said Andrew Matthews, Connecticut State Police Union president from 2010 to 2018.
On Wednesday, the Connecticut State Police Union voiced its discontent that the audit was released without proper transparency and a full-scope of evidence.
“Ask them why they didn’t call us to say, 'hey can you help us understand the job you actually did yourself before we tarnish your name and reputation that you’ve worked so hard for, including our troopers in the field?' Why wouldn’t you give them a fair opportunity and due process to say, ‘I think this explains why,'” Matthews said.
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Ken Barone, who co-authored the audit, said he and his team at the Racial Profiling Prohibition Project met with state police leadership in May to discuss the details of the process. He said through their discussions regarding the police process, their number that included roughly 110,000 potentially falsified tickets decreased to 26,000.
“We always work directly with the police agency. That is our obligation. To work with the police chief, the leaders and the other individuals in the police agency or in the community, in some cases, the town manager, a mayor, etc. That’s our obligation. We do not have a policy of taking our work to unions or to other constituency groups,” Barone said.
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The audit came after state police conducted their own internal investigation that concluded four troopers falsified tickets. Those troopers were disciplined.
“Those troopers you can say lied. That’s a fact, but not 130 troopers,” Matthews said.
Barone said he and his team looked at the state police’s process that identified those four troopers, and applied it to their own audit.
“Let’s see if we can take the same logic and apply it to everybody else who worked for the state police. What we ultimately identified is that those four individuals were not the only individuals with the same pattern,” Barone said.
Since the report came out, Barone said he and state police heads have met again, and since exonerated 17 troopers who were originally linked to the audit because of issues with badge numbers. Matthews said on Wednesday that 27 troopers had been exonerated.
Barone reiterated that the study did not attempt to determine the intent of the alleged falsified traffic stops.
The Department of Justice is now conducting its own review of the report.
