The police accountability law passed in the wake of George Floyds death has been controversial since the start. Now, lawmakers are looking to make some changes based on recommendations by a task force.
“One of the strongest recommendations they came up with was how do we deploy limited police resources, including when police can stop motor vehicles,” Rep. Steve Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, said.
Stafstrom co-chairs the Judiciary Committee and supports a recommendation by the Police Accountability Task Force that says police should not pull over drivers for having a headlight or taillight out.
“Pulling someone over for a broken taillight almost never results in someone being convicted of another offense,” Stafstrom said.
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Republican lawmakers pushed back against that conclusion.
“I want my child pulled over for a light being out. If for no other reason than to let him know that his lights out,” Rep. Tom O’Dea, R-New Canaan, said.
O'Dea said it’s a matter of safety on the roads.
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“As I get older it’s hard for me to see so, I get my oil changed every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, but that doesn’t mean I know that my lights out,” O’Dea said.
Democratic lawmakers don’t want police using lighting violations as the primary reason to pull over a motor vehicle.
“Imagine if we made 50,000 more speeding stops? If police are stopping a car for a lighting violation which might be appropriate in a number of circumstances, they’re not stopping a car whose speeding or following too closely or crossing the double yellow line,” Ken Barone, assistant director of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, said.
“The purpose of this recommendation was to say we can make our roadways safer and we can reduce disparities at the same time,” he added.
“We have found from almost 10 years of data that when police officers use the motor vehicle code to predominantly focus on hazardous driving behaviors, those driving behaviors that contribute to motor vehicle crashes, we see little to no racial disparities in the data set,” Barone said.
Rep. Greg Howard, who is also a police officer, said there’s a reason these motor vehicle laws exist.
“There’s a lot of data out there showing that increased police presence on car stops in certain target areas related to crime has shown overwhelmingly that there’s a decrease in crime across the board,” Howard said.
The Judiciary Committee has until April 4 to send the bill to the Senate.
