CT cops gave out nearly 60K fake traffic tickets to make whites look like bad drivers
We find ourselves in a nation engulfed by utter madness. Even the term “clown word” falls short of capturing the sheer absurdity, and likening it to the “Twilight Zone” seems inadequate as well. The most fitting description for this chaos might be a “progressive hellscape.” This nation is so knee-deep in political, racial, and societal divide, that we can’t even see straight anymore. There’s an almost frantic rush to manufacture instances of “racism,” a sort of supply and demand issue. Democrats appear to require more fear-mongering targeting blacks and more vilification of whites. There’s just not enough to go around, so now, they’re making their own. Many believe that’s precisely what happened in Connecticut, where state troopers issued about 25 thousand false tickets to white people so they could make that group look like worse drivers than blacks and Hispanics.
Connecticut State Police troopers may have falsified tens of thousands of traffic stop records submitted to the state’s racial profiling data reporting program, potentially skewing the numbers to reflect more infractions for white drivers and fewer for Black and Hispanic motorists.
The revelation was made in a report released Wednesday following an investigation last year by Hearst Connecticut Media Group revealing that in 2018 four state troopers had fabricated hundreds of traffic stop tickets for professional gain.
The report was the result of a comprehensive audit by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project in the months after the investigation was published.
Auditors reviewed more than 800,000 infractions submitted by 1,301 troopers, stretching from 2014 to 2021. The inquiry showed that the overreporting and underreporting of traffic infractions went far beyond the four troopers first identified by internal affairs investigations and subsequent reporting.
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The kicker here is that in actuality, the false ticket number could be closer to around 60 thousand. The CT Mirror story continues:
The researchers were unable to corroborate 25,966 stops submitted to the racial profiling database while indicating that the number of falsified records could possibly exceed 58,000.
Overreported traffic infractions by state troopers were more likely to involve white-non Hispanic drivers while the underreported violations were more likely to include Black or Hispanic motorists, the report states.
However, before you jump to the conclusion that tens of thousands of law-abiding white drivers could easily take these racist cops to court, think again. Officials are now saying that these traffic stops were simply made up. The CT Mirror story goes on:
In a virtual meeting Wednesday, where members of the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project shared the report’s findings with their advisory board, State Police Colonel Stavros Mellekas noted that the number of falsified records declined after 2018, following changes within the agency after the internal affairs investigations. He also said that no state resident received a fake ticket. Rather, troopers and constables were making up traffic stops that didn’t happen and making up demographic information for the profiling system.
“The state police back in 2018, the previous administration, they moved in the right direction, took corrective action, identified it themselves,” Mellekas said, adding that those actions came prior to passage of the state’s police accountability law. “As they took corrective action, again, informed these individuals and the whole area that this will not be tolerated going forward. And I think a continued review from our office and your offices will help ensure that.”
Two of the troopers from the initial investigation had received short suspensions, while the other two retired before the conclusion of the inquiry.
Had these officers targeted black drivers in the same way, they’d have likely been swiftly charged with a hate crime and thrown in the clink. However, now, it appears that racial profiling made a comeback. Interestingly, the Democratic member of the investigative unit isn’t ready to use the term “profiling.” Apparently, nearly 60 thousand fraudulent citations aren’t sufficient evidence for him. The CT Mirror piece continues.
During the meeting, Democratic Sen. Gary Winfield, co-chair of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee and a member of the racial profiling project’s advisory board, shared concerns about officials trying to conclude that what happened in 2018 had a significant impact on the numbers.
“We’re still involved in doing the analysis of what happened in 2018, so I don’t think that’s a large enough data set to make that statement,” Winfield said. While state police may be right about the decline, “I’m often concerned about that, because when the public hears those things, when it doesn’t necessarily turn out to be that later, we’ve said something one way or the other.”
This entire investigation centers around one group called Troop E.
The audit comes to light nearly a year after Hearst Connecticut Media Group reported that four state troopers in Montville’s Troop E — Timothy Bentley, Noah Gouveia, Kevin Moore and Daniel Richter — fabricated hundreds of traffic stop tickets for better assignments, pay increases, promotions and specialty vehicles.
While Troop E was the focus of the State Police’s internal investigations, it had the fifth-largest number of overreported records, according to the report.
Moore and Richter received 10-day and two-day suspensions, respectively, after the investigation, while Bentley and Gouveia retired. Richter then retired in 2021. The state’s Division of Criminal Justice has since opened a criminal investigation. The three retired troopers still receive monthly pensions, while Moore is still an active employee.
Under the Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Act passed in 1999, police are obligated to record and submit traffic stop data, including the reason for a search, the race, ethnicity and gender of the person stopped, and whether the encounter resulted in an arrest.
It only seems logical that Troops A, B, C, D, and the rest of the alphabet should undergo investigation to uncover who was truly in charge of this racist plot. As for the officers implicated, a tap on the wrist and retirement parties won’t suffice; their pensions should be revoked, and they must be held accountable through legal consequences for perpetrating this reprehensible and racist lie.
