PROFILING: SEEKING CLARITY IN NEW DATA

Connecticut's first-in-the-nation study of racial profiling by police
across the state found no widespread problem, but critics on both sides of
the issue called the findings released Wednesday misleading.

RACIAL PROFILING Stephen M. Cox, a professor in the department of
criminology and criminal justice at Central Connecticut State University,
right, listens to state Sen. Alvin Penn, D-Bridgeport, describe being
stopped by a police officer while driving home, in what he calls a racial
profiling incident.

Since Jan. 1, 2000, every police department has been required to fill out
reports each time an officer stops a motorist, and send the reports to the
chief state's attorney's office. The reports, 315,000 in all, recorded the
driver's race, the type of stop and its outcome.

"We did not find a pattern of racial profiling,'' Chief State's Attorney
John M. Bailey said. "Minority drivers do not appear to be treated
systematically any different than non-minority drivers.''

The report says that 12 percent of those stopped across the state were
black, and it contrasted that number with 1990 Census data showing a black
population in the state of 8 percent. Bailey acknowledged, that more recent
estimates say the state's minority population is higher, but he said his
researchers decided to go with the older census number because it was the
only hard data available.

Bailey said he will submit an updated report later this year, which will
include new demographic data from the 2000 Census. The report released
Wednesday covered traffic stops during the first six months of last year.

Other potential pitfalls - all readily acknowledged by the study's authors
- - include the fact that police officers filled out the reports anonymously,
making it difficult to confirm the information in them, and officers were
not allowed to ask motorists their race. Instead, they had to guess, which
could skew the statistics, officials said. 'We did not find a pattern of
racial profiling. Minority drivers do not appear to be treated any
different than non-minority drivers.' John Bailey Chief state's attorney

'If you're African-American, you are three times more likely to get
arrested, and I can't see how that isn't a problem.' Sen. Alvin Penn
D-Bridgeport
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The report also pointed out that the racial makeup of a town's traffic
stops can be influenced by the presence of a shopping mall, casino,
interstate highway or some other high-traffic factor. The town-by-town
findings do not take those variables into account.

Still, Central Connecticut State University Professor Stephen M. Cox, who
was hired by the state to analyze the data, said that even with the
outdated and potentially inaccurate information, he concluded "there really
is no difference on why people are stopped'' in Connecticut.

The report showed that white motorists who are stopped have a 3 percent
chance of having their car searched, while blacks have a 7 percent chance
and Hispanics a 9 percent chance. The data also indicate that a white
motorist who is stopped has a 1 percent chance of being arrested, while
blacks and Hispanics each have a 3 percent chance.

Even though that makes it three times more likely that a nonwhite motorist
will be arrested than a white motorist, Cox called the disparity
insignificant when compared to smaller-scale studies elsewhere in the country.

State Sen. Alvin Penn, D-Bridgeport, who sponsored the bill that led to the
statewide study of motor vehicle stops, disagreed with Cox's conclusion.

"If you're African American, you are three times more likely to get
arrested, and I can't see how that isn't a problem,'' Penn said. "That's
not a marginal number to me.''

Connecticut is the first state in the country to attempt a town-by-town
analysis of motor vehicle stops to see if minorities are stopped more than
whites. Only North Carolina and Tennessee are attempting similar studies,
although Bailey said 17 states have contacted his office about
Connecticut's program.

National experts are keeping a close eye on the Connecticut study, because
the town-by-town report is the first statistical look at the behavior of
police in affluent suburbs, according to Gary Cordner, dean of the College
of Justice and Safety at Eastern Kentucky University. Cordner recently
completed a six-month study in San Diego that showed high rates of Hispanic
and black motorists' cars were searched after they were stopped.

"I think [the Connecticut study] is interesting because everyone else has
done city studies, or the I-95 studies. One possibility is the police could
see their job as patrolling the perimeter, keeping the outsiders out. I
don't know if that happens, but it would be interesting to see," Cordner said.

Some police bristle at any suggestion that suburban officers routinely
target minority drivers. West Hartford Police Chief James Strillacci said
some police officers fear the state's anti-profiling law assumes that all
officers are racist.

"I think officers were upset about it because it was tantamount to an
accusation that they were doing something wrong,'' Strillacci said. "Most
officers are trying to do their jobs. They're not trying to pick on anybody.''

The state law also required Bailey's office to investigate any complaints
of racial profiling. Bailey said his office received 13 complaints, and 12
of those were dismissed. One complaint is still under investigation.

Penn would like there to be more ways for racial profiling complaints to be
filed. Currently, motorists must fill out a form that's available only on
the chief state's attorney's Web site and at local police departments.

"How many black people are going to go to the chief state's attorney's Web
site or walk into the police station of the cop who just stopped them and
file a complaint?'' Penn said. "I am going to suggest we leave complaint
forms at the local NAACP offices and churches.''

Penn started the crusade to study racial profiling after he was stopped by
Trumbull police for what he says was no apparent reason.

During the first six months of the study released Wednesday, Trumbull
police stopped 850 motorists, 16 percent of whom were black and 10 percent
of whom were Hispanic. Blacks account for 1 percent and Hispanics 2 percent
Trumbull's population. In addition, 29 percent of the vehicles searched in
Trumbull belonged to blacks and 36 percent to Hispanics.

Although the study found no widespread problems, certain towns showed
unusually high percentages of minorities having their cars stopped or
searched by police.

In Middletown, 52 percent of the vehicles searched belonged to blacks and 5
percent Hispanics, while in Hamden 55 percent of the vehicles searched
belonged to blacks and 16 percent Hispanics. Statewide, blacks accounted
for 23 percent of those whose cars were searched and Hispanics accounted
for 21 percent.

In East Hartford, 30 percent of the motorists stopped were black and 16
percent were Hispanic. The statewide average for traffic stops was 12
percent black and 9 percent Hispanic.

The racial breakdowns recorded by the Connecticut State Police, who patrol
all of the state's highways as well as many of the rural towns, are nearly
identical to the state population figures. Troopers stopped just over
98,000 vehicles, about 10 percent of those were black and 6 percent were
Hispanics. They searched 2,559 vehicles, of which 15 percent were driven by
blacks and 12 percent were driven by Hispanics.

The state police will soon begin videotaping all traffic stops, which they
say should ensure that racial profiling is not a problem. By 2002, every
trooper's car will be equipped with two cameras, one in the rear window and
one in the front window, that will record everything the trooper does on
his shift. Troopers will also wear microphones on their uniforms, Public
Safety Commissioner Arthur Spada has said.

Cromwell Police Chief Anthony Salvadore, president of the Connecticut
Police Chiefs Association, said the study gives law enforcement high marks.

"There might be some problem individuals out there but there is no
systematic profiling in Connecticut,'' Salvadore said.