The Department of Emergency Services and Public protection self-corrected traffic stop data released October 9th in a press conference. The discrepancy was tens of thousands of traffic stops off when numbers so far this year were compared to total numbers last year. Roughly a 160% increase.
The number reported was just over 26,000 traffic stops for 2023, and over 68,000 so far in 2024. They credited an increased emphasis on enforcement for the increase.
Wednesday, in a press release they said there was a software error in the collection process, leading to the discrepancy. The actual number for 2023 was 95,781.
With the updated number, the state is now more in line this year with the 2023 data instead of far and away ahead, though Connecticut State Police have indicated they continue to increase enforcement efforts on our state roadways, with roughly two and a half months to go in the year.
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Commissioner for DESPP Ronnell Higgins issued a statement saying “Our mission remains the same – to work around the clock to make our highways safe. We are changing the way we work, making data-driven decisions, focusing our resources on where the biggest problems are. We know where there are the most speeding violations. We know where – and when – the most operating under the influence crashes take place. And we are targeting roadways that have statistically significant numbers of fatal motor vehicle crashes. Our fatal accident mitigation initiative beings more troopers and specialty enforcement to roadways that are the most dangerous.”
The department offered their Chief Data Officer for an interview Thursday around the error and efforts being made around data collection and transparency.
“There was a filtering issue when there was a report and there was a number issue when it was reported,” said Chief Data Officer with the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Michael Mascari.
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The department is of the mind that a big part of increasing safety on the roads is better data to help drive decisions.
“Getting data and making it available, accessible, and also understandable and appealing,” said Mascari of his role with the department.
Kenneth Barone with the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at UConn and manager of the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project works around this data all the time.
“It is really important that police, to the best of their ability report information accurately,” said Barone.
His concern is eroded trust with State Police despite what he called major strides in better data collection and access within DESPP.
“But it is important that the public have confidence in the information that is being put out by any state agency,” said Barone.
Barone said the optics of the change self-reported by DESPP needs consideration, noting mistakes do happen, and that is what he believes is the case here.
“This is pretty routine stuff, we need to ensure they are getting this right, because if not, it can introduce questions into the more complicated things that police do,” said Barone.
He remains concerned though, that the corrected numbers show stagnant traffic stop numbers both overall, and compared to pre-pandemic levels.
“We know in the state of Connecticut, people are going too fast, they are following each other too closely, they are distracted, they aren’t wearing their seatbelt,” said Barone.
He said pre-pandemic, it was common for State Police to initiate 150,000 to 200,000 traffic stops a year. But in recent years, we have remained roughly at or below 100,000 according to State Police data.
He notes the 30% decrease in traffic stops in recent years compared to pre-pandemic levels overall. While he understands State Police are putting an emphasis on “data driven enforcement” he believes to get the best data, the traffic stop numbers need to come back up.
“If we can get the numbers back up, we can home in on the areas still need more enforcement or better enforcement,” said Barone.
But the department believes a data-driven approach is working, even with the traffic stop data already available. That’s what Mascari is set to help show.
“We can have these enforcement areas and allocate the right funds and the right people to the right place,” he said.
Mascari is currently tasked at the department with better data management of all six branches within the Department of Emergency Management and Public Protection, and creating a user-friendly interface for the public to access the data DESPP holds on to. He noted his first rollout of that data, he expects to be traffic stop numbers.
