CT House approves bill making it a crime to falsify police records

The Connecticut House of Representatives passed legislation on Monday that would explicitly make it a crime for any individual acting in a law enforcement capacity to intentionally falsify information in a law enforcement record.

House Bill 5055 passed unanimously on a vote of 149-0, sending the governor’s proposed legislation to the Senate.

The proposal follows reports of “significant failures” by the Connecticut State Police to correct deficiencies with the reporting of racial profiling data and officers found to have intentionally falsified ticketing data. There are ongoing federal and state investigations into the ticketing scandal.

The legislation would make it a Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, for a person to knowingly make false written statements or enter false information into a law enforcement record. It explicitly makes falsifying records a basis for decertifying an officer’s policing license.

Officials have shared concerns that the existing laws do not make it clear that intentionally falsifying data in computer systems is a crime.

Originally limited to police officers who falsify records, lawmakers broadened the bill earlier this year to penalize any individual who falsifies a law enforcement record. The bill also prohibits the disclosure of “any record pertaining to a formal complaint against a police officer” prior to the investigation of said complaint. The provision comes after a Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Connecticut State Police Union seeking to block officials from releasing the names of troopers under investigation for allegedly falsifying traffic stop tickets.

Reporting by Hearst Connecticut Media had previously uncovered how four state troopers fabricated hundreds of traffic stop tickets for better assignments, pay increases, promotions and specialty vehicles. The individuals — Timothy Bentley, Noah Gouveia, Kevin Moore and Daniel Richter — had been subjected to internal affairs investigations at the time but had otherwise evaded public scrutiny .

After the reports became public, the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project, a team of researchers collecting statewide data on the race and ethnicity of individuals stopped by police, reviewed over 800,000 infractions submitted by 1,301 troopers from 2014 to 2021.

A falsified record was one that did not reflect a real traffic stop event. An overreported infraction referred to records identified in the state’s racial profiling system but not in the court system, known as the Centralized Infractions Bureau. Underreported records were those found in the CIB but not in the profiling system.

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 underreported violations were more likely to include Black or Hispanic motorists, the report states.

The audit also found 311 troopers with “significant discrepancies,” a number that was whittled down to 130 in an effort to better hone the analysis to reflect those with the “most significant” inaccuracies.

State Police officials then launched an investigation into the 130 troopers, vowing to “dig into those names, exonerate those who are falsely alleged, but pursue those who are falsifying these documents.” No resident received a fake ticket, officials also said.

More than 7,400 traffic stop records were falsified by constables , researchers said, though they likely had minimal impact on the state’s annual analysis of traffic data, given that constables contribute less than 5% of all stops reported by state police.

After the audit, federal and local authorities, as well as state legislators, launched inquiries with the intent of finding out what transpired. The public scrutiny led to the retirements of Commissioner James C. Rovella and Col. Stavros Mellekas, the state’s top two public safety officials, which led to Commissioner Ronnell Higgins’ appointment.

An investigation commissioned by the Lamont administration, conducted by the law firm Finn Dixon & Herling LLP, found “significant failures” by the Connecticut State Police to abide by the state’s racial profiling law. The investigation, which the State Police helped conduct, also revealed that the scope of state troopers and constables who intentionally falsified data was “far more limited” than what was suggested by the audit.

“When we had the informational hearing in the off-session, a lot of accusations were made, a lot of records were sought, a lot of rush to judgment happened,” Rep. Craig Fishbein, a ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said on Monday. “At the end of the day, the wide-reaching bad acts that were alleged really weren’t proven. And unfortunately, the State Police had taken so long to do anything about this; the four individuals that it’s believed did something wrong, nothing could be done because the statute of limitations had run.”

Rep. Greg Howard, a ranking Republican on the Public Safety and Security Committee, commended the legislature for working on the bill, which comes after months of what he feels was unfair scrutiny against the State Police, despite the ongoing investigations .

“I hope our troopers are listening … because we need them to get back to work,” Howard said.

The bill goes to the Senate next.