Communications Breakdown Leaves Police Concerned Over Racial Profiling Reports

The has not provided a single report regarding their racial profiling data since December 2004, according to state records, but police said this week that the data has not only been given to the state but is done electronically on a quarterly basis.

Sgt. Lowell DePalma, spokesman for the department, said Wednesday that the accusations made by officials with the African American Affairs Commission last week that Southington has not provided racial profiling data in over seven years “is simply untrue.”

“We have a very specific policy in place in which our officers are required to provide the racial profiling data following every traffic stop, and it is entered into the system immediately by our dispatchers,” DePalma said. “The data collected is provided electronically to the Capitol Region Council of Governments every quarter and forwarded from there to the African American Affairs Commission.”

Southington's police department came under scrutiny last week after officials with the African American Affairs Commission, the state authority charged with collecting annual racial profiling data under state law, told the CT Mirror that the department had not reported data in over four years.

Neighboring communities including Farmington, Meriden and Wolcott as well as larger cities including Bridgeport and Hartford were also included in the list of 19 departments failing to report.

Departments are required under the Racial Profiling Prohibition Act of 1999 to submit an annual report to the AAAC showing whether minorities are being targeted in traffic stops. Glenn A. Cassis, executive director of the commission, said Tuesday that only 27 departments in the state have met the requirement each year since the law was created.

The law was formed following complaints in the 1980s and 1990s claiming police unjustly targeted blacks as potential drug traffickers, including in several predominantly white Hartford suburbs. The issue seemed to disappear after the act was passed, but was brought up once again following a recent federal investigation determining that East Haven police were targeting Hispanic drivers during traffic stops.

Cassis said the act was designed to prevent this type of racial profiling, but that there has been no oversight, and in recent years more and more departments have failed to comply with requirements.

“Southington isn’t alone, but our records indicate that Southington has not filed anything since December 2004,” Cassis said.

But it seems now that a communications issue, not data collection and submission, is the real problem.

Cheryl Assis, director of public safety and homeland security for the Capitol Region Council of Governments, said Southington is among several departments that take advantage of an electronic submission process that allows them to submit on a quarterly basis.

“Southington has been diligent in submitting their information to our vendor, Teletartner International, who compiles the information for all departments that use the electronic system and then forwards the information to the AAAC,” Assis said.

The Capitol Region Council of Governments serves 30 municipalities with a variety of shared government services, and there are now approximately 60 police departments throughout the state with access to the electronic filing system.

Assis said Tuesday that many of the departments currently using the system, including Southington, have indicated that they have been told that they are failing to comply.

Southington Police Capt. William Palmieri said Southington has used the system since January 2005 and has submitted its data each quarter since then. The data is collected at each traffic stop, where officers are responsible for filling out a separate white form that specifically asks about race.

The forms, after being entered into the system, are kept as records for the department.

“We have reached out and let Cheryl (Assis) know that if they want the information presented in a different way, we would work alongside them to present it in the manner they need,” Palmieri said.

Assis said while the information from Southington and other towns has been forwarded, it wasn’t until recently that the Capitol Region Council of Governments learned that the commission was not receiving the reports in a format they could use.

When officials with the African American Affairs Commission attempted to open the files, they were unsuccessful, Cassis said. Any department included within the files that could not be accessed was marked as having not complied, he said.

Representatives of the commission and the council will meet next week to identify the issue and resolve the problem, both Cassis and Assis said.

“It’s an issue we weren’t aware of before last week, but we are working to make sure it is resolved quickly,” she said.

In the meantime, Cassis and the African American Affairs Commission seem content with holding the departments themselves responsible for failing to comply with the law as it has been written.

“This isn’t a new issue. They may say they just learned of this problem, but we have been notifying the departments all along,” Cassis said. “As far as we are concerned, the law states that departments are responsible for reporting to us directly and those who we do not currently have the numbers for have not complied.”