Chief John Roche
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” police Chief John Roche said. “If you break the law, you break the law. If you don’t, you don’t.”
Chief Roche was reacting to a state report on racial profiling by police in Connecticut, based on information about some 620,000 traffic stops statewide during the 12 months from Oct. 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2014.
Ridgefield was not among the 12 police agencies of the 118 examined that the state report found to have problematic traffic stop statistics — numbers suggestive of possible racial profiling, and a need for further study.
That the Ridgefield Police Department’s practices held up well under state review did not surprise the chief.
“When we as a department enforce the motor vehicle laws, we enforce for the violation, and the action of the driver — not for who the driver is,” Roche said. “We’ve always done that.”
Not only did Ridgefield officers’ behavior on the street stand up to scrutiny, the chief said, but the department’s administrative practices appear solid as well.
A summons is written by an officer, goes to a supervisor, and is then submitted to the records department.
It’s reviewed by the records department, which provides a report on all summonses for review by the administrative staff of the department — the chief, the major who is the department’s executive officer, and the captains who are division commanders.
“I think in our department there’s a lot of checks and balances to insure that we’re appropriate with everything we’re doing,” Roche said.
Does the Ridgefield Police Department have a policy against racial profiling?
“Yes,” Chief Roche said. “There’s policy of no racial profiling, a policy against discriminatory practices. It’s a general order — that’s an order which must be followed by all. You don’t violate a general order. You obey the general orders.”
Do Ridgefield officers undergo training that addresses racial profiling?
“Yes. They have to go through state training, as part of our re-certification training. You have to go through, every three years, 60 hours of training to maintain your certification as a police officer.”
Report’s concern
The Racial Profiling Prohibition Project Report on Traffic Stop Data Analysis and Findings, 2013-2014, looked at a year’s worth of traffic stops from 92 municipal departments, 13 state police troops, and 13 special police agencies.
Its analysis, by the Connecticut Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at Central Connecticut State University, found five police agencies in the state with “significant disparities” and seven others showing “consistent disparities” in the rates at which they stopped different racial and ethnic groups.
There no place for racial disparities in good law enforcement, according to Roche.
“The bottom line is, you don’t do this. You don’t do it,” he said
“If you have a prejudice against a group of people, don’t become a cop.”