State House votes 142-1 to strengthen law that prohibits racially profiling motorists

Hartford -- The House voted 142 to 1 this morning to strengthen a state law that forbids law enforcement agencies from racially profiling motorists at traffic stops.

The bill passed the Senate last month on a 31-3 vote and now awaits the governor’s signature.

It modifies the 1999 Alvin W. Penn Racial Profiling Prohibition Act which prohibits racial profiling and requires police departments to collect data from their traffic stops, including the race, age, gender and ethnicity of every individual they pull over.

But only several dozen departments fully complied with the collection requirements, officials said, and the legislature's African-American Affairs Commission lacked the resources to analyze the data.

Under the newly passed bill, police departments would again start collecting traffic stops in July 2013 using new standardized methods. The state Office of Policy and Management would develop the new standards and take over the duty of analyzing the data.

The new standardized forms must record the perceived race, age, gender and ethnicity of all stopped motorists. The motorist also must be given notice that he or she may file a complaint if they believe the traffic stop was done solely because of their race, color, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.