Conn. trooper scandal nothing to joke about
EDITORIAL
Perhaps Gov. Ned Lamont knows enough about the inner workings of the investigations into Connecticut troopers to be able to joke about it.
The governor, after all, did ask to wait until all the evidence was in before judging troopers accused of falsifying hundreds of tickets.
“There are a lot of guys driving around our streets right now like a bat out of hell,” Lamont joked Tuesday. “That’s what happens when you get the police to stop issuing those fake tickets. Things like that start happening.”
Lamont made his comments during a Middlesex Chamber of Commerce event with a tradition of inviting such humor, so we don’t want to be too hard on him (though it’s in perhaps worse taste to joke about bad drivers given recent road fatalities in the state). But one way or another, Connecticut won’t have a lot to laugh about when the findings of three probes are done.
Even if the best outcome is revealed — that there was zero wrongdoing — it will come at a hefty financial cost.
Everyone involved is lawyering up, which is a more reliable barometer of what is likely on the horizen. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has contracted legal help to assist the governor’s office and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection on everything from handling research and paperwork to offering advice and responding to subpoenas. Tong’s contract for such services is worth up to $250,000.
The troopers’ union is also poised to bring in lawyers as federal investigators begin interviews with individual troopers. The counsel to the union said those sessions would likely occur in mid-January or February.
The controversy heated up over the summer as an audit revealed the “high likelihood” that hundreds of Connecticut troopers might have falsified traffic ticket records over the previous decade. The audit cast suspicion that tens of thousand of tickets may be compromised.
There are three investigations under way: an internal review by state police, a federal grand jury probe and an independent one overseen by former U.S. attorney for Connecticut Deirdre M. Daly. As they continue, a CT Insider analysis of the audit’s data raises some of the questions that need to be answered.
One example cited in a CT Insider story details how a trooper logged stops of 43 cars over 21⁄2 hours on July 17, 2017, recording a ticket every four minutes. Somehow, the trooper was able to do so in five towns: Middletown, Vernon, Berlin, Glastonbury and Colchester.
An audit flagged all 43 tickets as “unreliable,” as they had trouble matching them to court records.
The CT Insider analysis identified similar incidents, a pattern that one of the audit’s authors concluded “just didn’t pass the smell test.”
There are several possible explanations. Even if it’s the result of technical glitches, there will need to be reforms. But the primary concern is whether troopers logged tickets without ever making stops. These socalled “ghost tickets” are not a phantom theory, as cases of such a work culture have already been identified.
There are a lot of experts — including ones from the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI — who are seeking the truth. Regardless of the outcome, this won’t end with a punchline.