Edwin Gomes

Gomes: Racial Insensitivity in East Haven Shows Need For Reform

Current occupant of the late Senator Alvin Penn’s legislative seat calls for full enforcement of the 1999 Racial Profiling Prohibition Act

BRIDGEPORT—State Senator Ed Gomes (D-Bridgeport) today offered comment on the recent arrest of four East Haven police officers for racial profiling, and offensive comments on the subject made by East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo.

Senator Gomes also called for the 1999 Racial Profiling Prohibition Act, known as the “Alvin Penn Act,” to be fully enforced.

"The overwhelming evidence of racial profiling in East Haven must be taken seriously by everyone, including public officials, police officers, and citizens of every race. Mayor Maturo might have wanted tacos for dinner, but he ended up eating crow instead,” said Senator Gomes.

He continued, “The FBI has intervened in East Haven, and justice will be served there. Yet racial profiling still exists in countless other places, and typically goes unreported and unpunished. The indifference of Mayor Maturo and others toward the civil rights of their fellow citizens emphasizes the need for the decade-old Alvin Penn Act to finally be enforced.”

Senator Gomes now represents the 23rd Senatorial District of Bridgeport and Stratford, the same seat once held by the late Senator Alvin Penn.

In 1999, Senator Penn won passage of the Racial Profiling Prohibition Act, which requires municipal police departments to report traffic stop data to the State of Connecticut on an annual basis to be analyzed for evidence of racial profiling.

Yet according to 2010 data, only 27 police departments have consistently submitted reports. There are 92 municipal police departments in Connecticut.

“It is truly dispiriting how many of our law enforcement officers and organizations are openly flouting the law,” said Senator Gomes.