December 10, 2012
Taking the Lead with John DeCarlo
By Karen Cortés
CTLatinoNews.com
Connecticut made national
headlines last year when the
U.S. Department of Justice
released its findings that the
East Haven Police
Department had engaged in a
pattern or practice of
discrimination against
Latinos, a violation of the
Constitution and federal law.
Tensions grew when Mayor
Ed Maturo flippantly
commented that he “might
have tacos” in support of the
city’s Latino community.
A year later, Connecticut is
readying itself to make
headlines once again, this
time for the Racial Profile
Prohibition project of the state
Office of Policy Management.
The project is being cochaired by Dr. John
DeCarlo, associate professor
at the Henry C. Lee College
of Criminal Justice &
Forensic Sciences at the
University of New Haven.
DeCarlo’s law enforcement
background is more than
academic. He has 34 years of
experience in police
management and
administration and is the
former chief of police in
Branford.
DeCarlo says he jumped at
the chance to serve as cochair of the project when the
opportunity was offered by
former state legislator Bill
Dyson. “Racial profiling isn’t
just something that happens in
big cities. It can happen close
to home. It is important to
deliver justice in policing
services across the board,” he
says.
“Connecticut is poised to
become a national model with
this legislative reform,” says
DeCarlo. “It’s important to
have an early warning system
in place to detect patterns of
behavior that are anomalous
to best practices.”
The project team, which
began its work in July, has
four separate working groups:
system and process, data
methodology and analysis,
public awareness and training.
The team will make
recommendations to
legislature in January, with a
final report in July.
“The Racial Profiling
Prohibition Project will give
police department executives
the tools to find out if these
things are happening, along
with the training, tolerance
and tools to make better
officers,” says DeCarlo.
Connecticut’s anti-racial
profiling law, The Alvin W.
Penn Racial Profiling
Prohibition Act, was first
enacted in 1999. The law
prohibits any law enforcement
agency from stopping,
detaining, or searching any
motorist when the stop is
motivated solely by
considerations of the race,
color, ethnicity, age, gender
or sexual orientation.
During the 2012 legislative
and special sessions the
December 10, 2012
General Assembly shifted
responsibility for the act’s
implementation to the Office
of Policy and Management, in
consultation with the newly
established Racial Profiling
Prohibition Advisory Board.
“It is great to be working with
Governor Malloy and
[undersecretary for criminal
justice policy and planning]
Mike Lawlor. Without the
political will to make this
happen, it wouldn’t be
happening,” says DeCarlo.
DeCarlo looks forward to
seeing the fruits of the project
team’s labor. “Change can
happen quickly,” he says,
citing increased diversity in
East Haven’s department
under Chief Brent Larrabee.
“You can see the difference
already.”
DeCarlo is actively involved
in several areas of research
including police use of force,
weapon focus effect,
consequences of multiple
perpetrators on eyewitness
efficacy and policing
methodologies and
bureaupathology. He holds a
M.A. from the John J. College
of Criminal Justice, and a
M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the
University of New York
Graduate Center.
Public forums are being held
throughout the state,
including one to be conducted
on Wednesday, December 12,
from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the
Bridgeport YMCA, 850 Park
Avenue in Bridgeport. For
more information about the
Racial Profiling Prohibition
Project, visit www.ctrp3.com.