The Watertown Police Department proactively initiated this partnership in an effort to
learn and improve its services to its community.
Watertown, CT - Today, the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) and the Watertown Police Department (WPD) released an assessment of the department’s vehicle stop data from October 2013 - December 2020 and calls for service and officer activity data from January 1, 2014 - July 1, 2020. CPE presented key findings from the assessment and discussed areas for further exploration in a public event for Watertown residents. The assessment, which identifies racial disparities in police interactions with the community, is the second in a series of CPE publications analyzing policing data from departments serving jurisdictions across the state of Connecticut.
All assessments are housed within CPE’s Justice Navigator, an interactive digital platform that provides streamlined access to public safety analyses, policy insights, and community resources. The analysis is a step in a collaborative process between municipal leaders and community members in an effort to build and support more equitable public safety systems.
Michael Burbank, CPE Vice President of Law Enforcement Initiatives, said: “As with all of our assessments, we at CPE are pleased to collaborate with our law enforcement partners to spark discourse and provide the data-driven tools needed to implement meaningful improvements. We acknowledge the open and transparent opportunity provided by the Watertown Police Department and look forward to continuing to support the Watertown community through this process as they thoughtfully refine and develop truly safe public safety systems that serve all residents.”
A few key findings from Watertown PD’s assessment include:
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The population of Watertown, Connecticut, is 91% White, 4.5% Latinx, 2% Black, 1.7% Asian, 0.7% Multiple Racial Groups, and 0.1% Other.
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According to Watertown PD data on vehicle stops recorded between 2013 and 2020: 7.2% of all drivers stopped were Black; 7.6% were Latinx; 83% were White; and 2.4% were recorded as “Other.” The total number of vehicle stops recorded yearly varied from a low of 1,106 in 2015 to a high of 2,923 in 2019.
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Once stopped, Black drivers were searched 4.2 times as often as White drivers, even though they possessed contraband such as weapons, drugs, or stolen goods less frequently than White drivers who were searched.
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WPD recorded 86,965 total events, including both Officer-Initiated Activities and police responses to Calls for Service, during the time period analyzed. Five hundred eighty (580) of these events were recorded as involving persons dealing with mental health crises. Only 5.3% of these events involved reports of Bodily Harm, Property Harm, or Threats.