“Police officers around Connecticut have certainly not ignored continued legislation proposed, passed and/or signed by the governor that disparages their profession and by extension limits the ranks of officers. “One cannot simply discount that the governor himself signed a law in 2021 that specifically prohibited police officers from stopping operators observed by police officers to be smoking marijuana while driving,” Howard said. At the same time, he said the legislature also needs to change the law to help police in their enforcement efforts. Greg Howard, who has also worked as a police officer in Stonington for more than 20 years, hailed the renewed effort at traffic enforcement - saying that the police presence and vehicle stops lead directly to a reduction in crashes and fatalities. “I look forward to supporting upcoming proposals that retain and recruit more officers, bring families and police into a conversation on safety with new drivers, and address the rise in marijuana use while driving - particularly, restoring the ability of a law enforcement officer to use the odor of cannabis to conduct an investigatory motor vehicle stop.” Kathleen Kennedy, the ranking House Republican on the transportation committee. “To combat the wrong-way and impaired driving epidemic in Connecticut, our approach must be rooted in law enforcement, education, and behavioral change,” said Rep. Quentin “Q” Williams of Middletown after he left the governor’s inaugural ball in Hartford. Marijuana has been involved in some fatal accidents, and both drivers had traces of marijuana in their blood in the wrong-way crash last year that killed state Rep. Drivers smoking pot can become impaired and police have complained repeatedly that they do not have a simple test for marijuana in the way they can measure blood levels for alcohol. While the impact of drunken driving has been well documented for years, state legislators are questioning the influence of the recent decriminalization of marijuana. I’m pleased that we now have more troopers today than when I came into office - a few more, to be blunt. When asked by The Courant if the state has enough troopers to accomplish the goals of increased enforcement, Lamont responded, “No, I think we need more troopers. One of the biggest issues in the enforcement is that the state police have about 300 fewer troopers than in the past and a specialized traffic unit with 15 members when compared to 62 in 2018. We know that if we’re seeing this impaired driving on the highways that we have to be seeing this impaired driving in the cities, as well. We want our work to cascade throughout the cities. So we pledge to create a unity of effort. We want them to step up their efforts proximate to our highways and those off-ramps where people are going the wrong way. “We’re also have already begun having conversations with local police chiefs. Higgins told reporters of the joint effort. “We want this to be a cascading effort,” state police commissioner Ronnell A. In a multifaceted approach, state police said they are also reaching out to local police chiefs across the state for increased enforcement because drunk drivers travel across the local streets as they are headed to the highways.
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