Take That! Connecticut Lawmakers Want to Stop Street Takeovers, New Fairfield Rep Comments

According to a recent report from WTNH, Connecticut lawmakers are desperate to stop the street takeovers that have haunted the state for the past few years. The News 8 report says some lawmakers are pushing to allow towns and cities to confiscate the vehicles of anyone perpetrating a street takeover.

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We spoke to New Fairfield State Representative Pat Callahan about the issue on the Friday (09/13/24) edition of the I-95 Morning Show.

Lou: CT Lawmakers are looking to make some adjustments and stop this from happening, what can you tell us? 

Pat: "In my conversations with John Krupinsky (Sergeant, Danbury PD) and the State Police—and as Dave and you all know—I worked with John on numerous cases over the years when I ran the probation department in this part of the state. What is disturbing is that many of the participants in these street takeovers are coming from other states, such as New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. What they do is they get on these social media websites and they start the talk and they figure out where they are going to do it and then they come in and you're right, they infiltrate the town, they terrorize the townspeople, they don't allow people to pass by and it's gotten to be a big problem in Connecticut. But, the good news is local and State Police are smarter than them and they're on top of it and they've employed a few tactics to stop this. There was one that was going to take place September 1st but their technology and their infiltration into these groups stopped it before it happened."

Lou: So lawmakers are kicking around ideas here like revoking licenses, you think it should be a statewide thing, talking about taking their vehicles away from them all together, are those the actions being considered, or are their additional measures they want to put into place to stop these street takeovers? 

Pat: "One of the additional measures I want to get the State Police the ability to have an aircraft. They have a helicopter now but they need an airplane with the technology to track all of these. So, that is one of the things I don't think is on the table right now but I think the laws need to be a little tougher and like I said at the beginning of our conversation, The Police Accountability Bill is stopping people in law enforcement from doing the proactive work they used to do because they are afraid of what is going to happen to them and their families."

EDITORIAL (Louis Milano): Look, I was a delinquent teen/young adult but we were different than young people today. We did everything we could to avoid law enforcement and these children want to commit crimes in full-view of the cops and rub it in their face. The laws are currently setup to allow for that.

You can listen to our complete interview with New Fairfield State Rep Pat Callahan below.

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