Former Hartford police officer accused of falsifying traffic reports facing criminal charges

A former Hartford Police Department officer turned himself in on criminal charges this week after allegedly overreporting traffic stops and falsifying reports while working for the department, police said.

Former officer Michael Fallon turned himself in on Tuesday on charges of computer crime, second-degree forgery and perjury, the Hartford Police Department confirmed on Thursday.

An Internal Affairs investigation released by police in August found that Fallon overreported traffic stops on his reports, filled out 33 traffic stop forms either inaccurately or for stops that did not occur and falsely reported information on a traffic stop-related arrest warrant.

Fallon resigned on March 6, 2023, before he could be interviewed and face discipline within the department, according to Hartford police Chief Jason Thody.

Each officer is required to complete a “Hartford Police Traffic Division Weekly Activity Report,” which shows the number of motor vehicles stopped, vehicles towed and enforcement actions taken by the officer at the end of each week, according to police.

That information then generates a weekly report, which is scanned into a PDF and emailed to the supervisor. To avoid mistakes, beginning in January 2022, supervisors required all officers to submit the yellow copy (officer’s copy) of all infractions and summons issued along with the activity report.

During that annual audit of the Traffic Division’s weekly activity reports in January, Hartford police Sgt. Corey Clark allegedly found discrepancies in the work Fallon reported from Dec. 18, 2022, through Jan. 14, 2023, versus the work he actually performed.

The audit discovered that during that four-week period of Dec. 18, 2022, through Jan. 14, 2023, Fallon falsely reported an additional 25 motor vehicle stops and 13 issued infractions, police said.

“After being confronted by his supervisors within the Traffic Division, Officer Fallon admitted to falsifying his divisional weekly activity reports,” said Thody.

According to the report, Fallon told Clark his reason for doing so was that he did not want to disappoint his supervisors with a limited amount of activity.

The investigation did a complete audit of Fallon’s traffic stops, traffic stop forms, body-worn camera videos and case incident reports during the time period of Jan. 2, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022.

During 2022, Fallon reported that he conducted 575 motor vehicle stops and issued 281 traffic infractions. Investigators discovered only 380 motor vehicle stops for 2022 were recorded in the Hartford Police Record Management System.

The investigation also concluded that Fallon overreported 195 traffic stops, totaling 33.9% of his reported total traffic stops, and 31 traffic infractions, totaling 11% of his reported total traffic infractions.

The investigation also discovered that 46 of the 380 traffic stops had discrepancies and/or dispatch or officer error. The report also stated that a review of the traffic stop forms showed that out of the 380 forms completed by Fallon during that period, he incorrectly reported the driver’s gender 12 times and the driver’s race 19 times.

A review of Fallon’s reports revealed major discrepancies with one traffic stop where an arrest warrant was issued but never served. The investigation proved beyond the preponderance of evidence that the traffic stop did not occur as reported and the warrant was vacated, according to the report.

The Police Standards and Training Council was notified by Hartford police, according to Thody, in order to initiate the decertification process.

The investigation concluded that Fallon violated the following sections of the Code of Conduct:

Article II, Section 2.10: Knowingly and willfully making a false entry in any department or other official report or record.

Article V, Section 5.02: Negligent entry in any Bureau, Division or Department record.

Article V, Section 5.08: Negligent failure to comply with any lawful orders, procedures, directives or regulations, oral or written.

Article V, Section 5.13: Failure to properly identify, collect, or preserve evidence in a timely fashion due to carelessness or neglect.

Fallon was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled to be arraigned in court in Hartford on Oct. 11, court records show.