Dare to Struggle: “State Troopers Harass and Kick Homeless People Out of CT Fastrak Bus Stations”

Opinion by Dare to Struggle,

On May 3rd, 2025, Dare to Struggle (DTS) confronted a State Trooper who was harassing homeless people who were just sitting on a bench at the New Britain CT Fastrak bus station. As shown in the video provided alongside this press release, it was only during this confrontation where he realized he was being filmed that he turned on his body camera.[1] This is a clear and direct violation of state law CGS sec. 29-6d(c)(2) which states “Each police officer shall use body-worn recording equipment while interacting with the public in such sworn member’s law enforcement capacity.” He also falsely accused the DTS member of “fare evasion” after standing up for the people being harassed. The officer spent over an hour before the confrontation circling the platform in his cruiser, intimidating people who were waiting for their buses and/or taking shelter from the pouring rain.

Homeless people, who often have nowhere else to go, seek shelter at the Fastrack and face constant harassment from police. Since December 2024, DTS and Homeless Liberation Initiative (HLI) have been investigating the mistreatment and harassment of homeless people at CT Fastrak Bus Stations. In that time We have documented 34 police sweeps, all reported to or seen directly by DTS and HLI, which is just a fraction of the supposed multiple-times-a-week sweeps that happen across several Fastrak stations throughout the state.

While the sweep times are on an inconsistent basis, DTS & HLI have worked to directly confront and address this issue. In February 2025, we showed up to stand with homeless people at the Fastrak as police were kicking them out into the cold. When one member stood up to the police and said “a lot of these people have literally no where else to go” she was met with inhumanity from a state trooper. From his patrol car’s loudspeaker he said “you have nothing I want to hear” and “leave the property or I’ll arrest you”. He justified these sweeps by blaming the drug trade and drug use, yet both continue despite the sweeps.[2]

DTS and HLI have also been collecting statements directly from those affected by these sweeps. “I told the cop my wife was pregnant and can’t be cold, his response was ‘Not my Problem,’” one person said. Another person expressed, “This cop woke someone up with their foot, they kicked them awake , they didn’t even want to touch this person with their hand, that’s how de-humanized we are.”[3]

This treatment of people is undignified and unacceptable. Nationwide homeless people’s existence is criminalized, just last year a homeless man was crushed to death by a bulldozer during an encampment sweep.[4] We must stop these sweeps wherever they happen, and we ask the media to help us put public pressure on these cops to stop the sweeps and the criminalization of homelessness!

Source files can be found at: https://drive.proton.me/urls/SSEGKX5SDG#fJ71MpXMz1bI

[1] See “2025-03-02 Fastrak Confrontation.mp4”

[2] See “2025-02-27 Fastrak Confrontation.mp4”

[3] See “Fastrak Flyer – Stop the Sweeps.pdf”

[4] https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/cornelius-taylor-death-atlanta-homeless-encampment-police-report.amp

Dare to Struggle is a multinational organization open to anyone who wants to resist and stop injustice no matter who holds political office. We don’t lobby politicians. We don’t use insular activist lingo. We don’t chase social media fame. We don’t seek careers or corporate sponsorship through activism. We’re committed to standing with the people subjected to the horrors of the American nightmare. We go to the neighborhoods facing police brutality, ICE raids, poverty, and evictions, talk to people about the problems they face, and organize people in collective struggle. We know that radical change only happens when people step outside of routine protest or expecting politicians to do it for us and take bold, collective action.

Homeless Liberation Initiative is a mass organization initiated by Dare to Struggle, led by formerly and currently homeless people, fighting against the ways the homeless are attacked in New Britain.