Prompted by the most traffic fatalities in Connecticut history, Republicans called Wednesday for a series of proposals to crack down on crime.

Republicans said reforms are needed on domestic violence, juvenile offenses, bail, and the controversial police accountability act that was signed into law more than two years ago.

State Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, a legislator who also works as a detective for the Stonington police department, said that morale has never been lower among police. The poor morale, he said, has led to a lack of police enforcement. As a result, overall traffic stops are down 40% statewide and also down about 65% by state troopers who patrol the highways, he said, citing state statistics.

“We can sit and make excuses about staffing,” Howard told reporters at the state Capitol complex. “We can make excuses about pandemics and viruses or anything else. But the truth is this: the massive reduction in traffic stops and associated untimely and unnecessary deaths on our highways is a result of the lowest morale among law enforcement in the history of this profession.”

Morale could be boosted, Howard said, if the legislature shows strong support for law enforcement that would include restoring consent searches during motor vehicle stops to seize drugs and guns, along with easing restrictions on qualified immunity that many officers believe can cause them personal financial liability in civil lawsuits from on-duty actions.

Republicans and Democrats have been arguing for years about qualified immunity as Democrats say officers would be held responsible only in egregious cases involving “malicious, wanton or willful” acts — and not for simply doing their jobs.

Rep. Steve Stafstrom, a Bridgeport Democrat who co-chairs the legislature’s judiciary committee, said that traffic stops are down because the state has far fewer troopers than in the past — rather than directly due to any problems with morale.

“Nationally, traffic accidents and fatalities have been up since the pandemic,” Stafstrom said in an interview. “I don’t think Connecticut is an outlier on that.”

He said “some cherry-picked statistics” could not support the Republican viewpoint that is “frankly political fear-mongering.”

Republicans say police have been handcuffed because they have been largely blocked from making “consent” searches during motor vehicle stops, and they have sometimes backed off high-speed chases because they are concerned about their personal liability.

But Stafstrom and other Democrats note that not a single lawsuit has been filed regarding qualified immunity since the new law was signed in July 2020.

“We can’t understand why our car stops are down 65%? I can,” Howard said. “The officers are limiting their liability so much that they’re not stopping cars on our highways and now we have death [on the highways] in record numbers. … Officers are doing a whole lot less because they are afraid that they don’t want to be the first one” named in a qualified immunity lawsuit.

Howard added, “They don’t want to be the test case. So they are limiting their liability by doing less proactive work.”

Stafstrom responded, “I’m not seeing a correlation at all. Qualified immunity never went away. This is the biggest lie going.”

Lawmakers say the traffic fatalities have been staggering as more than 300 people died on the state roadways last year. That included 231 drivers and passengers in multiple accidents, along with 75 pedestrians who had been walking or riding a bicycle when hit by a vehicle.

Another major problem is wrong-way collisions that killed 23 people in 2022 in 13 different accidents.

Lawmakers were already focusing on the problem, but they said they would redouble their efforts after the sudden death of state Rep. Quentin “Q” Williams of Middletown in a wrong-way crash on Route 9 in Cromwell as he was driving home in early January after Gov. Ned Lamont’s inaugural ball.

In another proposal Wednesday, Republicans said the legislature should increase the penalty for murders committed in domestic violence incidents to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But the legislature voted to end the death penalty and has been reducing — rather than increasing — penalties in recent years.

Senate Republican leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford said that reducing crime does not solve all of society’s problems.

“Justice reforms and opportunity must go hand in hand,” Kelly said. “You cannot address one without the other. A safer Connecticut starts with an economy that can support jobs and housing, build hope, and create a path to success for young people. It starts with proactive policing, appropriate consequences for high-risk repeat offenders, and ensuring our justice system has the tools to successfully rehabilitate.”

A series of public hearings will be held in the coming weeks, including one Monday on the governor’s gun safety proposals and another on bail reform on March 15.

The Connecticut Justice Alliance rejected a proposal that would make it easier to transfer juveniles to the adult system, where serious crimes are adjudicated.

“Republicans’ misleading press conference aims to scare Connecticut residents into supporting failed policies that prioritize incarceration over community investment,” the group said. “Doubling down on these policies perpetuates the cycle of poverty and reinforces systemic injustices. Instead, we should invest in our communities and provide our youth with opportunities for success. The criminalization of our youth exacerbates disparities within our legal system. Republican representatives presented no actual evidence to support their claims and instead relied on sensational headlines. The truth is that Connecticut continues to experience historically low crime rates by investing in communities, not just the judicial system.”