Patrol Officer Aces Fairfield County Detective Course

By Andrew Gorosko

Although he is not a gumshoe, a town police patrol officer received the highest score among more than two dozen Fairfield County police officers who recently took a course on advanced police detective techniques.

Officer Richard Robinson received the highest overall score in the Fairfield County Detective Conference’s detective school course following a two-week instructional program, according to Police Chief Michael Kehoe. Patrol Officer Stephen Santucci also attended the training.

The course provides participants with training in all aspects of advanced police detective work, said Chief Kehoe.

At the end of training, a multiple-choice test is given to check the participants’ retention of subject matter that was taught by instructors.

Also, the participants convert the handwritten notes that they took during the course into formal, outlined notes, which they compile in a large loose-leaf binder. Those formal notes are intended to serve as a reference book for their future use.

Participants are scored on both the multiple-choice test and the quality of their formal notes, the police chief said.

“That’s a very prestigious award,” Chief Kehoe said of Officer Robinson’s accomplishment.

“A lot of time, effort, and dedication [were given] to his studies while in this training…and he should be commended. I’m very proud of him,” Chief Kehoe said.

Chief Kehoe said it is the first time to his knowledge that any Newtown police officer has received the highest score in the Fairfield County Detective Conference course. The course was held in April at the Stratford Police Department.

Officer Robinson said that 60 percent of the course grade is based on the results of a multiple-choice test, and the remaining 40 percent of the grade is based on the quality of the formal notes.

The policeman then produced a thick, heavy white loose-leaf binder brimming with reference information that is useful to police detectives, which he had compiled while taking the course.

Subject content includes arson, explosives, juvenile law, crime scene investigation techniques, computer crime, identity theft, arrest warrant application procedures, and revisions to criminal law, among many other subjects.

The course is intended both for people interested in becoming detectives and for people who have become detectives and want the specialized knowledge that the field requires, he said.

Taking the course expanded his investigatory knowledge and also broadened his law enforcement horizon, he said.

Officer Robinson said he learned much in the course about the techniques of interviewing and interrogation, as well as about identity theft.

Sixteen instructors lectured during the course. They included a prosecutor, a judge, state troopers, municipal detectives, and representatives of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Secret Service, and State Department, plus a postal inspector.

The detective’s course, which is given annually, is in its 44th year.

Officer Robinson, 37, has been a town patrol officer since October 1998.