Police Chief Presents A Plan For The Future

By Andrew Gorosko

Police have formulated a five-year improvement plan intended to upgrade police department operations as the agency approaches the year 2006.

The Police Commission July 3 endorsed the 17 goals and objectives in the plan that Police Chief Michael Kehoe formulated for implementation during the next five years.

The goals include increasing police staffing to 45 sworn officers; establishing minimum staffing levels of five officers on day shifts, five officers on night shifts, and four officers on overnight shifts; creating a permanent squad staffing plan; creating the new position of lieutenant for operations; adding a seventh sergeant to the department; and adding a part-time animal control officer to the organization.

Chief Kehoe also recommends the creation of an administrative officer position; making a study of police space needs; preparing architectural drawings to satisfy those space needs; installing a new police radio system; adding of more vehicles to the police fleet; having the police department accredited by an accreditation organization; and enhancing police training.

The chief also recommends improving police equipment; obtaining better office furniture; improving police evidence control facilities; and enhancing police records management.

In unanimously adopting the five-year plan, Police Commission members agreed that the document would be modified as needed in the future.

In the plan, Chief Kehoe writes that although the number of cases which police have investigated annually has declined during the past several years, the volume of pro-active work which police have assumed has increased. “The officers of today do more pro-active and directed work than the officers of the past,” he writes, noting that three officers are involved in school-community relations, one officer handles neighborhood crime watch work, one officer is assigned to narcotics enforcement, and one officer handles bicycle patrol work.

Based on a significant increase in the local population during the past several years, the construction of approximately 14 miles of new local roads, and increased traffic, among other factors, Chief Kehoe recommends that the police department be authorized to have 45 officers. The current complement is 43 officers.

“The 45 sworn-officer level is easily attainable and allows for a slightly less than adequate buffer level when retirements, worker compensation injuries, and off-duty illnesses impact the staffing level,” the chief writes. Besides sworn officers, the police department has 11 civilian employees.

The proposed level of 45 officers would allow the police department to have at least four officers on duty on day shifts and also on evening shifts during a majority of the time, according to Chief Kehoe. The 45-officer plan also would allow police to have three officers on duty on overnight shifts a majority of the time, he adds.

Chief Kehoe states he would prefer to have five officers on duty on all day shifts and on all evening shifts, and have four officers on duty on overnight shifts, but that would only be possible if the police union were to make concessions through collective bargaining. If such concessions are not forthcoming, police overtime spending would have to increase to cover the resulting staffing costs, he adds.

The police chief recommends the creation of a “permanent squad shift” staffing plan under which the same patrol officers and sergeants would consistently work together. Such an arrangement would improve the supervision, evaluation, and management of personnel, he says.

Reorganization

In the five-year plan, Chief Kehoe writes that the planned addition of a second lieutenant’s position to the police department will strengthen the organization, establish a clearer chain of command, and free up police supervisors from certain administrative work. The addition of a second lieutenant is expected to enhance the department’s planning, budgeting, internal inspection, fiscal management, personnel management, and career development functions, he adds.

Adding a seventh sergeant to the department, who would be a patrol sergeant, is intended to enhance supervisory continuity, according to the chief. The department currently has six sergeants, five of whom are patrol sergeants, and one of whom is a detective sergeant.

Adding a new lieutenant’s post and new sergeant’s post is intended to improve the supervision of patrol officers.

The police chief recommends hiring a part-time animal control officer to fill in for the regular animal control officer when he is not on duty. Such a post would free up patrol officers who handle dog complaints when the animal control officer is off duty.

Chief Kehoe also recommends creating the post of “administrative officer,” a sworn officer who would work under the supervision of a lieutenant. The administrative officer would handle duties such as evidence control, prisoner transportation, police car management, and court liaison work.

Facilities

Chief Kehoe observes, “At present, the police station facilities… are generally inadequate and lack the design specifications to meet the operational needs of the force.”

Although the police station is in an ideal location and is easy to find, it lacks adequate parking and room for future expansion, he adds.

Although the police station is structurally sound, it is not constructed of durable materials and has required repeated interior and exterior repairs, according to Chief Kehoe.

Although the recent interior modifications at the police station provide a larger space for the detective bureau and better locker rooms, the changes are only a stopgap measure, he adds. The department still requires a proper interview and interrogation room, juvenile holding area, exterior evidence storage area, evidence processing room, prisoner processing room, and an adequate training room, he adds.

The town could either significantly improve the existing police station, or build a new police station to meet the police department’s needs, he writes.

A new facility or an improved existing facility should be fireproof, flood-proof, and earthquake-proof and it should be constructed of materials that require minimum maintenance and no exterior renovation, according to Chief Kehoe.

The Fairfield Hills campus has been mentioned as the site for a new police station, if a new station were to be built.

Chief Kehoe recommends that a police space needs study be done and that architectural drawings be prepared for either a modified police station or a new police station.

 

Radio Communications

Chief Kehoe notes the police’s long-term radio communications problems. Police have difficulty communicating with the police station when they use their hand-held radios. Police also have difficulty communicating among themselves between police cars.

The town is investigating getting an improved radio system for municipal use, including the emergency services departments. If a new police radio system is properly designed and built, it would eliminate the police communications problems, the chief writes.

Currently, the police department is set up to have nine marked police patrol cars, plus nine other vehicles. Chief Kehoe recommends that the police fleet increase its number of vehicles, adding more cars for the patrol division, detectives, and administrators.

The chief recommends that the department start seeking accreditation no later than July 2002 to improve it services to the public, reduce insurance liability costs, make administrative improvements, and foster community support.

Among training improvements, Chief Kehoe recommends having all sworn officers meet the requirements for a medical response technician (MRT); have police trained in the use of heart defibrillators and carry defibrillators in their patrol cars; develop training in the use of less-than-lethal force; be trained in basic crime scene investigation techniques; improve report writing; develop a radar speed instructor position; and create an in-town firearms range, if possible. Town police currently practice their firearms use out of town.

Evidence Control

Police need an outdoor lockable storage shed and a vehicle pen for evidence storage, according to the chief. Police have had difficulty securing and maintaining large pieces of evidence, such as motor vehicles, he notes. Also, police have had problems storing various large pieces of evidence in existing evidence rooms, he adds.

In the area of records management, the chief recommends the use of wireless technology to allow officers in patrol cars to electronically retrieve records from the police station and also to electronically write reports in the field for transmission to the police station.