Date: Fri 07-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-Lysaght-new-hire

Full Text:

Police Dept. Still Seeks New Officers

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Police Department is continuing its search to fill three patrol officer

vacancies, Police Chief James E. Lysaght, Jr, said Wednesday.

The department is especially interested in hiring people who are town

residents and also people who have retired after having served as police

officers elsewhere, the chief said.

Hiring police nationwide has become progressively difficult because there is a

limited pool of qualified people for the work, he said. There are many police

jobs nationwide, so those people who are qualified can be selective in

choosing where they want to work, he said.

The work environment in which town police operate is a positive one, the chief

said. Also, if police officers who work in town also live here, they enjoy a

good quality of life, he said.

The town uses the services of the Municipal Police and Fire Registry, a

Danbury-based clearinghouse which accumulates information on candidates for

police jobs at a cost to the candidate and then makes that information

available to municipalities at no cost.

In Newtown, in order to be considered for a police department post, a

candidate must pass an extensive testing process, be the subject of a

background investigation, pass physical and psychological examinations, as

well as polygraph and agility testing, plus drug screening. The starting pay

is $30,377 annually, plus a benefits package.

In the last round of the department's hiring process, a conditional offer of

employment was made to one man, but he chose not to take the post. That man

initially had accepted the offer, but changed his mind when he was offered a

promotion where he now works.

Becoming a police officer includes a 16-week training course at the state's

Municipal Police Academy, as well as a 14-week on-the-job training period

during which police familiarize themselves with Newtown under the guidance of

field training officers. After they complete their in-house and field

training, new officers are assigned to the patrol division as probationary

officers for one year.

During the most recent hiring process, approximately 20 people sought to

become town police officers, but none was hired.

In the hiring of three new officers late last year, town police sought and

hired officers who were certified as municipal police officers.

Last January, police officers Dana Schubert, Thomas Candia, Jr, and William

Hull took their oaths of office.

The town police department now has 36 sworn officers. When up to its full

complement, it has 39 officers.

People interested in becoming Newtown patrol officers may apply to the

Municipal Police and Fire Registry, 100 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, Conn.,

06810, telephone 203/791-3852.

The police department also is seeking to hire part-time radio dispatchers.