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Police Services Options Committee Minutes 04/03/2018
POLICE SERVICES OPTIONS COMMITTEE
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
April 3, 2018, 7:30 PM
Meeting Hall
Old Lyme Town Hall

Present: First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder;  Beth Sullivan; Matthew Reed; Matthew Ward; Michael Miller; Harvey Gemme; Andy Russell; Keith Coakley, Fred Callahan
Absent: Angelo Faenza
Harvey Gemme was seated in the absence of Angelo Faenza
  • Approval of minutes of Mar. 20, 2018 meeting:  Keith Coakley moved to approve the minutes of Mar. 20, 2018, second by Matt Reed. Motion approved. Fred Callahan abstained.
  • Guest: Chief Finkelstein of East Lyme Police Dept:
Chief Michael Finkelstein was welcomed to the meeting and gave a brief introduction on his background. Grew up in Clinton and graduated from Ledyard, where he worked as a Police Officer in the Resident Trooper program. Michael was Mayor of Ledyard for 18 months before taking the job as Chief in East Lyme, an experience that taught him about the other side of municipal government. He is an adjunct professor of forensics science at Three Rivers Community College, as he has always been involved in training. He enjoys working with students who want to be become police officers.
The committee asked several questions of the Chief, first, how he would serve the First Selectman of Old Lyme. He made the point that communication 24/7 is essential for both the First Selectman and the Superintendent of Schools. He believes in being pro-active. East Lyme does have an SRO program, which allows for a full time SRO from Sept. to June. The SRO teaches the Challenge program in Middle School (hybrid of DARE program), and goes to all the schools at some time. He also has the patrol officers present at the schools at various times. The Chief confirmed that there is a program that builds relationships between officers and students. There was a question about an SRO program to be utilized in Old Lyme. The Chief felt  that services need to be provided equally to both towns, really as one community. There was further discussion about Old Lyme being part of a District, and one of the District schools is outside of the jurisdiction. He agreed that this would be a unique challenge and would be a discussion with the State Police. There was discussion about the ultimate need for a facility in future. Currently, the Town of Waterford provides lockup facilities for the East Lyme Police Dept., at an annual service fee. The Chief was asked about the 1153 part time officers, he explained that this would allow 48 8-hr. shifts per month for three months to target events and busy times/places, particularly for the summer. The organizational structure of the police commission is to be determined. It is currently a 7-member Commission, with the First Selectman being a member. He introduced the Chair of the Police Commission, Dan Price, who is in the audience. Old Lyme would likely have at least two seats on the Police Commission. The Chief talked about events and how he plans for them, and he takes advantage of the Mutual aid from Law Enforcement Council (LEC), which provides mutual aid from all over CT, at no cost to the Town. East Lyme will also provide help to other members of the LEC. Some events will have police services paid by an organization, while others are town sponsored events. All events have an Incident Action Plan, and he confirmed that he is part of the planning process for all events. There was further discussion about the salaries of officers, the OL police officers joining the EL police department, staffing requirements for two towns, feedback from EL police officers, and the staffing levels in East Lyme. Community policing was also discussed and the need for presence and communication, the ability to speak to a police officer and the Chief. He described how they use Tips411 program in East Lyme, which has been useful and well received in Old Lyme. There was a discussion as to how this would benefit Old Lyme more than the Resident Trooper Program, and discussion as to what the benefit is to East Lyme. Currently, there is the Chief, 7 Sargents (one is an Administrative Sargent that oversees the other Sargents), 1.5 full time Administrative Assistants/records, one Challenge Officer (SRO), two Detectives,  two canine officers, the rest are patrol officers, and one part time officer. There was also a discussion about town tickets for Old Lyme and the Chief felt there would not be a problem. He said that the dispute process should be consistent for both towns. There was also discussion about the pistol permit process. The Chief left a printout of calls from one shift as an example.  

  • Public Comment:
Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal thanked the Chief for attending and answering so many questions about the proposed regional services. She asked how he handles complaints about officers.
Sgt. John Mesham of the CT State Police had several questions of the Chief, including a question about one officer for the town, particularly if that officer has to process a prisoner in Waterford; response time; whether he would call State Police for major crimes; use of the current Police Dept. building, seniority issues with the current police department, termination clause, and what is the benefit for Old Lyme.
Ms. Czarnecki asked about the building and how it would be cared for, or if it would be better to have our own police department.
Raymond Belval expressed concern about the 105 Old Lyme children who attend Lyme Consolidated School, and the emergency response time difference. He specifically asked about an SRO in Lyme Consolidated School.
Nancy Mesham asked if possibly Lyme might be interested in working together with us on policing issues.

  • Other business: There was some discussion about the answers given by the Chief, particularly about the number of patrol officers to cover both towns.
  • Adjournment: There was discussion about the next meeting. As April 17th is school vacation, it was decided that the meeting would be held on April 24th at 6:00 PM. A motion was made by Beth Sullivan, second by Matthew Reed, to adjourn at 9:12 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Reemsnyder