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POLICE SERVICES OPTIONS COMMITTEE
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
Oct. 2, 2018, 6:00 PM
Meeting Hall
Old Lyme Town Hall
Present: First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder; Beth Sullivan; Harvey Gemme; Matthew Ward; Angelo Faenza; Fred Callahan; Michael Miller; Keith Coakley; Andy Russell
Absent: Matthew Reed
Harvey Gemme was seated in the absence of Matthew Reed
- Approval of minutes of July 31, 2018 meeting:
Angelo Faenza made a motion to accept the minutes; second by Matt Ward. So voted. Keith Coakley and Andy Russell abstained.
- Old Business; Status of SRO:
First Selectman updated the committee on the progress of the Memorandum of Agreement, Job Description and other details that she has been working on with Town Counsel. She did share that the CT State Police expressed the opinion that they would not approve of Lyme First Selectman swearing in an Old Lyme Police officer to serve in Lyme Consolidated. She expressed the hope that we would be able to resolve this and provide an SRO for Region 18.
- New Business; CT State Police – Commander Erik Costa:
Lieutenant Costa distributed a document with the statistics for Old Lyme, and the committee made introductions. Lt. Costa commended the committee for their volunteerism to serve in this capacity. He shared that the CT State Police is the oldest Police organization in the country and considered a pillar throughout the country. He gave a brief overview of the Resident Trooper program throughout the state, making the point that the full services of the CT State Police are available to Resident Trooper towns. He reviewed the statistics that he distributed to the committee, and pointed out that they do not include statistics from incidents on I-95. After reviewing some of the statistics for the town, Lt. Costa clarified the services provided by State Police, and reviewed the chain of
command. Committee members had several questions for the Commander, to which he responded. Lt. Costa commented that he felt we have a beautiful town, and no matter what decision we make, we would be successful. The Commander reviewed the new SRO program in Durham/Middlefield School District, both towns which are resident trooper towns. He also said because the Town of Lyme is not within the jurisdiction of Old Lyme, so he does not believe that the present contract would cover an officer in Lyme Consolidated School whether or not they are sworn in by the First Selectman in Lyme. The Commander advised that we should reach out and work hand in hand with legal department of the state. Lt. Costa said that in his opinion, if the town had more than the six full time officers, it would benefit the town to utilize a Sergeant Trooper, rather than a Trooper. He also pointed out that Old Lyme used to contract for two resident troopers. The members had a few additional questions which
were answered by Lt. Costa. Everyone thanked the Commander for coming to the meeting to share his views on the services of the CT State Police.
Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal commented about the positive attitude that she detected at this meeting, and shared that she did not feel that way in the past. She reiterated that our needs are great in the summertime, and spends many days down at Sound View in order to see what is going on. She acknowledged that she saw some improvements this year. She still feels that we need to focus on communication. She complimented the committee on their work and thanked them for taking the time to work together on this effort.
- Adjournment: A motion was made by Angelo Faenza, second by Mike Miller, to adjourn at 7:50 pm. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Reemsnyder
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