MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY
MARCH 5, 2008
A SPECIAL Board of Public Safety meeting to discuss the Police Department’s Manpower Contingency Plan, was held on Wednesday, March 5, 2008, in the Council Chambers.
Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, Board of Public Safety members Gerald A. Zordan, Richard L. Zaharek, Douglas J. Benedetto, James E. Potter, Christopher H. Cook, and Robert C. Zordan, along with Police Chief Robert Milano, and Deputy Police Chief Michael Maniago.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Zaharek, a discussion took place in regard to the Police Manpower Contingency Plan.
Chief Robert Milano stated several members of the Board of Safety asked him months ago to develop a Manpower Contingency Plan in the event the hiring process did not progress as expected, and to determine whether adequate staffing was available for summer months when vacations are prevalent. He
stated they developed a Plan with a degree of flexibility, but not without making of some hard decisions. The Plan will affect reassigning certain personnel in Special Assignments. However, there is flexibility that he and the Deputy Chief are able to work out that will allow important functions to continue, but at a reduced level. They anticipate the need to follow the Plan during the summer, however, if anticipated departures don’t occur, modifications to their benefit would result. If they retain some of those people, it will give them an opportunity to slowly advance the implementation of the program. The worse case scenario is that the Plan will run through the end of the summer, then the people reassigned will return to their current duties.
In Narcotics Enforcement, they’ve decided to maintain one person, and as soon as Sgt. Newkirk returns to work following knee surgery, Sgt. Rousseau will return to Narcotics. They also have grant money that can be used to periodically place officers into Narcotics to help with investigations.
Chief Milano informed Dr. O’Brien that there’s a possibility that the School Resource Officers’ coverage will be reduced on a temporary basis. He hoped to resume this program in the fall with a full time SRO at the High School. His and the school’s position are that the SRO is needed and it takes a large work load off the Patrol Division. The SRO Program is a preventive measure for school violence, criminal activity and drug traffic. Chief Milano’s Plan will still provide some police presence there. He believes there’s a way to handle the SRO position and still keep a presence there, just not on a full time basis.
Chief Milano asked the board at the last meeting to evaluate the Plan and get back to him with any questions. He asked for this special meeting for the purpose of answering those questions and to get the backing of the board for this process.
Chief Milano said he wanted to take advantage of assigning a light duty officer to fulfill the evidence function and utilize Officer Murphy on the road. This process will reverse when manpower gets to authorized strength. But now these moves are necessary to maintain the staff needed in patrol for the course of the summer. They have to maintain Patrol staffing which is the first responder off the Police Department. Patrol coverage is absolutely necessary.
Commissioner Cook asked Chief Milano if he was going to close the Narcotics unit.
Chief Milano stated they wouldn’t. Detectives will always be working on cases to a degree. By maintaining one person in Narcotics, it will keep their work going and will keep them from slipping back from the advances they’ve made. When Sgt. Newkirk return’s to work, a Sergeant will return to Narcotics.
Commissioner Cook said Chief Milano pushed hard to get and the city is in dire need of a Narcotics Unit. He stated the unit proved itself over and over with the seizing of houses. He stated the city was receiving revenue and stopping some of the drug trade on the street because of it. He was concerned about change in that unit.
Chief Milano indicated he always had the support of the board to staff the Narcotics Unit, and was successful with it. He currently has the duty to temporarily pick and choose what will be reduced in order to maintain staffing in Patrol, which is critical during the summer months starting in May. They are flexible to changing manpower conditions that may negate some changes. They’ll keep Narcotic cases going as much as they can. No one in the command nor any union member, or anyone on this board wants to see this happen. Chief Milano stated he doesn’t have the choice right now. They are down to 62 people. Between people in the academy, vacancies, administrative issues, work related injuries, family medical leave, and people resigning, he doesn’t have the luxury of making
easy choices, but has the responsibility of making the difficult ones.
Commissioner Cook asked if the Narcotics Unit attract and retain officers? Would dissolving the Unit be proactive or reactive, and would it diminish some of what other cities have? He understood Chief Milano’s position, but to close or cut the Narcotics Unit seemed so drastic. He was hoping they could sit together and come up with something that could help the chief in between.
Chief Milano said he was offering a degree of flexibility in Narcotics because he is not choosing to close it down completely, but he has to reduce its staff because he still has to get the manpower from somewhere.
Commissioner Robert Zordan asked Chief Milano for his recommendation.
Chief Milano said the Narcotics Unit is staffed by three people, a sergeant and two patrolmen. One of the patrolmen is on a special assignment being funded by a grant. He plans to reduce the unit by one patrolman.
Commissioner Benedetto inquired when the grant will run out.
Chief Milano said 2009.
Commissioner Benedetto asked if the supervision would fall under the sergeant already in the Detective Bureau? It was his belief that the Detective Bureau was short staffed and didn’t know how they would take on the load of Narcotics?
Chief Milano said it wouldn’t be easy, and noted that Channel 3 News just cited Torrington as having the highest incidents of credit card identity theft in the state, which is one of the cases the Detective Bureau handles.
Commissioner Robert Zordan said “So, we’re trying to maintain the patrolmen on the street and back off on everything behind the scenes in the office?”
Chief Milano answered “For the purpose of maintaining the safety factor for both the community and officers working the streets.”
Commissioner Robert Zordan stated that Chief Milano recently modified different sectors, and asked if it could be modified to have one less patrol on first shift? He felt Chief Milano was taking everything from one area to fix another.
Chief Milano didn’t want to reduce seven cars on duty on the evening shift and six on midnights because he felt it was an unsafe level for the amount of commercial development and calls for service they receive. Seven cars can get tied up on three calls. A major car accident with injury requires at least three cars. He stated the board addresses fire department concerns, and they talk about simultaneous calls. The Police Department answers simultaneous calls every day. They’re constantly juggling calls by their importance, and it’s difficult for shifts to operate on six car patrols for days and evenings, and five on midnights.
Deputy Chief Maniago said if the number of patrol cars is decreased, the work load of each officer on the street will increase and this will cause them to have to stay longer than their shifts. That will add to the stress they’re trying to eliminate. They’re trying not to order officers in as often. They’re trying to get them to go home at the end of their shift, and trying to maintain officer safety at an acceptable level, which means that our officers are as safe as they can possibly be. If we cut the number of cars that leaves one less officer to respond to help out another. Taking a car off the road would be a proposition which he, like Chief Milano, wouldn’t be in favor of.
Commissioner Benedetto said they want to take the burden off the patrol, but putting Narcotics under the Detectives would increase the burden on the Detectives.
Deputy Chief Maniago admitted that it will add to the burden of the Detectives, but we have to realize that the Patrol Division acts in real time. The phone rings, they respond. Detectives, on the other hand, have case management where they can prioritize their work. The Police Department’s mission is to respond to calls for service and investigate crimes. That is the base fundamental of any Police Department.
Chief Milano said that is the primary responsibility of the department and he has to staff it. He’s a proponent of the Narcotics Unit and would like to put three more people in there.
Chief Milano said he would be more than open to suggestions. If they could collectively come up with a solution that would be fine.
Commissioner Benedetto was afraid of what will happen in the streets if the Narcotics Unit is dissolved and agreed that they should collectively try to figure something out.
Chief Milano said no one, including the Deputy Chief, the command structure, the rank and file and himself, wants to see this happen. It’s a morale buster, a step backward, and there’s no way to put a good spin on it; but, he continues to lose people and he’s not able to hire fast enough. Also, there are quality issues with applicants, and it wouldn’t be good to reduce our expectations and the level of quality in our applicants. To speed up the process is next to impossible, and external issues such as the availability of academy seats, also slows the process. The State Police is hiring 100 troopers in the near future, and where will they get them?
Commissioner Cook asked if they were merely putting a band aid on a bigger wound than they realized? Somehow we have to come up with a solution to retain these officers.
Chief Milano said he has repeatedly stated that they have to do something to maintain competitiveness. That’s something in progress. However, until it’s completed and until we are competitive, we’re going to be a training ground for other departments. It’s very disheartening for the administration and the board as well.
Commissioner Cook mentioned that it was difficult to get two Captains after they eliminated one. The same with the Traffic Enforcement Team, and it’s hard to get something back once it’s been eliminated. We should be finding ways to keep the officers and bring more into the department.
Chief Milano agreed with Commissioner Cook. If the board wanted to keep throwing money into it, that’s one thing, but it still doesn’t solve the problem of fatigue. These people are carrying guns and making decisions that could create excessive liability for the city. They can’t be fatigued because we’re chronically understaffed in the Patrol Division, especially going into the summer.
Commissioner Potter asked Chief Milano if people assigned to training, traffic, records and support services can help in any way?
Chief Milano indicated that one officer is pregnant. Officer Murphy can be pulled from evidence and put on the street. Sgt. Recchini wears a number of hats and it would take several people to replace him.
Commissioner Robert Zordan suggested replacing Sgt. Recchini with several officers who are on light duty. They can always call someone in if there’s a need for a technical person. This could be a temporary fix.
Deputy Chief Maniago said the problem with this suggestion is that whoever replaced Sgt. Recchini would have to learn about regulations, FOI laws, records management and destruction, etc. By the time they get someone indoctrinated into what needs to be done, Labor Day will be here and hopefully this program will be over and our problems will be solved.
He added that they are currently in their biggest re-certification training, where 47 officers will be mandated to be re-certified by June 30, 2008. The training officer is critical, especially this year to make certain that all the training gets done, documented, and forwarded to the state in order to obtain their re-certification.
Commissioner Potter indicated that only leaves’ Traffic.
Chief Milano said the Traffic Officer is busy doing some kind of patrol duty and supervises five or six civilian employees. He noted that it would be great to cross train some of these positions, but they never have the manpower levels to carry out the cross-training. He also stated, recently they negotiated into the contract, a special assignment classification that allows him to transfer someone from Patrol to Detectives for a couple of months for the experience and a change of pace. It will also help to build interest and the officer’s career. There’s no way they can do that now or in the foreseeable future.
Commissioner Zaharek thought Chief Milano’s plight will only compound as opposed to getting any better with the summer months approaching and the push to hire more State Police. The chief has been shouting about not being able to retain his officers for months. Their salaries either keep them away and/or take them from us. They’ve been negotiating in hopes of making it better; they need higher salaries, better benefits, and they need to be competitive if they’re going to attract anyone. It will only get worse if we’re not willing to spend some money. We need to start looking into the future, not just a year or two. It takes years to train officers. Everyone knows it’s a burden on the taxpayers, but there’s a cost associated with being safe in our
homes and businesses.
Commissioner Zaharek asked Chief Milano if he was going to cut the Resource Officer at the school.
Chief Milano said he’ll try to reduce the level but still have presence.
Commissioner Benedetto asked how contract negotiations were going and indicated that the plan doesn’t include anything about retention and it’s critical that we keep the officers we have.
Chief Milano stated that any discussion on negotiations should be done in an executive session.
Commissioner Zaharek asked what the magic was?
Chief Milano answered “To be a competitive employer.” He noted that candidates apply to become a police officer in order to build a career. They want to be employed by a town that’s moving forward and have the opportunity to grow. He said “ I said this to the Personnel Sub Committee the other day. If at the end, when I’m gone and when he’s gone, and you’re looking to replace the administrative officers in the city, we have nobody inside that’s qualified, that’s a failure of the organization and a failure of the political structure over it. These people have every right to come in and want to build a career, and if you’re not going to offer them the avenue to do that, they’re going somewhere else.” Generation X
does not have an organizational identity; they have identity within themselves. They are abundant in talent and skills and they’ll bring it to an employer who can produce for them. It’s not just them producing for the employer by today’s standards. And, I’m telling you right now from the Chief’s chair, it’s very disheartening to see all the talent that we have in that building and to have to constantly run a reactive instead of proactive organization. Because the talent I have right now, if I had the manpower to set them loose, the core of life in this town would be tremendous.”
Commissioner Cook agreed that they should be doing something about salaries, pensions and retirements. In his line of work, he knows that narcotics create crime. If the chief lessens up on Narcotics, it’s going to create more work. Conducting ten interviews and getting seats at the academy will only help in the future and do nothing for the present time.
Deputy Chief Maniago said the process takes ten months to a year to get an officer on board.
Commissioner Benedetto asked how long it takes to train an evidence officer.
Deputy Chief Maniago said it depends on the capability of the officer, but anyone who takes that position will be trained satisfactorily and supervised to ensure his ability. If there are any questions, the officer previously in charge can be called in for guidance.
Commissioner Benedetto said, approximately nine months ago there was an issue about not being able to take an evidence officer away from his duties because it takes so long to train.
Chief Milano said his comment in regard to what Commissioner Benedetto was talking about, was that the Police Department gets jammed up in three areas, drugs, narcotics and money. He wasn’t willing to take a chance with the evidence function and needed stability and consistency in the evidence room. That was a few months ago and he was hoping the situation would get better, but it hasn’t. The person going into the evidence function has been assisting there off and on. He’s been a court liaison officer and is capable. One of the complicating factors with changing personnel in evidence, is that you have to do an inventory and there’s thousands of pieces of evidence.
Commissioner Benedetto asked if this would immediately free up an officer to be on the road?
Chief Milano said no, but probably by the end of March. If you look at each one of these things and the problems it creates, none of it is good. He knows everyone wants to see employment stabilize at the Police Department, but this board needs to get behind this issue and start voicing its opinion. He needs the assistance from this board as well as the police officers.
Commissioner Robert Zordan asked if the department was okay with his suggested Plan.
Chief Milano said he wouldn’t speak for them, but didn’t think any of them were okay with it. He wasn’t okay with it.
Commissioner Robert Zordan asked if any other suggestions were offered. The board obviously wants to keep up the morale at the Police Department and he thought their input would be beneficial. He trusted that Chief Milano has already asked his personnel how they felt about this Plan.
Chief Milano said he discussed the Plan with the command personnel and came to the conclusion that this Plan is the best for safety and well being of the officers, and for their ability to provide service at levels that they have to in what’s going to be a very trying time. He gave the board the opportunity to ask the officers who were present, which was approximately 25% of the force. Outside of the people who may have to work a bit harder in Support Services, his Plan is designed for the patrolmen because they need the safety factor, the coverage, the back up, and they don’t need a back up coming from home.
Chief Milano addressed Commissioner Cook’s concern about taking a step backward in Narcotics Investigation, stating he was right that drugs are an influential factor in many crimes. He’s been on record saying that same things on many occasions. He believed they have seen some real frustration in the drug market. Some of the crime statistics in the first quarter of 2007 have gone down. No one is a proponent to Narcotics Investigation more than he is, but his major concern is for safety of the patrolmen on the street, and extra funds for overtime are not the answer when you’re talking about the fatigue.
Commissioner Cook commended Chief Milano for creating the Contingency Plan. It’s not easy to come up with a Plan when there’s not a lot to move around. His concern and issue with the Plan were Narcotics; everything else, although he’s not happy with it, is acceptable. Was there anything else they could do to reach a happy medium with Narcotics?
Chief Milano was willing to try any combination as long as the staffing in Patrol was kept up.
Commissioner Zaharek asked how many people Chief Milano needed on Patrol for second shift.
Deputy Chief Maniago indicated that the minimum per night was seven cars, an officer, street supervisor, and an officer in charge.
Commissioner Zaharek asked if the number of cars could be reduced to six and one ready to roll on an as-needed basis, in order to keep the Narcotics Unit intact?
Chief Milano indicated that most of the time the office person is a light duty individual.
Commissioner Zaharek was talking about having someone ready to roll from the Narcotic Unit.
Deputy Chief Maniago said the problem with that suggestion was availability. They can’t count on that officer because he may be in the middle of doing something.
Commissioner Zaharek asked the officers present to call any of the board members if they had any suggestions. He would appreciate knowing what they might think will help keep Narcotics intact. He was certain the Chief has exhausted all possibilities.
Chief Milano made it clear that anyone whose position is affected by this Contingency Plan is not being affected because of their work performance, but because their body is needed somewhere else. Every one of them has performed exemplarily and they are all dedicated to the city.
Commissioner Zaharek asked the Chief if he had thought of getting auxiliaries. What if they had a half dozen available at any given time?
Chief Milano said the start-up would be horrendous because they would need to be re-certified. He didn’t think it would be practical and they may stumble into a labor issue where they would be using volunteers in place of paid positions.
Commissioner Robert Zordan said he preferred taking the time to find qualified people that the department could keep.
Commissioner Zaharek’s suggestion was to try to keep the Narcotics Unit intact. He asked if it was possible to find trained, part-time individuals to come in and relieve that burden.
Chief Milano said he wasn’t aware of any retirees whose certificate hasn’t already lapsed.
Commissioner Benedetto asked if we could get help from the State Police if we get jammed up.
Chief Milano indicated that the State Police come in occasionally. However, we need to be concentrating on the Torrington Police Department to fulfill its obligation, first and foremost.
Commissioner Cook said he’d hate to see the Narcotics Unit drop out and the State Police move in.
Chief Milano said he will work to keep the Narcotics Unit operational as much as possible. He will report to the board periodically on its success or failure, however, an executive session will be requested for any of these discussions.
Commissioner Cook indicated they will have to look into getting back-ups for qualified personnel, such as Sgt. Recchini who wears many hats. Maybe we’ll have to get auxiliaries in the future.
Commissioner Zaharek said it took a long time to get into this position and they should start thinking now for the future. The chief needs this board’s support and back up. The last resort is Patrol and it can’t be reduced any further. They need to be available when calls come in. They have to start thinking about what they’ve been dragging their feet on for two years, and that’s retention and getting the resources. Perhaps we need to get an outside person to figure it out. He’s sure Police Departments all over the nation are going through the same problem.
Chief Milano didn’t feel an outside consultant was necessary because the answer was very clear; we can either spend the money to make police officers for other towns or we can invest a bit more and keep them here for 25 years.
Commissioner Zaharek said Chief Milano has been selling this point for years and nobody has been listening.
Commissioner Potter said they need to add an executive session at the end of their next regular meeting to see what is being discussed in negotiations. The City Council and the Board of Finance will have to understand that they’ll need to steal from Peter to pay Paul in order to do this. As the Board of Public Safety, they have to look at their budgets as a whole, not just Police or Fire.
Deputy Chief Maniago said those who have handed in their resignations have cited what the board is talking about as their primary reason for leaving. They’re looking at their present situation, their future, and their retirement. They want to be able to provide for their families and not have to work 60 hours a week to make what some officers in other towns are making in 40 hours on straight time. One of the worst things that can happen to a department is for it to become a fertile recruiting training ground for other departments and that’s what we’ve become. We lose fine, capable officers to other departments who don’t even blink at the money they have to pay to get these officers from Torrington prior to their three years’ being done. That says a lot about the
quality of the individuals we have in our department, but it doesn’t say too much about how much we care to retain them. That’s a question we all have to answer in an executive session.
Commissioner Benedetto asked Chief Milano what he was going to do about retaining the officers we already have.
Chief Milano said the question is “What are WE going to do?” Commissioner Benedetto was talking about policy issues that vastly exceed Chief Milano’s level of authority. He doesn’t deal with economic issues on pensions or contracts.
Commissioner Benedetto added that this board also has no say in contracts. He suggested that perhaps they could invite Tom Gritt, Personnel Director, and Victor Muschell, the City’s Labor Consultant, into executive session to discuss those issues.
Mayor Bingham said he understood how detrimental this issue is to the department, to the city, to the people who pay taxes who will ultimately have to suffer the burden long term. The board keeps referring to negotiations . . . this is something he can’t speak about at this time. Until he gets the entire picture of what the revenues will be and what the mill rate will look like, there’s no clear answer. It’s not easy to put together a hundred million dollar budget. The City Council and the Board of Finance are aware of the financial difficulties throughout the country and have the responsibility to set a mill rate that will provide services and still be affordable for all who live in the city.
Commissioner Zaharek asked if the leadership was getting a sense of what was top priority for the citizens of Torrington. Was it larger schools, better roads, more professional police departments, more services from the police and fire departments? It was his opinion that safety and security are a top priority, but no one is willing to pay for it if it doesn’t directly involve them.
Mayor Bingham said his office gets phone calls every day that deal with anything from fixing pot holes, to taxes that are unaffordable, etc.
Chief Milano suggested getting the Narcotics Unit at an operational level and adding some flexibility to the SRO Program to make it as operational as it can be, but reduced from its present status. He noted that he would appreciate some support from the board on these changes.
Commissioner Benedetto asked if pulling the Resource Officer would create more calls for Patrol.
Chief Milano said it will, because the issues will have to be dealt with in other ways.
Commissioner Zaharek asked who pays for the Resource Officer.
Chief Milano said it started with a three-year decreasing grant and is now within the Police Department’s budget. He would still like to maintain an active liaison with the administrative staff at the High School, and have the officer attend the Wednesday staff meetings and periodically make a presence at the school.
Commissioner Potter said he supported Chief Milano’s Plan.
Commissioner Cook indicated that Patrol will get more calls once the cuts are made in the SRO, Narcotics, and Evidence. It was his opinion that the Plan was more reactive than proactive and felt the officers will be even more fatigued. If he had to support the Plan, his suggestion would be to cut Narcotics very little.
Commissioner Zaharek said Chief Milano can’t reduce Patrol by two cars in order to keep all other departments going.
Commissioner Cook indicated that we’ll have to spend money and become proactive in order to bring in more recruits, even though it’ll be a period of time before they are effective.
Chief Milano stated that currently they have three recruits at the academy, two that just went in and two more will be going in at the end of March.
Deputy Chief Maniago said the second phase of this plan is to reduce the type of call for service that police respond to. Discussions have been held with command staff in regard to eliminating certain types of calls for service.
That’s still a very real possibility. If the Contingency Plan doesn’t fix the problems they will face this summer, more decisions will have to be made.
Chief Milano said he could start re-staffing Narcotics when Sgt. Newkirk comes back to work after having knee surgery and leave Sgt. Rousseau in Narcotics. He doesn’t have an alternative answer at this point, outside of keeping Narcotics going at a minimum level and expecting Detectives to assist when something is going on and they need extra manpower.
Commissioner Zaharek said he was supporting what the Chief was trying to do for tonight’s purposes, but he didn’t want to cut services either.
In terms of communication, Mayor Bingham invited any of the officers who may have any ideas or suggestions to call him or any of the board members.
VOTE TO TABLE #2360
On a motion by Commissioner Benedetto, seconded by Commissioner Cook, the board voted unanimously to table the Manpower Contingency Plan.
ADJOURNMENT #2370
On a motion by Commissioner Zaharek, seconded by Commissioner Benedetto, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:10 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
| 
