The Police Department is charged, by Connecticut's statutory enactment, as well as by City Charter, with responsibility for the preservation of the public peace, prevention of crime, apprehension of criminals, protection of the rights of persons and property, and the enforcement of the laws of the state, and the ordinances of the City.

Responsibilities include the enforcement of laws, development and implementation of crime prevention programs, appropriate response to calls for services, and the professional administration of police services for the City.

This year’s budget reflects the implementation of a number of recommendations from the Carroll Buracker and Associates report. The one change with perhaps the most impact on the operation of the Police department, its budget, and the Community is the restructuring of the Public Service Areas (PSA's); North, South and Central. While the Community Service Officers (CSO) will remain assigned to their neighborhoods, the support staff that had been assigned to the PSA’s has been reassigned to the Patrol Division. It is an objective of the department that all officers see themselves as Community Services Officers in problem solving partnership with the Community. With the new neighborhood centered deployment, all Patrol Officers will be Community Service Officers.

The focus of the department will be to continue expansion of community policing efforts, through collaborative problem solving that addresses community-wide neighborhood concerns and quality of life issues. Modern technology continues to assume an important role in the deployment of resources.

This budget reflects an authorized level of 576 total general fund positions. Included in the general fund staffing level are 444 sworn positions, which includes a new class of 25 recruits and 132 civilian positions. There are additional 16 sworn positions funded from various grant sources. There are also three new civilian positions included in this budget request. They are a Fleet Manager position, a Crime Analysis position, and a School Crossing Guard Supervisor position. These civilian positions are included as a result of the department operational review which recommended the civilianization of some positions staffed by sworn personnel. This budget also has been adjusted to reflect funded positions only, all unfunded positions which were previously identified in the prior year, are not included in the total position count.

DEPARTMENT BUDGET SUMMARY: