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I realized I was highjacking another thread, and so I thought it best to start a new one. Kid, below is a continuation of our conversation started in the road rage thread. Thanks....
Quote:
Originally Posted by kidyankee764
New Fairfield (as well as Oxford and Southbury) have what's called a Resident Trooper. Their PDs aren't large enough to have a chief, lieutenant, etc so they're run by one trooper out of troop A with town constables working under them. Smaller towns, like Bethany, don't even have constables. They just have that one resident trooper!
Thanks, that's good to know. Around 5 or so years ago, my town had a vote re: whether we wanted to continue with the resident state trooper program or shift/grow the NF police department (? I think that was the alternative option, not 100% sure). In any event, I was not versed at all in the pros/cons of each, and so I abstained from that vote. It didn't pass, and we continue with the state trooper program here. In your opinion, is one better than the other? I think people in NF felt that the state trooper program has been working fine, so no need to change it and that's why the proposal failed. Population in town has remained pretty steady, without any real growth projected -- in fact I think a slight dip in the coming years is expected. Just interested in your opinion, since you seemed to be well versed. You never know if it will come up for vote again, and maybe next time I won't have to sit it out. : )
I'm pro full police department. Small towns go for resident troopers because it's cheaper than having a chief, captain, etc. But one problem is the response times are longer IMO. And there will always be that divide between the Trooper Sgt and his constables.
A town like New Fairfield has remained stagnant with growth, but a town like Oxford - which is quickly approaching 15k population - needs to start looking at hiring a fully staffed PD. Southbury I can understand, because they have troop A so the town is crawling with cops all the time.
The problem many people have with a fully staffed PD is once you go in that direction, there's usually no going back to a resident trooper.
Id be curious to hear from others who live in resident trooper towns (mels, LRPct?) to see how their response times are, and if they have any insight as to the difference in cost between the two options.
Makes sense. And yeah, NF's population is around 14K and probably will stay at around that level for the foreseeable future, unless they make massive overhauls to the current zoning laws. I think the town is now 2 acre zoning for new construction and no condos (with the exception of 2 senior citizen townhouse-type developments -- Our neighbors in Sherman just recently went to 4 acre zoning! so I guess 2 acres is not so bad in comparison, but it will definitely keep future population growth in check).
Regarding your last question, I have to say we honestly never had an issue with response time -- though we only needed to call once many years ago for a medical emergency at home. Police and ambulance showed up within minutes (I can't honestly say though whether it was NF Police or State Police -- I don't remember). Part of me thinks keeping the Resident Trooper in NF makes sense, especially since the troopers are always in and around town during the summer months anyway, on account of Squantz Pond State Park.
we moved to Cromwell way back in the early 70s and the town only had a resident state trooper at the time and a population of somewhere around 6,000. However, the town's growth exploded in the 70s and 80s as the Cromwell Hills condo complex was built, as well as a few others. They soon made the move to having a police department - unfortunately, they kind of went overboard and by the mid to late 90s had the most police per capita in the state for a few years, which led to the town taxes increasing to support a massive police department (nearly 50, if I recall, for a town that now had 13,000 or so people in the late 90s), but the schools not really improving.
We never had an issue with calling police at any time with the resident trooper, so I can't really say anything about their response time.
I live in a Resident State Trooper town (Marlborough). Honestly, I have no idea what kind of financial savings (or not) this brings to the town. I am also in the dark about response times, though I have never heard any complaints. I do see the Marlborough Police car (not the state cop car) out and about quite a bit (mind you we only have a few main roads in town, LOL), so I wouldn't think the response time would be that lengthy. My town has less than 6,000 people so I can't imagine needing a full paid PD anytime soon.
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