Ansonia Aldermen on Tuesday approved the police department’s hiring of a new sergeant.
The move comes in response to the discovery last year of “irregularities” regarding the processing of evidence at the department that is the subject of an ongoing state police investigation.
Police Chief Kevin Hale announced in September he had asked state police to conduct “an independent criminal investigation into irregularities that the Ansonia Police Department has discovered in the processing of evidence.”
A state police major crimes truck was parked behind the police station on Elm Street for several days in September.
The state police probe is ongoing. No charges have been filed.
Sources told the Valley Indy in September that the investigation involves drugs that had been stored in the evidence room.
An officer who went on medical leave at roughly the same time as the probe began retired from the department in November.
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Hale formally asked Aldermen to approve the creation of an “administrative sergeant” position in a Jan. 7 letter.
“As a result of the recent issue concerning our evidence room protocols, I have reviewed a number of our administrative processes,” Hale wrote. “It is clear that some necessary changes are in order to make our evidence handling and our records room management more efficient.”
The department currently has six sergeants.
The new sergeant would not work a patrol shift, but would supervise the department’s evidence room, records room, and scheduling, among other responsibilities.
“This will allow us to better manage and control the evidence room process while better coordinating the flow of paperwork between the evidence room and the records room,” Hale wrote to Aldermen.
The Board of Police Commissioners endorsed the move in November.
Board of Aldermen President Phil Tripp asked Chief Hale Tuesday how the idea came about.
“I understand this is also a recommendation from the state police?” he asked Hale.
“Some of this came through dealing with them on this investigation,” Hale said, without elaborating.
The chief’s letter said the move won’t increase the department’s budget because police will promote a patrolman to sergeant, then leave the patrol position vacant.
“We have found areas in our budget to make cuts that will be equivalent to the difference in wages between a sergeant and patrolman,” Hale’s letter went on.
The chief said Wednesday that an internal investigation into evidence procedures at the police station is ongoing.
The chief’s letter to Aldermen is posted below.
