An officer next to a police car posing with donated hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
DERBY – The city’s failure to buy new police vehicles for two years is putting officers in danger, a sergeant told members of the Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen.
“I appreciate how the board recognizes the problem, but I must protect those I represent and make sure their concerns are heard and addressed in an appropriate, timely way,” Sgt. Frank DeAngelo told elected officials during a meeting on Feb. 8.
DeAngelo is also the president of the Derby police union. He said the union is preparing to file a labor complaint against the city because the department’s fleet is dangerously dilapidated.
DeAngelo noted a police car is essentially a cop’s office, where he or she spends between four to six hours a shift. It’s the place they write reports and eat meals, in addition to responding to emergencies. And yet one Derby police vehicle was taken out of service because it was leaking carbon monoxide into the car, DeAngelo said.
The detective bureau is down to one vehicle, DeAngelo said. Some officers used their own vehicles while on the clock to travel to training sessions outside Derby.
DeAngelo said the bottom line is that officers don’t feel safe in some of the high-mileage vehicles, yet are still pushing to get to scenes as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has been used elsewhere to buy police cars and other public safety equipment.
“I am by no means unaware of the financial issues facing the city, and I understand that this problem did not occur overnight, and the members of the department understand that as well,” DeAngelo said. “But I would be remiss to say that this doesn’t affect morale for several reasons.”
The city regularly purchased two police vehicles annually since the 1990s, Derby Police Chief Scott Todd told members of a Derby Aldermanic subcommittee in January.
“That has happened without fail up until the last administration where (for) two fiscal years running now we have not been given police cars, so technically we are down four police cars,” Chief Todd said.
Breaking the vehicle purchase cycle for two fiscal years has made managing the fleet difficult.
Derby police are supposed to have 16 vehicles – six unmarked vehicles and 10 marked vehicles.
Todd said the miles are piling up on the fleet, especially the unmarked vehicles. A lieutenant’s take-home vehicle (used for work and after-hours work) has 110,000 miles and should not be on the road, Todd said.
A car used by the detective bureau is out of service because it needs $5,600 in repairs.
“The car just isn’t worth putting that kind of money into,” Todd said.
Click this link to hear Chief Todd describe the problems.
Part of the problem in Derby is the fact that the city’s capital planning commission stopped meeting regularly for much of former Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration. There was political finger-pointing as to why this happened. Click here for a previous story.
But the capital planning commission is the group that is supposed to review and prioritize big-ticket purchases in Derby. Then the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation (tax board) votes to spend the money.
Each vehicle costs about $60,000.
At last week’s Aldermen/Alderwomen meeting Mayor Joseph DiMartino formed a new capital planning commission, with the legislative body approving the following names: Alderman George Kurtyka, Alderman Rob Hyder, and Laura Wabno, a member of the tax board.
The mayor told Sgt. DeAngelo that the elected officials are well aware of the situation with the police fleet and that the new commission would be meeting soon to start its work.
An official meeting date for the newly-formed commission was not on the city’s website as of Monday (Feb. 12).
