Seymour’s community police officer position has been eliminated because of staffing shortages, Chief Michael Metzler said Monday.
The officer who had been assigned to the role, Sergio Desiderato, has been moved back to regular patrol while the department waits to fill nine vacant positions due to retirements and injuries.
Four of the vacancies come from recent retirements. Five are from injuries or illnesses.
“We have no bodies,” Metzler said.
The department is spending about $6,000 to $7,000 each week on overtime costs to cover the shifts, Metzler said.
Metzler said year-to-date, the department has already spent $270,772 on overtime.
That’s more than double what the chief said the department typically spends for overtime in a year: about $124,000.
Metzler said he would like to restore the community police officer position, but it will only happen if the department fills its vacancies.
“I’d like to put everything back that’s been taken away,” Metzler said.
Desiderato’s position isn’t the first to go.
Over the past several years — due to budget cuts and staffing problems — the department has gotten rid of its Emergency Services Unit, its school resource officer and now the community police officer position. The department also stopped participating in a state-wide narcotics team, Metzler said.
The department recently hired two new officers, but they won’t be finished training and on the street until mid-December at the earliest.
What Does It Mean
The community police officer works with the Seymour Housing Authority, oversees community block watch programs in town, and runs community programs such as the Trick or Trunk event and the Citizens Police Academy.
David Keyser, the executive director of the Seymour Housing Authority, said the community police officer has helped create a connection between the authority and police.
“It was nice to have a direct contact,” Keyser said. “I’m sorry we’re losing that. We’ll just have to figure it out on a case-by-case situation as problems come up.”
Keyser said having that connection to the police department helped during hearings where potential residents were denied based on criminal histories.
During appeals to the denial, the Seymour Housing Authority was able to get context about the criminal records from the community police officer, Keyser said.
“It helped our screening process tremendously,” Keyser said.
The officer also ran programs for the residents and helped with a community block watch.
“The police department is doing a huge disservice to the town of Seymour,” said Mary King, a two-time participant in the department’s Citizens Police Academy.
“He was the best person for the job,” King said. “He was easily approachable, likable. If there’s an issue, he does his best to resolve it.”
Last July, the department had considered eliminating the position, citing similar problems. However, after town and housing authority officials expressed concerns, Metzler decided to keep the position intact.
Metzler said he hopes to continue the Citizens Police Academy program, but just have regular patrol officers organize and run it, using overtime.
Board of Police Commissioners Chairman Lucy McConologue said the position may come back at some point.
“We’re not saying the community officer will not be put back into action again,” McConologue said. “But at this time, that officer has been put back into patrol.”
