Ansonia police asked state police to investigate “irregularities” regarding evidence processing at the department, Chief Kevin Hale announced Thursday (Sept. 26).
“I have requested assistance from the Connecticut State Police in order to conduct an independent criminal investigation into irregularities that the Ansonia Police Department has discovered in the processing of evidence within the Ansonia Police Department,” Hale said in a prepared statement.
“We are also conducting an Internal Affairs Investigation regarding the personnel involved in this matter to determine whether any department rules, regulations, policies or procedures were violated,” Hale’s statement said. “There will be no further public comment on this matter at this time.”
Reached Thursday evening, Hale declined to comment beyond what he said in his statement.
A state police truck was parked behind Ansonia’s police station on Elm Street about 5 p.m. Thursday.
The Valley Indy sent a message seeking comment from state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance.
Vance told the New Haven Register Thursday that state police were contacted “concerning the ‘possible misappropriation of (or) mishandling of evidence,’” and that the case was assigned to a major crimes squad.
Mayor James Della Volpe said Thursday afternoon Hale contacted him about the investigation this week.
“We’re following all proper procedures, we’re dealing with it right away, we’re going to find out what’s going on,” the mayor said.
Della Volpe said the investigation is limited to a single police department employee, but said he couldn’t be more specific.
“I have confidence in our police department, that’s why we’re dealing with this head-on, we’re not trying to hide anything,” the mayor said. “All the facts will come out when the investigation is complete. We just deal in facts and that’s what we’re trying to gain here.”
It appears city police became aware of an unspecified issue, then asked for outside law enforcement agency to investigate.
“We’ll get the facts out and deal with it once the facts are out,” Della Volpe said.
