Milford police present ComStat results, request six officers, new lieutenant and pay adjustments

Chief Cecilia Ash, chief of the Milford Police Department, told the Milford Public Safety Committee on May 14 that the department has launched a weekly ComStat process and is asking the city to add six officers, one additional detective and one lieutenant to stabilize patrol coverage and investigative capacity. "Our proposal is that we need to add, 6 officers to the staffing," Ash said during the presentation.

The request accompanies a detailed ComStat rollout led by John Martin, the department's crime analyst, which Ash said has helped the department clean up data and identify trends. "The idea with the ComStat is every Monday, every Monday morning, I look at the previous week's crime," John Martin said, describing the weekly 7-day, 28-day and year-to-date comparisons the department now uses to track Part I crimes and misdemeanor thefts.

Why it matters: Ash told the committee the city has grown about 20% in recent years and the department is seeing roughly a 5% year-over-year increase in calls for service. At the same time, she said response-time analysis shows it is taking officers longer to reach calls in four of five priority categories. Those trends, the chief said, make sustained, proactive policing harder without added staff or structural changes.

ComStat and deployment changes

Ash described a plan to realign the department’s sector system so sectors mimic the city wards, creating clearer lines of accountability for patrol officers and commanders. The ComStat process includes a Monday data pull (previous Monday through Sunday), a 7-day and 28-day comparison window and a Thursday 10 a.m. command-staff review in which lieutenants and captains read every report and recommend targeted responses such as directed patrols.

Ash said the department has used ComStat to identify spikes—she cited a recent example of shoplifting at a Walmart where directed patrols initially reduced incidents at prescribed hours before offenders adapted to other times. She also said the city has not had a shooting or homicide in five months and reported reductions in crime since the administration took office: "Milford has experienced a 22% reduction in crime," she said, and later added that over the last two years the department has recorded a 38% reduction in some categories.

Staffing, structure and cross-county issues

The department’s authorized strength is 37 officers, Ash said; she told the committee the department is currently fully staffed on paper but that operational strength is lower because of routine absences (FMLA, injuries, military, off-duty). To address coverage gaps, Ash proposed adding six officers, an additional detective in the Criminal Investigations Division and a second lieutenant so one lieutenant can focus on Kent County sectors and one on Sussex County sectors; she cited differences in court systems and prosecuting offices as reasons for the split.

Ash recommended a phased hiring plan rather than adding all positions at once and noted the lag between hiring and field deployment: it takes roughly a year from application to an officer being independently on the street (academy, field training). She said the department currently has more than 100 applicants on file.

Costs and budget timing

City staff presented cost estimates for a new officer at about $208,433 each, which the presentation broke down roughly as $96,405 for blended benefits, $87,139 for a fully equipped vehicle and $24,889 for equipment. Ash and staff proposed phasing vehicle purchases through the capital improvements program (the packet referenced buying additional vehicles in 2027) and spreading personnel costs across fiscal years to reduce one-time budget pressure.

Pay grades and supervisory compensation

Ash also recommended pay-grade adjustments so lieutenants and the captain are compensated above the highest-paid sergeants and to reflect newly written job descriptions and oversight responsibilities. The packet attached to the presentation estimated roughly $82,000 in additional annual cost for those supervisory adjustments; Ash said the intent is to preserve promotional incentives and align pay with responsibilities.

Process, metrics and limits

John Martin explained that small raw counts can produce large percentage swings when total incidents are low, so the department focuses on 28-day trends in addition to weekly reviews. Ash emphasized that ComStat and the newly written job descriptions hold captains and lieutenants accountable for reading reports, proposing directed strategies, and reporting week-to-week on outcomes.

What the committee said and next steps

Committee members praised the transparency of the ComStat reports and the department’s data-driven approach but did not take a formal vote. Several members said they preferred a phased approach to hiring and asked staff to include the requests in upcoming budget discussions so council can evaluate sustainability and funding sources. Ash asked that the committee treat the staffing recommendations as a strategic proposal to be addressed in the city's upcoming budget process.

No formal motions or votes were recorded during the meeting. The committee closed the session after the presentation and preliminarily agreed to consider the staffing and pay-grade items during the budget cycle.