West Haven outlines expanded public-safety plan: cameras, AEDs, Narcan kits and anti-icing pilot

Rick Fontana, director of emergency management for the city of West Haven, told the City Council on Feb. 10 that his office has compiled a 170-page emergency operations plan and is pursuing grants and local projects aimed at reducing public-safety risk.

Fontana said the city has focused first on school safety and technology integration after a series of incidents earlier this year. He said the administration secured funding to put school security camera feeds into the city’s 9-1-1 center and is pursuing a roughly $2 million camera and emergency-operations upgrade through congressional-directed spending. “This is a 170-page document,” Fontana said of the emergency plan. He added the state has allowed the city to seek grant money for prior years that had not been collected.

Why it matters: The plan and accompanying investments are intended to improve incident response, help investigators identify suspects or vehicles, and allow dispatchers to direct first responders more quickly to active incidents.

Major elements Fontana described: - Cameras: Phase 1 installed 33 cameras along the beach; phase 2 will add about 22 law-enforcement-grade cameras in high-traffic areas; phase 3 will add roughly 26 cameras, including license-plate readers and four-angle “quad” units on municipal lots; phase 4 will replace interior City Hall cameras. Fontana said the police and 9-1-1 center can review motion-triggered footage after an incident and that some installations should be near completion within 30 days. - Mobile camera trailers: The city purchased three towable, multi-camera units — deployable to dumping hot spots, beaches and flood locations — for temporary surveillance and evidence collection. - School camera integration: Fontana said nearly all school cameras can now be viewed at the 9-1-1 center after equipment and connectivity upgrades; he said the upgrades help incident reviews and coordination with schools. - AEDs and Narcan: The city acquired about 20 additional automated external defibrillators (bringing the public total to roughly 22 units in public locations) and is placing Narcan (naloxone) kits in the same cabinets. Fontana described the Narcan device the city is deploying as a 4-milligram nasal dose and demonstrated its one-spray administration during the presentation. - Employee and building security: The city is issuing ID badges and upgrading exterior door access across municipal buildings to reduce unauthorized internal movement; Fontana said the same badge system will eventually interoperate with schools and other city facilities for first-responder access. - Anti-icing/brine pilot: Public Works is piloting a magnesium-chloride anti-icing liquid. Fontana said the product costs about $1.20 per gallon and is applied at about 30 gallons per lane-mile as a pretreatment; he presented it as less corrosive and more environmentally friendly than rock salt. The city has procured several thousand gallons for the pilot and reported using roughly 1,500 gallons during recent storms. - Flood and beach gates: New vehicle gates and flood gates were installed at beach approaches and low bridges; the fire department will manually close gates when flooding is reported, Fontana said.

Fontana emphasized training and after-action reviews. He said the city conducts post-incident “swaps” that bring police, fire, schools and 9-1-1 together to identify what worked and what did not, then implement fixes.

Council questions and operational notes: Council members asked about camera siting, mobile deployment, visitor check-in at City Hall and the shelf life and storage of the brine solution. Fontana said the camera system can use cellular data where fixed network connections are not available and that brine can be stored in enclosed tanks for multiple seasons. On parking enforcement during snow emergencies, Fontana said the city towed vehicles and issued citations during the most recent storm and acknowledged enforcement capacity limits.

Funding and next steps: Fontana said some federal grants are approved but not yet funded and that the city will continue applying for state and federal support rather than relying solely on local taxpayers. He described the program as a multi-year rollout with several pilot elements (anti-icing, mobile cameras, school integrations) set to expand if pilots prove effective.

"This is one of the things we're doing," Fontana said of the Narcan distribution. "We're not going to stop because it's out there." Mayor Dorinda Borer, who joined remarks at the end of the presentation, praised staff coordination and said the council previously approved many of the funding sources used for the projects.

Ending: Officials said residents will get public information about AED and Narcan locations via a forthcoming map and QR-code mailer. Several items — including grant awards and the larger camera roll-out — remain contingent on final funding decisions.