State's Attorney Requests $1.2M Technical Fix, New Staff to Handle Body‑cam Evidence and Data Reporting

Chief State's Attorney Griffin told an Appropriations subcommittee that the office needs a $1.2 million technical adjustment to its current services budget to cover negotiated increases in starting salaries for prosecutors, a change Griffin said has improved applicant numbers.

Griffin said the office is also seeking 21 new positions and roughly $1.85 million to staff review of digital evidence, primarily body‑worn camera footage. Griffin told the panel that Connecticut General Statutes require use of body‑worn cameras and estimated a large and growing annual volume of digital evidence the division must review.

Griffin asked for 19 data entry positions plus one supervisor to meet reporting requirements created by the state—s prosecutorial data law; the request is $1,184,702. She said the department had relied on ARPA funds that expired Jan. 1 and that the data entry staffing allowed compliance rates to rise from the teens to about 88 percent for required fields.

She also described a $3 million holdback in the governor—s recommended budget to the personal services line. Griffin said that holdback would likely require leaving about 25 vacancies unfilled to meet the reduction, and that would make it difficult to add the requested expansion positions.

Separately, Griffin said the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit needs one forensic nurse investigator; the requested cost for that position was roughly $95,852 in FY26 with higher cost in year two of the biennium.

Why it matters: The requests intersect with statutory reporting duties and with rising volumes of digital evidence. Lawmakers pressed staff for detail on costs and on whether the data positions and evidence‑review positions are expansions or replacements. Several members asked whether the holdback applies to the new hires (Griffin said it does not; the holdback applies to existing positions).