Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
DESPP outlines staffing shortfalls, duty‑reassignment plan and crisis‑response goals; lawmakers press for DRE training and roadmap for co‑responder expansion
Summary
Commissioner Ronnell Higgins and Connecticut State Police Colonel Daniel Lachman briefed the committee on a trooper shortfall (about 200 vacancies), a plan to move troopers out of administrative roles and replace them with civilian hires to reduce overtime, a 7.5% OT reduction in recent months, co‑responder pilot activity funded by federal grants,
Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner Ronnell Higgins and Connecticut State Police Colonel Daniel Lachman told the Appropriations Regulation and Protection Subcommittee on Feb. 14 that severe staffing shortages and operational demands are driving an effort to reassign duties, reduce overtime and expand crisis‑response models.
Higgins said the department currently fields about 928 troopers and estimated roughly 200 vacancies across the State Police. He described a multistep plan to identify administrative positions occupied by sworn troopers and replace those roles with qualified civilian hires so troopers can return to patrol duties. “We’re gonna do an analysis to determine how we can get troopers that…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
