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State police describe recruiting challenges, overdose/impairment training plans and co-responder pilots
Summary
The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection and Connecticut State Police told lawmakers they are short roughly 200 troopers, have cut overtime by 7.5% recently, are exploring in-state DRE training (drug-recognition experts) and want to expand co-responder crisis models but need funding to scale them beyond federally supported pilots.
The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) and the Connecticut State Police briefed the Appropriations subcommittee on a range of public-safety topics, including staffing shortfalls, overtime reductions, crisis co-responder pilots and drug-recognition expert training.
Commissioner Ronnell Higgins told the committee the department currently employs about 928 troopers and estimated roughly 200 vacancies across the force. Higgins described an effort to reassign troopers from administrative roles back into patrol duties where possible and to recruit and hire new officers.
Higgins said a recent push to reduce overtime yielded a 7.5% decline in overtime in the last three months and the department…
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