West Haven rolls out expanded camera network, AED/Narcan distribution and Stop‑the‑Bleed trainings, director says

Rick Fontana, West Haven’s director of emergency operations, told the city council’s public‑safety committee on March 23 that the administration has significantly expanded the municipality’s public‑safety technology and emergency‑response gear, much of it with grant and opioid‑settlement funding.

Fontana said the city now operates roughly 120 cameras with about 300 different camera views across town and has staged the rollout in phases: an initial set of 33 cameras and emergency call boxes along the boardwalk, 22 law‑enforcement cameras funded by ARPA, and a 46‑camera municipal phase covering parking lots, parks and City Hall. “They change behavior,” Fontana said of cameras, adding they have helped stop dumping and aided emergency responses.

He said West Haven High School’s 127 school cameras and about 50 cameras at Washington School will be viewable in the 911 center if pending grant funding is finalized. Fontana described an Emergency Operations Center grant the administration is pursuing, stating that the school‑camera integration and EOC upgrades are part of an approximately $2,100,000 request that would allow dispatchers to access playback and live views in coordinated incidents.

Fontana also described 22 license‑plate readers (LPRs) that the police operate; he noted that law‑enforcement LPR data remain under police control and are not directly accessible by emergency‑operations staff. He gave an example in which camera footage helped identify vehicles involved in vandalism at Painter Park.

On operations he said the city stores footage on local servers at City Hall (beach cameras on a separate server) for a 30‑day retention period and that some cameras use LTE connectivity at about $20 per month per unit for data; that monthly fee covers data but not routine hardware repairs. Fontana described a citywide access‑control rollout, now covering roughly 29 doors at City Hall with card readers and staged access privileges for staff and emergency responders.

Fontana highlighted a package of life‑saving public‑health measures paid for with non‑taxpayer funds: 35 new public AED units at parks and ballfields and distribution of roughly 1,500 Narcan kits funded through the city’s opioid‑settlement allocation. He said training has reached more than 1,200 residents, employees and community groups and that the city has deployed a QR map to show AED and Narcan locations “so if you call 911 and you’re in one of those areas, they can tell you where the next closest AED or Narcan station is.”

The presentation closed with a Stop‑the‑Bleed rollout slated to begin in spring 2026: Fontana said kits will be colocated with AEDs (four‑person kits) and training will be provided in coordination with the fire department. Committee members praised the multiagency coordination and asked operational questions about monitoring, analytics and deployment timing. The public‑safety committee ended its session at about 7:51 p.m.

Why it matters: The changes aim to reduce response times, deter low‑level crime and make life‑saving equipment more widely accessible. Funding noted during the presentation was primarily grant sources and opioid‑settlement dollars, not regular taxpayer operating revenue.