Middletown police chief reports falling crime rates, outlines drone program and staffing strains

Chief Cost opened the March 5 special meeting of the Middletown Public Safety Commission with an annual report that highlighted multi‑year declines in reported crime and a series of technology and staffing initiatives meant to sustain that trend. “We saw a 12.8% drop in 2025 and an 18.4% drop the year before,” Chief Cost said, framing the reductions as the result of proactive policing and expanded community outreach programs.

The chief credited several local efforts — downtown patrol ownership, the PAL youth program and added social‑worker support — for pushing calls for service and case reporting in different directions, noting calls were up about 8.5% last year to roughly 71,000 cases partly because social workers now create case numbers. He reported specific declines in burglaries (down about 55%) and motor vehicle thefts (down about 33%) and said the department had no homicides last year though it investigated a small number of fatalities pending coroner determinations.

Cost detailed training, equipment and staffing changes: the department logged roughly 5,600 training hours on topics such as de‑escalation, crisis intervention, use‑of‑force policy and implicit‑bias awareness; the agency plans to replace decade‑old service pistols and roll out a red‑dot firearm platform, with an agency‑wide training program scheduled to begin in March. He said the weapon upgrade was funded within the department budget and would not require additional taxpayer money.

On staffing, Cost said the department is authorized for 120 officers and currently has 115 on staff, with civilian staffing down to 13 from 16 and one clerk position frozen pending budget review. He described rising overtime driven by sick‑day coverage, FMLA leaves and workers’‑comp absences and said mitigation measures included postponing noncritical training for specialized units to reduce patrol overtime.

Cost described a range of investigative and operational technologies the department is expanding. Middletown uses Recor and Odin Eye for license‑plate reading in a closed‑loop arrangement, he said, stressing local control of data and that the department does not route LPR data through Flock’s national system. The chief previewed a drone program funded initially through grants (he said $50,000 has been secured) and asset‑forfeiture monies and described examples in which aerial assets aided public‑safety responses such as locating fire perimeters and supporting water searches.

On privacy and data access, Cost told commissioners that Middletown retains ownership of its imagery and that outside access would require judicial process — subpoenas or search warrants — not direct remote access. “They can’t just jump into our data,” he said, adding that the city could discontinue a service if evidence emerged of inappropriate data sharing.

Cost also previewed a VIF registry for residents with intellectual or cognitive disabilities so officers receive relevant flags during responses; he said a press release and news briefing were planned. He closed by summarizing the department’s budget submission — an increase of about $946,000 driven largely by overtime and anticipated pay increases tied to a pending union contract — and noted capital and facilities needs, including a deteriorating roof and an air‑handler that will require detailed cost study.

The commission pressed for follow‑ups on forward‑facing analytics (NextGen/Power BI) and asked for continued reporting on immigration‑related deployments after the council’s Trust Act resolution. Chief Cost said he would provide more details in future reports and invited commissioners to the planned VIF press event.