MINUTES

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WATERTOWN POL= ICE COMMISSION

REGULAR MEETING<= /b>

WATERTOWN POLICE STATION

WEDNESDA= Y, JUNE 8, 2005, 7:30 P.M.

PRESENT:            =             &nb= sp;    Thomas Durso, Chairman

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p; Patricia Kropp

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p; Joseph Pawlak

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p; Judy Pilicy

ABSENT:           &nb= sp;            =        Gary Stewart, Secretary

OTHERS PRESENT:            John Carroll, Police Chief

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;           &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   John Gavallas, Deputy Police Chief

1.&nb= sp;        Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 P.M.

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Mr. Durso, Chairman, Called the Meeting to Order at 7:32 p.m.

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2.&nb= sp;        Roll Call

Mr. Durso, Chairman, executed the Roll Call.

3.&nb= sp;        Public Participation

&= nbsp;          Meredith (Inaudible), Watertown, CT 06795=

&= nbsp;          Ms. (Inaudible) talked about speeding on her street., and asked what else could= be done?

&= nbsp;          Diane Schmidt, 237 Skilton Road, Watertown= , CT&nbs= p; 06795

&= nbsp;          Ms. Schmidt discussed speeding in her neighborhood.

&= nbsp;          David LeBlanc, Middlebury Road, Watertown<= /st1:City>, CT&nbs= p; 06795

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc asked the Commission to tell the residents the truth; nothing will = be done about their problem. Tel= l the people how many speeding infractions were given out by the Police Departmen= t in May, 2005.

&= nbsp;          Mr. Pawlak and Mr. Durso did not have that information, but it would be discuss= ed later in this meeting.

Watertown Police Commission

Regular Meeting

June 8, 2005

Page 2

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc replied the answer is zero. In April 6 tickets were given out.&= nbsp; This Commission does not follow the Town Charter. They had a chance to give the Poli= ce Department a directive to issue tickets without exception, but they never passed the motion.

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc asked what was being done about the illegal stop signs in the school parking lots; this problem has been going on for 14 months now.

&= nbsp;          Deputy Chief Gavallas stated 2 months ago the Board of Education said they would t= ake care of that problem.

&= nbsp;          Mr. Pawlak stated they agreed to have Mr. Razza meet with the Board of Educatio= n to find out what the required signage was supposed to be. In the meantime, they were going to retain the signs as they are now.

&= nbsp;          Mr. Durso asked Deputy Chief Gavallas to follow up with the Board of Education regarding the status of the signs.

&= nbsp;          Mrs. O'Brien expressed her concerns about Mr. LeBlanc's comments.

&= nbsp;          Deputy Chief Gavallas replied Mr. LeBlanc is giving misinformation and all of the information he just stated was completely inaccurate. Of course the Police Department ca= res about speeding.

&= nbsp;          Ms. Kropp stated Watertown doesn't have a lot of money for staff.&nbs= p; They don't have extra officers or any other Town personnel as well.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The budget was just defeated yeste= rday, so now more things will be cut from the budget. It's a personnel issue, it always = has been.

&= nbsp;          Mrs. O'Brien replied she knew someone who was a police officer in a small town described how they enforced speeding in that town.

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc replied that he takes pride in presenting nothing but facts. Anything he said here during his e= ntire tenure on the Commission has been fact.&nb= sp; All of the information that he speaks about is available to any memb= er of the public to review free of charge, right here at the Police Station. If they can't get it here, they can contact him, he has thousands of pages of documents to share.

&= nbsp;          Mrs. O'Brien stated she was more concerned with going forward, than what has happened in the past.

&= nbsp;          Mr. Durso asked Mr. LeBlanc if he was suggesting that the Police Department doe= sn't care about speeding?

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc replied Chief Carroll stated two meetings ago that speeding was not= a priority.

Watertown Police Commission

Regular Meeting

June 8, 2005

Page 3

&= nbsp;          Chief Carroll replied he said they had other things to do.

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc stated Chief Carroll said "speeding is not a priority". He's not saying they don't care, h= e's suggesting they establish a policy and give it to the Chief. They had an excellent policy, they should try it.

&= nbsp;          Deputy Chief Gavallas stated he doesn't know of one other town in Connecticut that has a policy that tel= ls the Police Department to arrest someone cause they're going a certain speed. One town in the whole State of Connecticut.

&= nbsp;          Mr. LeBlanc stated Atty. John Connolly from the State said the Town could try t= his policy.

&= nbsp;          Mr. Pawlak stated it's within the Police Department's policy to do this. Yes, the officers have discretion = within say 25 mph to 40, to issue a warning, verbal or written, a misdemeanor, or = an infraction. Once they go over 40 or whatever t= hat line you don't cross over is, that's it.&n= bsp; In this case it would be 60% over the speed limit. It's downright dangerous on many streets.

4.         = Correspondence

&= nbsp;          A.        Letter from Residents of Baldwin = Street

&= nbsp;           &nbs= p;          Ms. Kropp asked if the D.O.T. would be involved with the sign installation?

=             &nb= sp;           Chief Carroll replied these signs are not enforceable "No Thru Trucks".= A discussion ensued.

= ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Durso stated Chief Carroll will respond back to them.

&= nbsp;          B.         = Letter from Resident of Scott Ave= nue

=             &nb= sp;           Mr. Durso reported this letter was regarding too many stop signs. They will respond to his letter and thanked him for his comments, although he didn't agree with everything he talked about in his letter.

5.         = New Business

&= nbsp;          A.        Enforcement

=             &nb= sp;           Depu= ty Chief Gavallas reported that during May, 2005, they stopped 185 vehicles, issued 127 written warnings, made 48 arrests, and 10 verbal warnings.

=             &nb= sp;           Mr. Pawlak asked why people who were excessively speeding were given warnings?<= /p>

=             &nb= sp;           Depu= ty Chief Gavallas replied warnings are a type of enforcement. Their job is to curtail the speedi= ng.

Watertown Police Commission

Regular Meeting

June 8, 2005

Page 4

=             &nb= sp;           Mr. Pawlak argued that although a warning is a form of enforcement, he felt a monetary fine carried a lot more weight.

=             &nb= sp;           Depu= ty Chief Gavallas felt the Police Department stopped 185 people, so they were trying to stop the speeding.

&= nbsp;          B.         = Update of Mileage for all Police Vehicles

=             &nb= sp;           Depu= ty Chief Gavallas handed out a report on the vehicle mileage. A discussion ensued. There is a lot of idling time. Vehicles are rotated as well.

&= nbsp;          C.        Budget

=             &nb= sp;           Mr. Pawlak asked what the strategy was for the Police Department in case the To= wn Manager asks for further cuts, considering the budget was defeated yesterda= y?

=             &nb= sp;           Chief Carroll replied the Town Manager will just make the cut.

=             &nb= sp;           Mr. Pawlak asked if the Department had any say in exactly what would be cut?

=             &nb= sp;           Chief Carroll replied no, the Town Manager will cut a particular line item.

=             &nb= sp;           Depu= ty Chief Gavallas replied the Town was planning on going back out to referendu= m on June 28, 2005.

=             &nb= sp;           Chief Carroll stated they were recommending no further cuts at this time.

=             &nb= sp;           Depu= ty Chief Gavallas stated the Town has some additional State money that's been = made available.

=             &nb= sp;           Chief Carroll stated he hoped public safety wasn't targeted on the next one, cause that would be devastating.

=             &nb= sp;           Mr. Durso stated the Tax Group was concentrating on the school, not taking anyt= hing else from the Town's side of the budget.&n= bsp; He hoped the Town didn't make further cuts anyway.

Watertown Police Commission

Regular Meeting

June 8, 2005

Page 5

&= nbsp;          D.        Overtime

= ;            &n= bsp;          Deputy Chief Gavallas explained he tracked overtime by the person that works the overtime, the hours, the cost, and the reason for the overtime. He tracks it on a daily basis and = prints out a monthly report. As of r= ight now the overtime budget is 7.4% over budget. The Department has been operat= ing with 4 vacancies since last December. There are 3 officers at the academy and 1 officer is injured. The 3 officers at the academy are receiving a salary, but not overtime. The officers who work private overtime is calculated separately, cau= se the Town makes 20% on those bills.

= ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Pawlak asked when the 4 officers retired?

= ;            &n= bsp;          Deputy Chief Gavallas replied 2 officers retired in December, 2004 and 1 has been = out inured since January, 2005, and another one retired about 1 month ago. The last officer will retire on Ju= ly 8, 2005.

6.         = Old Business

  &= nbsp;         A.        Discussion of Motorcycle Acquisition

  = ;            &n= bsp;         Deputy Chief Gavallas reported there was some discussion a few years ago with Thomaston Savings Bank regarding the motorcycle. The Department applied for a grant= , but it wasn't accepted. A discuss= ion ensued.

7.         = Chairman's Report

  = ;          MOTION:       (Ms. = Kropp, sec. Ms. Pilicy) to Add Agenda Item 8A, Suspension of July and August Polic= e Commission Regular Meetings.

  = ;          Discussion:<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>       Mr. Pawlak: I don't want to do that. I think we should meet. I think we should plan our schedul= es or vacations around it and be like every other board or commission in town tha= t I know of. The Town Council and= Board of Education continues to meet.

  = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;         Ms. Kropp: They meet 50% of the time; they ha= ve one meeting in July and one meeting in August.= And if they need an emergency . . . .

  = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;         Mr. Pawlak: I would like to continue the meeti= ngs, cause in my opinion, as we mentioned earlier, and some people during public= participation, the activities in Town with respect to nuisances, speeders, etc. increases during the Summer months, and I think we should be around to listen to the complaints of the people and see if we can do something about it.

  &= nbsp;         MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown Police Commission

Regular Meeting

June 8, 2005

Page 6

8.         = Chief's Report

  &= nbsp;         Chief Carroll reported there has been complaints again about the back exit to Tower Road = at Watertown High School, regarding congestion,= speeding, noise, etc. They assigned an officer to that area and there is a problem. They talked with former Superinten= dent Ramos regarding this and he had his reasons for keeping that gate open, so the Po= lice Department will continue enforcement in that area. It is a traffic problem, and it ha= s been recommended to put an officer there for traffic duty, but that doesn't real= ly work cause suddenly the people think when there's not an officer there they= can just speed right out of there and that's a dangerous road. French Street is just as bad as som= e of the other streets in Town. Th= ey will meet with the new Superintendent and see what his policy will be regar= ding that gate. The school season = is coming to a close, so until then they'll keep doing what they've been doing= .

  &= nbsp;         Regarding speeding, some people are really serious about this. Never mind the policy making board, because he's the Chief and he can give an order right now to say go out the= re, you go 25 mph, you go 26, you're done, because that's what the law is. He is not willing to take that aut= hority out of the hands of the officers. This is a community where you have to give sometimes special attenti= on to people, elderly people, people that work in Town, the voting public, everyone has to understand what the Department's mission is - to protect and serve. They can't arrest ever= yone; look at the prisons. He's con= sidering targeting an area and publicizing it, they won't have any grace period at a= ll, the speed limit period. Then = people will be crawling through neighborhoods.&nb= sp; People have to support the Police budget. He has heard all types of excuses = in 37 years when he's pulled people over.

  &= nbsp;         Mr. Pawlak thought targeting certain areas was a good idea, but he disagreed wi= th 25 mph period. His only objec= tion has been with respect to above a certain threshold.

8A.<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>      Suspension = of July and August Police Commission Meetings

=            MOTION:=        (Ms. = Kropp, sec. Ms. Pilicy) to suspend the Police Commission Regular Meetings for July= and August.

  = ;          Discussion:<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>       Mr. Pawlak: I would like to have the Police Commission meetings in July and August and work our schedules around it in = case something comes up. If we do = have the Subcommittee Meeting, that may be a viable substitute, but I'd still li= ke to hold the Police Commission Meetings because unless we alter the Subcommi= ttee Agenda, is there any public participation or just discussion?

=             &nb= sp;            =           Mr. Durso: No, just discussion. If there is something that does co= me up during the Summer, we will definitely call a special meeting.

Watertown Police Commission

Regular Meeting

June 8, 2005

Page 7

  &= nbsp;         In Favor:      &= nbsp;   Mr. Durso, Ms. Kropp, Ms. Pilicy

  &= nbsp;         Opposed:         = Mr. Pawlak

  &= nbsp;         Abstained:        None

  &= nbsp;         MOTION CARRIED (3-1-0)

9.         = Adjournment

=            MOTION:=        (Ms. = Kropp, sec. Mr. Pawlak) to Adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:55 p.m.

=             D= iscussion:       None<= /p>

=             M= OTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

=             R= egular Meeting Adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas Durso, Chairman

Watertown Police Commission

=

= Approved:     _________________= ______________

         = Lynn M. LaForme, Clerk