Police Department Awaits Three Patrol Officers

By Andrew Gorosko

Police are awaiting the arrival of three recruits scheduled to start work as patrol officers after they complete their 20-week law enforcement training program at the Connecticut Municipal Police Academy in Meriden.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said April 28 that the three officers are slated to begin their local field training on May 16. During that 14-week field training period, the new officers will be accompanied on their rounds by town police training officers, who will explain local law enforcement to the recruits during stints on each of the three police work shifts. By late August, the new officers would assume solitary patrol duties.

Chief Kehoe said the three recruits have done well in their studies at the police academy.

Sergeant John Cole supervises police officer training for the police department.

Now completing their studies at the municipal police academy are Michael Riccio, 24, of Newtown; Leonard Penna, 25, of Trumbull; and Amity Robinson, 25, of Danbury. The Police Commission also had hired a fourth officer last fall, Ole Ekeland, 25, of Bridgeport. But after entering the police academy, Mr Ekeland failed to meet the academy’s physical requirements. 2Mr Ekeland later resigned from the police department.

The Police Commission hires people to become police patrol officers based on the results of a series of academic, physical, and psychological tests.

Last August, about 110 people interested in becoming police officers took a written test for the position. Job applicants who passed the written test proceeded to physical testing. Applicants, who passed the physical testing, proceeded to oral interviews, which were conducted by a panel of officers from other police departments.

The Police Commission then interviewed the remaining applicants. Extensive background checks, a physical examination, psychological testing, and lie detector testing are used to screen job candidates.

With the arrival of the three new officers in mid-May, the police force’s roster will rise to 41 officers, out of an approved complement of 43 people. Of the 43 posts, 27 are patrol officers.

The two existing police vacancies were created by the recent retirement of Patrol Officer Raymond Thompson and by Mr Ekeland’s departure. Because the town government is under a hiring freeze, the Police Commission has not filled those two vacancies. The current starting pay for new officers is $37,709 annually.