Public Safety Commission

MIDDLETOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT City of Middletown 222 Main Street Middletown, CT 06457 860.638.4100 FAX 860.638.4104 jessica.dipasquale@middletownct.gov PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES February 24th, 2025 Hybrid/In-person Meeting 1. Councilman Ford called the Meeting to Order at 6:58 PM MEMBERS PRESENT: Councilman Darnell Ford, Chairman Councilman Anthony Mangiafico Councilwoman Linda Salafia Councilman Anthony Gennaro Councilwoman Kelly Sweeney STAFF PRESENT: Chief Erik Costa Fire Chief Dave Albert MEMBERS/STAFF ABSENT: Rich Davis – Deputy Chief of Police 2. Approval of Minutes – January 27th, 2024 Councilman Ford made a motion to approve the PSC Minutes for January 27th, 2024 as Councilman Gennaro so moved, seconded by Councilwoman Salafia. There being no further discussion or objection, Motion passed. 3. Public Hearing – Matters on the Agenda Only  Chief responded to a prior comment made by Henri in regards to activities on Pearl St and Liberty St: We have a lot of resources dedicated to that area, our downtown area patrol officer, our opioid task force, our new caseworkers. We have an uptick in arrests in that area. We will continue to work in that area. 4. Correspondence a. Officer’s Accolades Chief Costa reported on Officer Accolades;  Officers made a proactive MV stop that took guns off the street, the offenders had been involved in the last three shootings in the city.   Awards ceremony March 6th – Laurie Salafia Civilian recipient, Officer of the Year is Jesse Santostefano – for Downtown Patrol Program, 5. Monthly Reports a. Overtime Balances Chief Costa reported on Overtime Balances;  In range for overtime. Within Budget, under $7,000 for overtime and only over replacement overtime by $200.  Over on Private duty line, but it is a revenue line so that’s a good thing.  Councilman Ford asked how Moral is in the department right now. Chief answered he thinks it’s good right now. There’s peaks and valleys based on command decisions but based on overtime redline are being filled with out order ins. b. Community Reports Chief Costa reported on Community Reports;  Bear was able to visit a young girl going through a tough time and get her our patches  Bear visits schools and business regularly  Car seat clinic c. Incident Statistics Reports Chief Costa reported on Incident Statistics;  Calls of service 5010  Reportable numbers 2800  Criminal investigations 331  Arrests 80  MVA 114  Fatalities 0  DUIS 3  Narcotics arrests 2  MV stops 374 (MAD DUI Grant)  DCF Referrals 12 – working on plans to combat juvenile domestic violence d. Accountability Report Chief Costa reported on Accountability:  Our first Accreditation site inspection is coming up, Accreditation led by LT Puorro and Darren Perillo. 6. Old Business Chief Costa reported;  Rt. 9 Light Removal – Study still ongoing, still within the 6 month period. 7. New Business Chief Costa reported;  Fleet: Going into budget season, there is a budget shortfall. We are doing our best to maintain our fleet. Cars are important to do our job and for our safety. We have some  2007 and 2008 with over 100,000 miles, some with 125, 000 and one with 142,000. Out of warranty which means anything that goes wrong they are under our maintenance budget. Last month alone our maintenance budget was $24,000. We need to transfer these cars to our detective division or spare car division or private detail there’s less wear. Frontline cars goes for 16 – 18 hours a day, always running. Cars are usually under CNR purchase, Chief would like to buy 2-5 cars per year consistently. There may be years that we can catch up and cut budget a little, but cars are a necessity. Councilman Ford requested a succession plan that details where we are financially, how much it’s costing us, how much we can save, how much replacements would cost, what company etc. Also add if any other towns are going through this as well and what are they doing. Chief will get that together. o We need 9 cars. In 2017/2018 we received a bond for $750,000 that purchased 11 cars that are aging out, we’ve replaced 3. o We scrapped 23 cars in September and got $25,000 of the scrap. o Most cars take 6-11 months to put into the street once purchased.  Citizen email regardless homeless encampment update: it is private property and the property owner wants them to be there. We do have a blight ordinance to try to come to some resolution. The property owner has cleaned up some down there. We reached out the railroad company, they don’t want to pursue garbage on their tracks. Public health is aware. Our downtown patrol officer as well as caseworkers monitor the encampments.  2024 Crime Stats: There’s group A, the most serious crimes broken into three categories: crimes against persons, crimes against property and crimes against society. These stats are used to decide where to put businesses, when people are looking for communities to live in, are schools safe, etc. In 2023 there were 1511 group A crimes. Crime down because of outreach. o No drinking or smoking street side o Patrol officers doing great customer service o Camera systems o All deterrent o Walking beats in retail areas o Help getting users into programs 8. Public Hearing Re-opened -- Other Matters Henry Suski: There are housing units that property owners are renting to people with addiction and turning into drug dens. Maybe High Street, another on Liberty St. What program is providing funding to addicts? Henry will email Chief. 9. Meeting Adjournment Councilwoman Ford asked for a motion to adjourn. Motion so moved by Councilman Gennaro and seconded by Councilwoman Salafia. There being no further discussion or objection, Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:39p. Next Public Safety Commission Meeting, Monday, March 24th at 6:30 pm. TO VIEW THIS MEETING IN ITS ENTIRETY, PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE: www.cityofmiddletown.com Public Meeting Videos  Available Archives Public Safety Commission (PSC) Respectfully Submitted, Jessica DiPasquale Recording Secretary