Today, the department has 108 officers about a block away in a large brick building built on Reef Road in 1976.

That first small cadre, led by Police Chief A.J. Bennett, rode motorcycles and had to rely on call boxes around town to get in touch with headquarters because they didn't have two-way radios. They worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and got two days off a month.

Today's officers, led by Police Chief Joseph Sambrook, the department's seventh chief, are equipped not only with motorcycles, but also have at their disposal a fleet of patrol cars, as well as boats, bicycles and Eagle One, the department's helicopter. They work a 40-hour week.

Bennett's officers in 1930 didn't have to contend with the volume and sophistication of crime in Fairfield today, but they had to deal with Prohibition, gangsters and farm animals running amok.

Sambrook said alcohol was smuggled by boat from Long Island, N.Y., to Southport Harbor during Prohibition and Mill Plain Road was a weekend destination for gangsters.

A lot has changed since the Fairfield Police Department was officially organized 75 years ago, but one thing has remained the same: people are still looking for an easy way to gain money and property, Sambrook said.

We may not be collecting up chickens or loose cows, but we're trying to keep a lid on the trend in our world of people who are looking to get through life without doing it legally, and that's why we're here, Sambrook said. We're here to protect and serve.

On Saturday, the department will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a diamond jubilee ball at Fairfield University. The event, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. and includes a cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. Dress is semiformal.

This being such a milestone, 75 years, I could not let this year go by without making note of the fact the Fairfield Police Department has served this community for 75 years, Sambrook said. Being able to represent the law and to serve my fellow Fairfield people and those who come into our town is something I take a great deal of pride in, as do all of our officers.

Former Police Chief Anthony J. Mastronardi, a 30-year veteran of the force and its chief from 1972 to 1980, said the work police officers have to do is unpredictable.

You never knew from one day to the next what you're going to be confronted with, said Mastronardi, 82.

A police officer's day could be seven hours and 45 minutes of routine work, followed by 15 minutes of terror, Sambrook said.

That's the nature of the job, he said.

Crime in Fairfield in the 1950s mostly consisted of gambling, prostitution, burglaries and thefts, though about a half-dozen murders and hostage situations occurred during Mastronardi s 30 years on the force, he said.

Narcotics crimes in the 1950s were few and far between, involving primarily heroin, he said.

Mastronardi recalled a tense standoff at a cottage on Fairfield Beach in the early 1970s in which a distraught man stole a gun and held his girlfriend and her lover hostage.

He fired bullets over both their heads to let them know he meant business, Mastronardi said.

The man also fired at the feet of police officers who tried to approach the house. Officers got the man to release the two hostages and fired tear gas into the house to get him out, he said.

When Mastronardi joined the department in 1950, officers worked seven eight-hour days consecutively, followed by a day off. The officers didn't know where they would patrol until they got to work, he said.

Mastronardi said he got antennas set up around town for departmental communications during his years as chief because of transmission dead spots. The department's current headquarters also was built on Reef Road during his tenure.

I put my heart and soul into that operation. If it weren't for my age, I'd be back there today, Mastronardi said.

Fairfield has always been considered a bedroom community that has a desirable quality of life, Sambrook said.

But people would have to have blinders on if they thought there weren't things going on in this town that go on in other towns, he said.

Patrick L. Carroll, who was on the force for 30 years, retiring as captain of the detective bureau in 1978, said the talent and professionalism that existed in the department during his years continues today.

Carroll said he told his son, Officer Gregory Carroll, who joined the force in Fairfield 10 years ago, that he would never become rich if he chose a career in police work.

But, Carroll told his son, he would find satisfaction in the work.

You'll get a lot of satisfaction from the job you do because you're there to serve the people of Fairfield, Carroll told his son. Your wealth will come from that satisfaction.

Tickets to the Fairfield Police Department's 75th anniversary ball are $75 each and include a complimentary wineglass etched with a badge and a brief history of the department. For tickets or information, call Sambrook or Kathy Buzel, Sambrook's secretary, at 254-4828.