Retiring Police Chief Michael Imbro asks, 'Now what?'

FRED MUSANTE, Editor March 22, 2007

Police Chief Michael Imbro has devoted so much of his life to police work and the Stratford Police Department over the past 38 years he finds it hard to conceive of doing anything else.

"I spent a lot of time here," he said last week. "I didn't take half the vacation time I should have." He has a new granddaughter, who will take up some of his time after retirement, but he's not planning to take a cruise or any kind of vacation. Rather, he said he is considering a law enforcement consulting job, though he's not ready to say where. His dilemma is that although he will retire at the end of the month and take advantage of a retirement incentive offer, he truly enjoys police work and said there is nothing he would rather do. And he loves the Stratford Police Department that he has commanded for five years. "I think it's an excellent department," he said. Imbro, 61, said that when he joined the department as a beat cop on June 10, 1969, he was confident he would rise through the ranks. But he never thought he would become chief. No one can be sure of that, because it requires both timing and luck and being in position to be considered when the job opens up, he said. He has met several times with his successor, John J. Buturla, a retired State Police major who is stepping down as chief administrative officer of New Haven to take the job. "It's hard to see where the time has gone," Imbro said. "I don't know where the time has gone. It just flew." He was a former Marine and Vietnam War combat veteran with an Associate's Degree in electrical engineering when the department hired him. "They handed me a flashlight and a night stick and told me to go out there," he said. "I didn't even have a gun for two months." He was assigned to the foot patrols at Paradise Green and Stratford Center where he wrote parking tickets, often 40 to 50 a day, around the AVCO plant on lower Main Street. Over the years he rose in the ranks, becoming a detective in 1976, patrol sergeant in 1978, lieutenant in 1983, head of training in 1986, patrol captain in 1987, administrative captain in 1988, and commander of the Detective Bureau in 1991. After being appointed deputy police chief in 2000 he became acting chief when Chief Robert Mossman became ill with cancer. He said his fondest years were with the Detective Bureau, and that he owes a great deal to forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee, who served as a mentor, and former Deputy Chief Bill Milne, who taught him his administrative skills. In the 1970s Imbro studied under Lee, formerly the state's chief medical examiner, who was starting the forensic science program at the University of New Haven. Imbro earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in forensic science there. His degrees made him the fourth college-educated member of the department, something that was rare at the time, though it is the norm for police officers today. Imbro said he and Lee still stay in touch. The scientific skills he learned helped solve a number of whodunit cases the Stratford detectives investigated. "The way he presented law enforcement in relation to science melded the two together and made you want to go further with it," Imbro said. One case arose when a doctor discovered that an injured girl had been pierced by a plastic slug, but no one knew what it was. Step-by-step investigation led to the discovery that it was a plastic bullet used in training exercises by Navy SEALS, linking it to a military demonstration. Imbro said advances in forensic science have made it increasingly difficult to commit a crime without leaving some evidence behind that is useful to police investigators. He credited his "great team of detectives" for most of the bureau's crime-solving success while he was its commander. In fact, he said the men and women he served with share the credit for most of his accomplishments during his lengthy career. Last year was particularly difficult for him, when the department was criticized for tolerating racism within its ranks, following a controversial incident in March in the South End. Imbro, who stoically weathered several tough months, denied the allegations of racism were true and noted that the accusers have pled guilty. He thought the Stratford Police Department emerged from the trial untarnished. Police supervisors have since undertaken diversity training, and lower-ranking officers will soon do so. But Imbro said all the officers periodically have had diversity training every few years, something he considered a valuable part of their professional training. The Stratford Police Department offers a wide range of services, including a marine patrol, a helicopter patrol, a community resource unit and a bicycle unit, he said. "We offer a lot to the community, and we do it with professionalism," he said. Imbro is satisfied he left the Stratford Police Department better than he found it, "and I'm sure the next chief will do the same," he said.

©Stratford Star 2007