Brent Larrabee
Stamford Chief of Police
During my 35 years in law enforcement, I have had the unique privilege of witnessing the operations of a number of different police departments. Let me say, unequivocally, that the Stamford Police Department undoubtedly ranks among the very best that I have observed. The men and women of the Stamford Police Department are consummate professionals dedicated to providing the highest quality policing services to our community. Their exemplary work is evidenced by the fact that Stamford consistently ranks among the top ten safest cities in America.
I believe, to some degree, we are victims of our own success. It seems to me that many people take Stamford's safety for granted, like somehow we are preordained to be among the safest places to live. This does not just happen, it happens because of the consistent hard work, dedication and daily commitment to professionalism demonstrated by the men and women of the department.
The fact of the matter is that the results of these labors come at a cost. These costs have come under close scrutiny during this tumultuous budget season. Rarely mentioned during these discussions, however, is the value that a low crime environment has on the overall economic vitality of the city. Partly due to crime stability, businesses flourish and new ones relocate to town, which inevitably leads to new housing construction and a general increase in property values, and so forth. It would be quite rare to experience this cycle of growth in a crime-ridden city. All of this investment in Stamford increases its value as a desirable place to live and work.
In fact, population projections have Stamford soon becoming the second largest city in the state. We already have a nighttime population equivalent to both New Haven and Hartford. Yet, the size of our police force pales in comparison to both of these cities. Hartford currently has a sworn force of 450 officers and New Haven is in the process of attaining a sworn force nearing 400 officers. We had a goal of bringing our sworn force from its current level of approximately 300 to 350 officers, but these plans were cut in the recent budget cycle. In fact, to avoid layoffs we gave up 14 funded police officer vacancies. Factoring in anticipated retirements, we could possibly be looking at a sworn force nearing 250 officers, approximately 200 less officers than Hartford.
These staffing shortages will further strain our department if the FBI's prediction of a nationwide increase in violent crime proves to be true. In this case scenario, simply maintaining our current crime rate will be difficult. Despite the harsh reality of all of these factors, our crime rate continues to be significantly lower than that of all of the other cities in the state. I believe this statement validates my assertion on just how well the men and women of the Stamford Police Department do their job.
Even with the most dedicated workers, it is apparent staffing levels are far below what is appropriate for a city of our size. That is why one of the first things I did upon my arrival in January 2005 was to increase minimum staffing levels for each shift. I increased the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift from 18 to 22 officers, the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift from 18 to 24 officers and the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift from 16 to 20 officers. In addition, I added supplemental patrols to augment these increased staffing levels when the workload dictated it.
Because of budgetary constraints and manpower shortages, however, I now have no choice but to revert to the old contractual minimum staffing levels, which I quite frankly feel, is unacceptable.
Adding to my sense of frustration is that I have repeatedly told various boards and commissions that besides working at bare minimum manpower levels, there are no officers available to supplement those working if need be. Despite my frequent assertions to this fact, there appears to be a common misconception that we have a barracks filled with officers just waiting to respond to calls for service. Let me firmly state once again that this is simply not the case. That is why I have no choice, given our current budget constraints, but to reposition some people from specialty and auxiliary squads into patrol.
Our main task now is to find a way to deliver the same quality service that the citizens of Stamford have come to expect, despite a significantly reduced budget. I have every confidence that the dedicated men and women of the department will continue to do everything possible to maintain the highest quality of service.
The citizens of Stamford, however, must realize that a change in the way we deliver these services is inevitable. For example, there will most likely be an increase in response times to calls for service. Although slower response times can be frustrating, rest assured that once an officer arrives the quality of the service received will be the same as it has always been — simply excellent.
For me personally, this entire budget cycle has been extremely difficult, going from the anticipated hiring of officers to the actual shrinkage of the police force in a mere matter of weeks. The administrative staff and I have several innovative initiatives and long-range strategies that we have begun to implement that would put us in the forefront of the policing industry.
Some of the most important of these initiatives are: an increased emphasis on the Youth Services Bureau to address the increase in youth-related crime, the establishment of an Internet Crime Investigative Force, a renewed commitment that doubled our homeland security efforts, a proactive program designed to actively apprehend offenders with outstanding warrants in order to reduce recidivism, and the development of several partnerships with local service and mental health agencies to better address the needs of our clients.
These initiatives, coupled with the hard work of the entire police force, is precisely what has kept our crime rate below that of similar sized cities in the country. Now, however, the very existence of these programs is in jeopardy. I feel as though we are being forced to return to a reactive order-maintenance department, where we will be simply responding to calls for service rather than providing community outreach and problem solving.
This has unfortunately transformed my job from researching and implementing quality police techniques, to one that is little more than ensuring that the overtime budget is in control. During my tenure as chief, our overtime has accounted for approximately 10 percent of our overall budget, well in line with accepted industry standards.
As such, I cannot help but feel that a significant portion of the anger over this budget has been unfairly placed solely on our department. To me the paradox of this situation is quite simple. The citizens of Stamford have received quality police services for the investment they have made in our department.
Has not everyone come out ahead?