This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

East Haven Wants to Hire Civilian Dispatcher To Cut Overtime

Civilian police dispatchers seen cutting overtime
By The Associated Press EAST HAVEN, CT (AP) -

East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. says he'd like to hire civilian police dispatchers to replace officers as overtime costs soar.

The New Haven Register reports that from August to October, patrolmen worked 777 overtime shifts equal to about $286,000 in pay.

Find out what's happening in Enfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Chief Brent Larrabee has said one driver for overtime costs is the $2.5 million consent decree between the town and the U.S. Department of Justice following the arrests of four officers over racial profiling allegations. The document outlines policies and practices to ensure bias-free policing.

About $900,000 of the cost of the consent decree is for overtime. Officers participating in consent decree training practices are paid a police wage.

Find out what's happening in Enfieldfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

In addition, the arrests of several officers and the officers' subsequent decisions to retire also have hampered manpower.

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?