Old Lyme brings in reinforcements in bid for police accreditation

Sep. 9—OLD LYME — The Board of Selectmen this week agreed to spend $19,500 to hire a law enforcement consultant to guide the town through a rigorous accreditation process meant to promote professionalism in policing.

The sweeping police accountability bill signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont in 2020 established a requirement that all law enforcement agencies be accredited through the state Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) Council or the nationally recognized Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The deadline for the first level of accreditation, known as tier one, is the end of this year.

Selectman Matt Ward, a retired Connecticut state trooper who has worked part time for the town police department, told his fellow selectmen "a lot of towns are scrambling to get help" with the laborious process now that they know they are responsible for their own accreditation.

Old Lyme is among the towns across the state that use the Connecticut State Police resident trooper program to oversee a force of local officers rather than operate as an independent force. In Old Lyme, Resident State Trooper Matt Weber is responsible for six constables with full police powers.

Other towns that use the program include Essex, Deep River and Chester.

Ward said officials in certain small towns found out only recently that the state police are not responsible for accreditation in resident state trooper towns. Language in the police accountability bill had led them to believe they could rely on the state police rather than conduct their own accreditation process.

First Selectman Tim Griswold on Friday acknowledged the police accountability law's intent to "increase professionalism and all that wonderful stuff."

"We thought initially we could utilize internal people to wade through it, but it became apparent it's more involved," he said.

Griswold described the accreditation process as another "unfunded mandate" inherent in the accountability law.

The expense comes after another requirement in the police accountability bill required the town to outfit its officers with body cameras. The Board of Finance in October 2020 authorized $15,000 from the police budget to be allocated toward eight body cameras and associated expenses. Griswold said officials more recently allocated $80,000 for the hardware and software necessary to process and store the data now that state police will not be providing that service as it had previously.

Digging deeper

Andretta Swift, owner of the Badge Six police accreditation consulting firm hired by the town, said in a phone interview the process is "much more intricate" than people originally expected.

"So now these small departments, who maybe only have a few officers, need to find a way to get this accreditation done within the bounds of the law," she said.

Swift was a Milford police officer for five years before being medically retired after an on-duty injury, according to her website. She said she brought the Milford department through its first CALEA accreditation process, which she said typically takes three years, in 10 months.

Swift's $19,500 quote also covers the second tier of the accreditation process, which is required by law to be completed next year. Tier one accreditation requires departments to show they meet 124 standards established under the police accountability law, while tier two adds 83 more standards.

The first tier addresses policies and procedures that need to be in place to make sure departments don't get sued, ranging from when to put someone in handcuffs to when to use deadly force.

"When there is litigation, these are the hot topic issues," she said.

The second tier requires agencies to put more plans in writing to streamline how the department operates internally, how officers interact with the community and how they recruit new members.

The third and final tier accreditation includes standards that "dig a little bit deeper" into the areas introduced in tier two, according to Swift.

State Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection data shows area towns that have received tier one accreditation so far are Groton City, New London and Waterford. East Lyme is the only department in the region with tier two accreditation.

East Lyme Police Department spent almost $25,000 on legal fees during its two-year, two-tier accreditation process as it worked with the Daigle Law Group, the police union and staff members to draft the policies and standards.

East Lyme is listed on the Sept. 14 agenda of the Police Officers Standards and Training Council to be authorized for tier three accreditation. If approved, it will be the first town in Eastern Connecticut to reach the milestone in state accreditation.

Old Lyme selectmen voted unanimously to approve Swift's $19,500 proposal in a motion that left open the possibility of authorizing another $5,000 at a later date for the final phase of the accreditation process.

Administrative assistant Katie Balocca, who coordinated the search, on Friday said Swift's name was "circling" as she looked into options within the law enforcement accreditation consulting community.

"I grabbed the name, Googled her, gave her a call, she came in and gave a presentation," Balocca said, citing attendance by Griswold, Ward, Weber and another Old Lyme police officer. Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said she was unable to attend.

Griswold said the town policy requiring multiple quotes or bids kicks in at $20,000.

He said Swift has also worked with departments in Derby, Brookfield and Ansonia on accreditation.

The Board of Finance will review the expenditure to determine funding sources on Sept. 19, Griswold said.

e.regan@theday.com