Police Department
Monthly Report
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Police Department |
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James L. Cetran
Chief of Police
The Administrative Services Bureau assisted with the planning and preparation of National Night Out. This event was held on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at Millwoods Park. The event was held with personnel from the Town of Wethersfield Parks & Recreation Department, Office of the Fire Marshal, Social & Youth Services and the Wethersfield Volunteer Ambulance Association. Several hundred residents of all ages attended and had the opportunity to meet representatives from the above departments as well as persons from the Wethersfield Police Department Patrol Division, Motorcycle Unit, Canine Unit, Capitol Region Emergency Services Team and Police Explorers.
On August 12, 2008 at about 4:10 AM a patrol officer was dispatched to a Main Street address on a burglar alarm. In the area of the residence, the officer saw a lone male walking on Main Street. Due to the alarm, the officer spoke to the male. Although the male was holding a set of keys in his hands, he told the officer he was waiting for a ride. A short time later, one of the officers who responded to the alarm found an unoccupied vehicle in the area with extensive damage. The officer also found a damaged utility pole and believed that this damaged vehicle had damaged the utility pole. A check of the vehicle's registered owner's home address showed it to be the same address of the male who was just found in the area on foot. The officers again found this male this time as a passenger in a car driving away from the area. When the vehicle was stopped, the male admitted to driving the car into the utility pole. He fled the scene because he did not want to get arrested. The male was placed under arrest and charged appropriately.
On August 20, 2008 a patrol officer went to the home of a Wethersfield resident who was wanted on three separate Failure to Appear in Court arrest warrants. The resident was not home. Shortly after, the male arrived at Police Headquarters inquiring why an officer was at his home. The male was placed under arrest and later transported to court.
In August, 2008 members of the Detective Division initiated or were assigned follow-up to thirty-three new cases. Major case investigations include five burglaries, four frauds, six larcenies, three forgeries and two counterfeiting cases. Detectives also continue to perform town background investigations and backgrounds for pistol permit applicants.
The Detective Division has also been assigned to investigate two separate incidents involving counterfeiting. In August, 2008 counterfeit bills were passed at a commercial business located on the Silas Deane Highway as well as at a State of Connecticut agency located in Wethersfield.
During the month of August, 2008 members of the Detective Division were assigned to investigate five burglaries. Several of the burglaries contained evidence at the scene to indicate that the same person(s) committed these burglaries. All of these burglaries were residential locations.
The first day of school at Wethersfield High School was the week of August 25, 2008. On Monday, August 25, 2008 the School Resource Officer (SRO) attended the parent's orientation of freshman students. The SRO described for these parents his role as both a police officer and a school administrator at the Wethersfield High School.
In August, 2008 the SRO covered five incidents which all resulted in CAD entries and four incident reports. These cases involved three larcenies and one narcotics incident. The narcotics incident resulted in one arrest.
In August, 2008 Wethersfield dispatchers received and handled 854 E-911 emergency phone calls.
Wethersfield dispatchers dispatched the Wethersfield Volunteer Ambulance to thirty-five medical emergencies and Aetna Ambulance to 200 medical emergencies for a total of 235 medical emergencies.
In August, 2008 there were forty-eight calls involving animal control issues. Of those calls, fourteen were handled by an animal control officer and thirty-four were handled by police officers.
In August, 2008 fourteen persons were taken into custody and held requiring 256 hours of incarceration. Of the persons held, ten were arrested by warrant. Support Services personnel transported fourteen prisoners to court. Transported to court were eleven males and three females.
On Wednesday, August 6, 2008 members of the Capitol Region Emergency Services Team (CREST) began attending monthly two-day training.
On Friday, August 8, 2008 an officer attended a one day training class entitled "Capitol Region Emergency Services (CREST) Hostage Negotiator Training."
On Thursday, August 14, 2008 a dispatcher attended a one day recertification class entitled "NCIC/ COLLECT Recertification Training." Training was held at the Connecticut State Police Complex, Meriden, CT. This class is a recertification class for persons presently certified on the NCIC/ COLLECT computer system. Recertification is for a period of two years.
On Monday, August 18, 2008 the SRO began attending a five day training class entitled "Police / School Campus Safety Program." Training was held at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT. Objectives of this course included developing strategies for safe schools, legal issues in schools and safety planning. This training was conducted by Fox Valley Technical College through the Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Costs for this course, including lodging, were funded by the OJJDP, saving the department over $1,100 in tuition and lodging costs.
On Wednesday, August 20, 2008 a lieutenant and a sergeant attended a one day training class entitled "Motor Vehicle Enforcement Seminar: Towing Training." Training was held at the Connecticut Police Academy, Meriden, CT. Objectives of this class included consensual and non-consensual tows, statutes and regulations, hearings and compliance and wrecker issues. On Monday, August 25, 2008 three officers attended a second session of this course.
On Tuesday, August 26, 2008 a detective and an officer attended one day "CREST- Dive Team" training. This training is conducted on a monthly basis with several other area law enforcement agencies that comprise CREST. This month's activities included dives in Glastonbury, CT.
Support Service Bureau officers continue to address citizen complaints involving traffic, parking violations and other motor vehicle violations. Citizens regularly complain of a variety of different violations on various town streets and several town schools. To address these complaints, officers performed selective enforcement at numerous locations throughout town. Officers performed selective enforcement sixty times and spent a total of thirty-eight hours doing selective enforcement on various city streets.
The Support Services Bureau Commander continues to receive requests for added or replacement road signs. The following work orders were completed in August 2008; replace faded "No Parking Here to Corner" sign near 106 Griswold Road, replace faded Stop Sign on Dorlen Circle at Griswold Road, replace faded Stop Sign on Eastern Drive at Crest Street, trimmed trees along north lane of Great Meadow Road between the north driveway of 100 Great Meadow Road and the stop sign at the intersection with Burbank Road and replace the 25 MPH limit sign on Eastern Drive with a 30 MPH sign just south of Crest Street. The correct speed limit on Eastern Drive is 30 MPH.
Members of the Wethersfield Police Department assigned to the Capital Region Emergency Services Team (C.R.E.S.T.) will be participating in the 3rd annual Connecticut SWAT Challenge scheduled for September 9, 10, 11, 2008. This event is the premiere showcase for all Northeast Regions SWAT teams. The winner of the event gains entry into the world SWAT Challenge.
Classroom and range qualifications under provisions of the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 (HR218) for WPD Retirees is scheduled for September, 2008.
Annual Arrest & Control, ASP, Handcuffing, Taser, Use of Force and Pursuit Policy review training is scheduled for the end of September and beginning of October, 2008.
In August, 2008 police personnel were dispatched to a total of seventy-seven alarms at sixty-four separate locations. This includes thirty-four alarms at non-residential locations, thirty-five alarms at residential locations and eight from a Town or State owned facility. Twenty-four locations were billed this month for violating the false alarm ordinance and fines were appropriately charged.
Twenty new or alarm renewal registrations were received from residents / businesses in the month.
A total of 1,130 alarm permits are currently on file with the Police Department. During the month, 1,066 locations did not have a false alarm relating to a 94% compliance rate.
The following are the burglary and robbery statistics for the month of August, 2008 along with comparative statistics for the same period last year. The figures in the parenthesis represent the number of cases cleared by arrest or in which the perpetrators have been identified.
| Criminal Activity | August 2007 | August 2008 |
|---|---|---|
| Residential Burglaries | 3 (0) | 5 (0) |
| Commercial Burglaries | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Armed Robberies | 2 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Strong-arm Robberies | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
