WILMINGTON- The Wilmington Police Department has been awarded $197,044 in economic recovery funds under the federal Community Oriented Policing Services program.
Wilmington’s grant was one of 25 COPS grants in Vermont, totaling $5,045,045. The grants provide funding for a new full-time police officer for a period of three years, and covers expenses including training, salary, and benefits for the new officer. Under the program, towns receiving the grants are required to provide full funding for the officer hired under the program during the fourth year of the program.
Wilmington Police Chief Joe Szarejko says the additional officer will allow the department to spend more time in the schools, as well as offer the opportunity to schedule two officers on some shifts. “We respond to a lot of dangerous incidents every year where we really should have two officers,” Szarejko explains. “It will also free up our detective (Mark Denault) so he can do a little more proactive work rather than the reactive work that he ends up doing now. We’re excited to have the additional officer.”
Szarejko sought, and received, selectboard approval for his grant application in April. At the time, the grant and the additional officer were touted as a money-saving measure. During the three years of grant funding, the town would be able to reduce overtime as well as any additional dependence on part-time officers. Town Manager Bob Rusten estimated the additional officer would save at least $15,000 per year in local tax dollars. At the next Town Meeting, Rusten said voters would be asked to put the savings in a reserve fund so that there would be no tax increase during the officer’s town-funded fourth year. In the fifth year, the town would face the decision of keeping or eliminating the additional position.
Hiring a new COPS-funded officer won’t result in any significant or unforeseen costs, Szarejko says. “We have a pretty good inventory of equipment,” Szarejko says. “We have uniforms and radios to equip another officer. We’re not buying another police car.”
Szarejko also told board members that the additional officer would reduce overtime and stress on remaining personnel in the event that an officer leaves the department. Since then, officer Tyson Kinney has left after four years with the department, and Szarejko says the four full-time and two part-time police officers that remain will have to pick up the slack. “We still get the same number of calls when we’re down an officer, the work just gets spread out over fewer officers,” Szarejko says. “Some things may not get the attention they deserve. We may not be able to send people to training.”
The department has already started taking applications for Kinney’s position. Szarejko says the hiring process will be expanded to include two applicants, one for the vacant slot and one for the new position. But until the two new officers can go through the hiring process and complete their training, Szarejko says the department will depend on their part-time officers. He says the solution is less than ideal. “Part-time officers should be used to supplement our coverage, rather than fill shifts,” he says. “Their training is different.”
Senator Patrick Leahy was instrumental in securing the federal funding for the grants. Last March, Leahy and Governor Jim Douglas hosted two statewide conferences on the stimulus package that gave Vermont communities a leg up in applying for the COPS grants. In a press release announcing the grant recipients, Leahy noted that the grants will allow towns to maintain police protection despite falling state and local tax revenues during the current economic downturn. “This is a timely tonic to keep our streets and communities safer,” Leahy said. “It also is another dividend from starting early and pulling together as we have done ever since Vermont convened the first statewide conferences on the stimulus plan. Our law enforcement community has taken advantage of that head start.”
Other local grant recipients included the Windham County Sheriff’s Department, which received $318,600 for two additional deputies, and the Bennington County Sheriff’s Department, which received $142,773 to hire one additional deputy.
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