The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
12th officer joins force, enters academy
PORTLAND » The police department has reached its newly authorized full strength for the first time following the hiring of a 12th officer.
Citing growth in town — and a desire to reduce a dependence on overtime — the Board of Selectmen last year authorized an expansion of the department with the mid-year hiring of a 12th officer.
Joshua Bailey, 27, has now been hired to fill that position. Bailey was sworn in at a ceremony in the Buck-Foreman community room earlier this month. He entered the Municipal Police Academy in Meriden the very next day.
Bailey will remain in the academy until the completion of his training cycle in early January, Lt. Ron Milardo said Wednesday. Once he graduates from the academy, Bailey will be paired with Officer Paul Liseo for a 10-week field training officer program.
The FTO program teaches a new officer the Portland Police Department’s procedures while it also helps the new officer become familiar with the town. The process also enables the training officer to gauge how the new officer is adapting to the procedures and when the new officer will be ready to begin regular patrols on his/ her own.
Bailey is married and the father of two children. He graduated from Middlesex Community College in Middletown with an associate’s degree in criminal justice. He had been working for Northeast Beverage Corporation of Connecticut while he waited for the opportunity to pursue a career in law enforcement.
“We initially thought we were going to go with a certified officer,” Milardo said.
A certified officer is one who has served in another police department and who has retired but wants to continue in law enforcement or has decided to move on to a new department.
Portland has two certified officers who began new careers with the department — Liseo and Fran Ahlquist — both of whom had previously served on the Middletown police force.
Milardo did not identify the officer who had applied to come to work in Portland — or which department the officer had served with.
What the lieutenant did say is the officer had changed his mind and decided not to join Portland police.
“We had a list (of candidates) from when we hired (Officer Ryan Bengston) last year and we went back and looked at it and Josh was on the list,” Milardo said. “We did the background (investigation) and it came back clean and we offered him the position, and we’re glad he took it. It’s nice to be up to full strength.”
“Choosing a new recruit for the police department is a time-consuming process,” First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield said Thursday. “But we believe we have a fine candidate in Joshua.”
The decision to hire a 12th officer was driven by two needs, Bransfield said.
“We wanted to make sure we have good coverage throughout the town and hopefully we can curtail the necessity for overtime,” she said. “If we’re understaffed and officers are on vacation or out sick or with an injury, then we have to cover those shifts with overtime. By adding a 12th officer, hopefully we won’t have to be relying so much on overtime.”