Ellington boosts budget for police patrols
The area has been hit hard by thefts of cars and catalytic converters
Ellington officials have boosted overnight police patrols to curb car and catalytic converter thieves, a persistent, costly and dangerous problem in town and throughout the state.
“We have heard loud and clear from residents and businesses concerned about car break-ins and costly catalytic converter thefts,” Deputy First Selectman David Stavens said Friday. “That’s why we are taking action now as well as adding resources to the proposed town budget to counter this troubling criminal trend.”
Resident trooper Sgt. Brian Santa said the increase in resources “allows us to strategically target and deter criminal activity in our community.”
First Selectwoman Lori Spielman said, “The increase in patrols adds another layer of deterrence against these opportunistic criminals.”
Catalytic converter thefts surged in the state and nation starting in early 2020 with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. Metals in the pollution scrubbing devices are worth hundreds of dollars on resale.
In Connecticut, teams of thieves equipped with jacks and electric saws have cut the devices from cars, buses and commercial trucks. Last year, converters were stolen from 28 parked school buses in Trumbull — knocking out the entire fleet. The damage reached about $75,000 because each bus was equipped with two converters.
In Windsor Locks over the past year, police say thieves have sawed 26 converters from just one company’s trucks. Det. Sgt. Jeff Lampson said the cost to residents and businesses in town is “well into the six figures,” not just in repair bills and insurance deductibles, but also in lost business due to hobbled vehicles.
Windsor Locks police union president, Sgt. James Gustafson,
two other dogs. The home was in poor condition with dog feces on the floors, police said.
While officers were checking the house, the mother of the child, Amanda Milligan, returned and asked why police were at her home, police said. Told that her son was found wandering outside, Milligan, 28, said she had left him alone to go to Petco “because he was fine watching TV,” according to police, and she thought her husband was on his way home. Milligan said she found that Petco was closed, so she stopped at a gas station, then drove home, police said.
The father of the child, an active-duty U.S. Marine, was contacted immediately and drove home from work in New Haven. He told officers that he was supposed to work all night and had told Milligan that he would not be home, police said.
Milligan was arrested on a risk of injury to a minor charge and released after posting a $1,500 bond. The state Department of Children and Families was notified and began an investigation, police said.