Nearly half of state troopers could retire in next 4 years

HARTFORD — Facing already depleted ranks, state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner designee James Rovella told legislators Thursday that nearly half of the 915 state troopers will be eligible to retire by 2023.

“Realistically, we are having trouble retaining and recruiting troopers,” Rovella told members of the Legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee during a public hearing.

Of the 915 sworn troopers, including sergeants and command staff, an average of 60 are either out on workers compensation, illness or for other issues or are on light duty at any given time, Rovella said.

He conceded that the 45 recruits currently in the police academy will not even come close to making up the shortfall in the number of troopers who are out or who are likely to retire by July.

The agency budgets for 65 troopers to retire annually, but the number of retirements usually ranges between 70 to 80 a year, Rovella said. DESPP has been making up the shortfall with overtime, he said, which requires a balancing act that takes into account the amount it would cost to hire new troopers with benefits.

The “915 sworn personnel is certainly not enough,” Rovella said. “When we look at attrition numbers, we’re down by almost 300 officers.”

The State Police is one of six divisions within DESPP, now headed by Rovella, who is expected to formally be confirmed as Commissioner of the agency in the new few weeks.

Rovella testified before the committee against HB 5279, a bill proposed by committee member Rep. Linda Orange, D-Colchester, that would have again set the minimum number of sworn state troopers to 1,248. Orange’s proposal would have put the number of troopers required back to the level it was in 2001 under a previous law that was eliminated in 2012 by former Gov. Dannel Malloy. The mandate was a response to the murder of Heather Messenger.

“Maintaining adequate troopers staffing is one of my top priorities in the department,” Rovella said in his written testimony submitted to the committee. “With that said, I do not believe legislation is necessary to define a minimum number of sworn state police personnel. Having flexibility with staffing levels ensures the agency is operating as effectively and efficiently as possible. We currently have a trooper class scheduled to graduate in May, and I am working with the Office of Policy and Management to secure future classes.”

The state police have an active candidate list of 83, but none have taken the entry level test or gone through background checks, Rovella said. “We expect to offer a test soon,” he said. But not soon enough, according to Sen. Catherine Osten, DSprague. “We are close to almost a crisis level,” Osten said. Rovella countered that the agency “was managing the troops” by balancing shortages with overtime.

“We need to start filling positions,” Osten said. “If you don’t get a class in the academy right away, it will take at least nine months after you get people hired to get them on the street.”

In recent weeks, DESPP has confirmed that the agency has an 18-month to twoyear backlog in filling Freedom of Information requests, which was created by staffing shortages. Rovella also said when he took over as commissioner of the agency about five weeks ago, he immediately noticed there was an 18,000 gun paperwork backlog in entering the weapons into the state’s system for tracking gun sales. The backlog had been reduced to 5,000 guns three weeks later after Rovella instructed staff to put more people on the task.

Rovella said after his testimony that the state needed a “robust” recruiting effort, “which is a challenge nationwide.”

Rovella also testified that the study of how to detect if drivers were impaired by marijuana — HB 5152, proposed by Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton — was probably unnecessary. If marijuana legalization passes this legislative session, Rovella hopes to have at least half of all troopers certified as Drug Recognition Experts through a two-week intensive course, which already includes methods of detecting impaired drivers. It would also require more funding.

A dozen troopers already have the certification, but if the Legislature decides to legalize marijuana, “I’ll need prep time and resources,” Rovella said.