The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper.
To the Editor:
Republican candidate for Frst Selectman of Killingworth, Mr. Lulaj, has suggested replacing Killingworth’s Resident State Trooper with contracted police services from Madison and possibly other surrounding towns.
Taking Madison as the example, I have a few questions:
- Mr. Lulaj suggests that the town would save money through such an arrangement. Why would we think that? Madison currently spends $188 per capita on police services; we spend under $40. I doubt Madison residents wish to subsidize Killingworth.
- Why does Mr. Lulaj think this arrangement would make us safer? Our property crime rate is currently less than half of Madison’s.
- How would we keep Madison politics from affecting Killingworth police activity?
Mr. Lulaj says that we have police services for only 8 hours a day. That is not the case. We have coverage by the Connecticut State Police 24/7.
We have close to 100 miles of roads in our town. When a response is required, a state trooper from a nearby town might well be closer to the event than any number of local police officers we might have.
In my experience, our state troopers provide Killingworth with a high level of intelligence, networking, professionalism, reliability, and independence from local politics.
Our crime rate is extraordinarily low. I would say that our participation in the Connecticut Resident State Trooper program is a bargain. First Selectwoman Cathy Iino has come to the same conclusion after discussions with Madison. Let’s not fix something that’s not broken.
Ben Charney
Resident of Killingworth
