Due to a lack of police officers in Wilton, calls for services increased in 2023

WILTON – The city police’s 2023 annual report broadly suggests that a smaller force gets more work done more efficiently, according to Deputy Police Chief Robert Cipolla.

One of the most telling results is a significant reduction in car crashes, Cipolla said. Officer-initiated 911 calls have increased, while the police force is five officers short of its budgeted maximum of 45 officers – an issue that both the deputy police chief and the First Selectwoman say they are prioritizing.

In 2022, there were 463 car accidents in Wilton, and in 2023 the number dropped by 77 to 386 accidents. In an interview in January, when Wilton police still had 41 officers, Cipolla attributed the lower number of accidents to increased enforcement.

Police conducted 4,077 traffic stops in 2022, and that number rose to 4,747 in 2023. As the number of accidents decreased over the two-year period, traffic stops increased.

Now the force has one less officer.

Aside from the accident data, Cipolla said, the 911 calls clearly show that officers are becoming more proactive year after year. Either citizens or officers can initiate a 911 call.

In 2023, 6,934 emergency calls were received from citizens, 39 fewer than in 2022. The remaining 7,395 of the total 14,329 emergency calls were initiated by officers.

While the number of total calls for service increased by 5 percent from 2022 to 2023, Wilton officers did much of the work: The number of calls made by officers (6,714) in 2022 increased by 10 percent in 2023.

“Officers found time to be more proactive in their duties,” Cipolla said.

Toni Boucher, First Selectwoman of the House, praised the department’s efforts in policing the community.

“They’ve really focused on really good processes and control,” Boucher said. “I think it’s showing some great results.”

Six months into 2024, with only 40 officers on duty, Cipolla said a strong force will help the department continue the good work.

“First and foremost, we want to increase our workforce,” said Cipolla. “We are currently in a hiring process.”

The new officers could be lateral entrants from other police departments in Connecticut or other states, or they could be fresh out of the Connecticut Police Academy, depending on how many positions Wilton can secure, Cipolla said.

Boucher agreed that it was critical to add more staff to the city’s police department.

“They are five officers short and we need to make sure we have an intensive recruitment effort so we can provide them with the additional resources they need,” the First Selectwoman said.

An understaffed police force drives up overtime costs and forces officers to work longer shifts than planned, Cipolla said.

A strong police force is needed to address those staffing issues, he said, and to address the need for housing projects that would increase traffic in the city, Boucher said.

The department’s clearance rate also generally exceeded that of the state, according to the annual report. The clearance rate is the proportion of crimes known to police that are solved compared to all crimes known to police.

The report says that Wilton’s crimes against the person clearance rate – usually through arrests – has risen to 83 percent. The statewide clearance rate is 61.5 percent.

The officers were able to solve 80 percent of the “crimes against society,” which also include drug and gambling offenses. Across the entire state, the clearance rate is around 65 percent.

Officers in Wilton solved about 15 percent of property crimes, while the statewide clearance rate is about 12 percent.

However, property crimes in Wilton saw a sharp increase of 19.4 percent in 2023. Within property crimes, there was an increase in motor vehicle thefts from seven in 2022 to 16 in 2023 – there was one additional attempted motor vehicle theft, Cipolla said.

Cipolla said this is consistent with trends in the state. Boucher agreed. Many of these thefts are committed by the state’s juveniles, they said – a problem documented throughout Connecticut.

“In 2023, we began to see an increase in auto thefts in August when we had (6) vehicles stolen during the month,” the deputy chief said in an email. “The increase in auto thefts and thefts from vehicles began across the state toward the end of 2016 and continues to this day. While this is not always the case, the offenders we identify are often juveniles.”

In 2022, there were 27 thefts from vehicles, and in 2023 that number rose by about 67 percent to 45, the reports show.

Boucher said penalties for theft of a vehicle by a juvenile need to be increased.

“The system is now broken and needs to be fixed,” she said.