Police Chief: Drug Trade is Booming

Windsor Police Chief Kevin Searles addressed the town council Monday night to propose the department's budget for fiscal year 2011-12, and provided an update on department practices and trends, including a rise in burglaries compared to 2010.

Burglaries in Windsor are up 111 percent in the first quarter of 2011 compared to to the first quarter of 2010, Searles said. The number of robberies committed has also increased from one in the first quarter of 2010 to four this year.

The majority of Burglaries, Searles said, have been committed by drug addicts, a trend in line with an increase in drug activity.

"The drug trade is booming," Searles reported.

"One of the most dangerous drugs in our country... is methamphetamine. We never saw it in our area until recently, but it has now started to invade our region in addition to the continued growth in use of heroine and cocaine," he said.

According to Searles, "the vast majority of burglaries are committed by drug addicts who use both heroine and cocaine." He also added that a number of burglaries are being committed by juveniles.

Windsor police have made more arrests of cocaine and heroine dealers than marijuana dealers for the first time, Searles said.

Along with a qualitative change in crimes being committed in town, the police department has taken to fighting crime in a different manner.

Searles reported Monday that property crimes have increased, giving officers "less time for self-initiated enforcement activity on day and evening shifts." As a result, he added, the department has been moving away from prevention efforts and in the direction of "response-oriented work."

Coucilor Randy McKenney expressed concern over the trend, saying "... that kind of bothers me because what it says to me is that therein lies the possibility that some crimes will start to go up."

Deputy Mayor Alan Simon was also taken aback by the chief's report, saying that the report was far more grim than a study of the departmen't efficiency conducted in 2010, which concluded that the department was efficient and maintained a relatively safe town.

Searles told the council that the changes in crime have taken place over the past few months, as opposed to the study, which used data compiled over a number of years.

Searles' budget presentation reflected a request for an increase of less than 1 percent. The increase ($61,000) is required for increased expenditures in the form of salaries and pensions, Searle's said.

To maintain a low increase in requested funds, the proposed budget calls for the elimination of one police officer position and one police cruiser, of which Town Manager Peter Souza and Deputy Mayor Alan Simon expressed approval due to current vacancies on the force.