A big part of the Danbury Police Department budget is for overtime.  Chief Patrick Ridenhour says staffing shortages can drive overtime, but there is also contractual minimums on the number of cars on the road.  He says regardless of how many officers are available, there's always going to be the minimum number of cars on the streets.  Ridenhour recently changed the overtime slips to get a better idea of if the hours are contractual or discretionary.

Danbury has three officers in the academy right now, scheduled to graduate in June.  They then have to go through 10 weeks of field training.  The one retirement in March will be replaced by an officer coming from another department.  But that candidate needs to go through three to six weeks of field training.

Ridenhour told a committee of the City Council that he is looking for other ways to train candidates, not on the city's dime.  He's talked with other chiefs about getting candidates through the education portion of their training, at no cost to the municipality.  But he says there's some resistance because smaller departments only hire one or two officers a decade.

The Danbury Fire Department lowered the salary of probationary firefighters, adding a new step to the contract during negotiations.  People going through the academy are paid less that firefighters on the job.  There's also a new 1-year probationary period, from the time firefighters first go on shift, at the lower pay rate.  In the event they don't work out during that year, they are terminated. 

Chief TJ Wiedl says there are still people not qualified to be firefighters for the City of Danbury, even though they pass tests and make it through the academy.  Unlike the Police Department, there is no lateral transfer from one municipality to another for fire departments.