NORWALK, CT—Rank and file officers at the city's short-staffed police department are being exhausted by mandatory overtime assignments at local schools, according to Lt. David O'Connor, president of Police Union Local 1727.
Mayor Harry Rilling directed the police department late last month to station an officer at every school for the remainder of the academic year in response to a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Department officials have been asking officers to sign up for the positions, but are also redeploying officers and requiring them to work overtime shifts when enough do not volunteer.
In an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group, O'Connor warned the mandatory assignments are tiring out officers who already feel overburdened by a growing workload.
"It's exhausting and it's a little demoralizing," O'Connor said. "It's very difficult to plan your private life when you don't know if you're going home at the end of the shift or if you're going to get held over."
Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik has said the department is using overtime spending for the assignments due to a shortage of available officers.
With several unfilled positions and multiple ongoing police academies, the force is effectively short about 20 of its 181 sworn officers.
But Kulhawik said the department has faced no significant challenges finding officers to safeguard schools over the last two weeks. The overtime assignments are expected to end when the school year concludes next Friday.
"I have not seen any issues and generally the school positions have been getting filled," he said in an email.
Sandra Faioes, the schools system's assistant superintendent of business and operations, said the officers have been stationed outside the buildings and are providing surveillance during the school day.
In addition to establishing a presence at the city's 18 high, middle and elementary schools, officers have also been assigned to the Early Childhood Education Center and the NPS Family Center.
Department officials have said the force is on the path to ending the officer shortage. They recently recruited new classes of entry-level officers and hired out-of-town officers with past experience in law enforcement.
Still, officials have said it will likely be several weeks or months before the force significantly increases its staffing levels. O'Connor said the department is limiting compensatory time on the weekends to help manage the shortage.
Rilling has said he expects enough officers will come on board by September to return the School Resource Officer unit to full staffing. The nine-member unit was cut to just three officers during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the meantime, O'Connor said police are committed to protecting schools, but warned the mandatory assignments are stressful for officers. He said the physical and mental strain could lead them to consider leaving the force entirely.
"Once you burn somebody out, it's very difficult to reinvigorate them and give them enthusiasm about the job again," he said. "It takes a very long time to get that positive energy back."
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