Conn. State Police Makes Recruitment Push with Possible Loss of 20% of Force by 2027

Faced with potentially losing up to nearly 20% of its workforce due to retirements in the next two years, the Connecticut state police has launched a major recruiting drive to replenish its ranks.

Nearly 175 troopers will become eligible to retire by December 2027, including 88 who will become eligible in less than two months.

Recruiting has become particularly difficult in the post-pandemic world following the death of George Floyd while handcuffed in police custody in Minneapolis in May 2020. Fewer young people are interested in police work, and the total number of applicants has dropped across the country.

State Public Safety Commissioner Ronnell Higgins, a longtime police veteran, is particularly concerned about refilling his ranks.

“This is a national problem,” Higgins told The Courant in an interview. “This isn’t just a Connecticut state police problem. It isn’t just a problem for municipal police in Connecticut. We are all competing for a shrinking pool of candidates. So why is that? It is a fact that there has been less interest in law enforcement as a career due to scrutiny and accountability since George Floyd. More burnout. More stress on the job because there aren’t enough police officers.”

He added, “Accountability and scrutiny, that comes with the job. We’re now appealing to a smaller group of young people who also lived through the pandemic and 2020, and so their experiences on what they’ve been exposed to have influenced their decisions as to whether or not they want to join.”

Gyms, college and military bases

The recruiting now requires more outreach than in the past, compared to the days when the applications were opened and huge numbers immediately applied for the job

“We have to not only go to where young people are, whether it’s on social media or on their campus,” Higgins said. “But we also have to be mindful of the ability of other people around younger people to influence them. So we not only have to reach young people, but we have to reach their influencers as well.”

The recruiting now is done on a daily basis with multiple troopers involved. In a period of only four days in early November, troopers visited 15 Planet Fitness workout outlets across the state from Groton, Branford, and Guilford to Meriden, New Britain and Torrington. The force is looking for young, physically fit troopers who can perform many tasks and chase suspects if necessary in a foot race under difficult conditions that could involve jumping over fences.

Besides the gymnasiums, the troopers went looking for prospects at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, the Fort Drum Army Base in upstate New York, St. Michael’s College in Vermont, and Springfield College and Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts, among others. They also recruit at HBCUs, which are historically Black colleges and universities that are identified by the federal government.

“It’s like the U.S. military now, the way that we recruit,” Higgins said. “This is a year-round endeavor. They’re out and about, not just in Connecticut. They’re all up and down the East Coast … They are everywhere, all the time.”

The wild card in the situation involves trying to determine which troopers will retire and at what point. Even though they are eligible, some troopers decide to remain on the force for several years after their retirement eligibility, based on their personal circumstances. The particular troopers involved in the next two years are able to retire after 20 years because they were “grandfathered in” before the law was changed to require 25 years of service to receive full retirement benefits.

While declining to provide details because the plan is not finalized, Higgins said he and his top brass are considering potential ways to offer incentives to entice the senior officers to stay a few years longer and ensure a smooth transition.

History

Staffing in the state police has been an issue for years, dating back to different commissioners and governors.

The uniformed force in the state police is now about 950, down sharply from a former state minimum of 1,248 troopers. The legislature placed the 1,248 total into state law, but the mandate was stripped out by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration in a budget-implementation bill. The total of troopers peaked at 1,283 under Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell more than 15 years ago, and the number has dropped below 900 at times due to retirements.

“I need every bit of 1,200 troopers,” Higgins said.

Among the biggest issues in enforcement is that the state police have about 300 fewer troopers than in the past, and a specialized traffic unit in 2024 had 15 members when compared to 62 in 2018.

The numbers were boosted recently with a new class of troopers, and then another class will start at the training academy in January with the goal of having 65 new recruits. One of the problems is many candidates get weeded out with background checks and rigorous training.

With the large number of potential retirements in 2027, Higgins said, “That concerns me. We still need to be able to provide services on our highways and in our resident troop towns. We need to be able to be responsive in those situations where local law enforcement or the state’s attorney’s office calls upon us to take over an investigation. We’re continuing to reduce highway fatalities.”

He added, “We have to continue to replenish the ranks. That is a serious matter.”

Overtime

With fewer troopers than are needed, the overtime costs through the years have skyrocketed. An audit by the state auditors showed that some troopers were working extensive hours that are far beyond the average worker.

Statistics from the state comptroller’s office show that the state spent $378 million for overtime during the 2024 calendar year across nearly 50 departments in state government. The highest amounts were in the state prison system with $113 million in overtime, followed by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services at $62 million and the state police at $60 million, according to the records.

Among the top 25 individuals with the most overtime, 17 work for the state police, while six work in mental health facilities. Including their base salaries, the top five overtime employees last year received total compensation of more than $380,000 each. The highest-paid was a state police dog handler, who received $439,000 overall, including the highest amount of overtime at $303,000. Through the years, he has handled dogs that search for fleeing suspects and missing persons at all hours of the day and night.

The state legislature voted in 2023 for a new, four-year contract that provides annual pay raises for troopers because many would-be troopers have been recruited by municipal police departments. With the state police lagging behind some other departments, the trooper trainee salaries were increased by 35% over several years. The trainees earlier this year were earning $67,279, up from $50,000 in the past.

State Rep. Greg Howard, a Stonington Republican who serves on the public safety and judiciary committees, said the departure of a large number of troopers would represent a huge blow for the state police.

“It’s more than a lot of people. It’s a lot of experience,” Howard told The Courant in an interview. “You retire something like 3,500 years of collective experience, and you brought in zero. That’s not the same. That’s not even close. It’s a huge problem.”

The state, he said, could solve much of the recruiting problem by making changes to the police accountability law that was passed following the death of Floyd. Republicans, including Howard, said the bill went too far, but the measure was passed by the Democratic majorities in both chambers and signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont.

One of the potential changes, he said, is to arrange an appeal process in “qualified immunity” — a highly controversial topic that allows civil lawsuits against individual police officers for misconduct. Republicans and Democrats disagree sharply about the impact of the law in a controversy that has lasted for years. In addition, Howard said another complaint by police is the portion of the law that prevents officers from searching the cars and frisking the occupants of cars stopped solely for motor vehicle violations.

The recruiting problems, he said, would partly disappear if state officials “reverse course on the disparagement of this profession.”

A 23-year veteran of the Stonington police department, Howard said that he plans to retire when he reaches 25 years. He knew exactly that he is 1 year, 9 months and 20 days away from retirement.

A common sentiment among some police officers in Connecticut, he said, is the lack of encouragement when approached by a young person thinking of joining the profession. A common response to a potential recruit, he said, is “find something else to do. Don’t do it. Or go to Rhode Island or go to Massachusetts. Do not be a police officer in this state.”

Known for his outspokenness, Howard said that many police officers prefer to remain publicly silent about the problems because they do not want to upset the apple cart.

“A lot of police chiefs want to play nice in the sand box,” Howard said. “They’ll tell me behind closed doors that you’re right, but we can’t say it out loud. Well, who is going to? What are we doing? … You can’t stand there, and say, ‘Look, I’m a police officer and I’m willing to risk my life every day, but I’m not going to say something that might upset somebody and cause me grief. Give me a break. I don’t want to hear it.”

State Rep. Tammy Nuccio, whose daughter is a trooper, voted in favor of the state police contract on the House floor earlier this year after voting against the measure at the committee level.

The top concern for troopers, Nuccio said, is not their salaries but instead is being able to do their jobs properly. That includes having more freedom to chase suspects in their cars and to perform “consent searches” that were restricted in the police accountability bill after the death of George Floyd, Nuccio said.

“I’ve talked to a lot of troopers in my time, and I will tell you this — not a single one of them says the way to go out and recruit more people to be troopers is a 2.5% wage increase,” Nuccio said on the House floor. “They want an accountable legal system that when they arrest somebody for crimes, they’re actually going to get prosecuted for it and put away for the amount of time that they should be so they’re not arresting the same people dozens of times.”

She said it is not fair to be “penalizing them for the actions of a terrible officer in Minneapolis.”

House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford, who voted against the pay raises,  questioned whether the raises are an effective recruitment tool because the work atmosphere is equally important.

“There’s no amount of pay that is going to be able to recruit more officers,” Candelora said. “Pay isn’t everything to individuals. It’s also the quality of the workplace.”

With overtime, many troopers are currently earning more than $175,000 per year, he said.

“So, why aren’t they able to recruit?” Candelora asked on the House floor. “We have tilted the scales on the side of the criminal. … I’m frustrated on this side of the aisle.”

Candelora added, “What they really need is our support. We need criminal justice reform."

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