Malloy Proposal Would Eliminate Minimum Trooper Staffing Mandate [CT News Junkie]

Excerpted from a story on CT News Junkie: http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/malloy_proposal_would_eliminate_minimum_trooper_staffing/

Sen. Tony Guglielmo, R- Stafford Springs, a ranking member on the committee, said he would want to see the details of the proposal before he could sign on to it.

“A lot of study went in to the minimum originally in this committee and other public safety venues. I wouldn’t want to be changing that and make it some floating target depending on budget numbers because there are three things that state government aught to be doing, public education, public safety, and public health,” he said.

The Malloy administration has argued that the criminal justice necessities have changed since the mandate was passed in 1998.

Doba said FBI statistics put Connecticut’s crime rate at a 44-year low.
“There are many factors that contribute to the safety of our citizens, but an arbitrary statute mandating the minimum number of state troopers is not one of them. We know that crime is down across the country, and yet Connecticut appears to be the only state that has a staffing requirement like this on the books,” he said.

Doba defended Malloy’s criminal justice track record, which he said includes overseeing a 63 percent crime reduction in Stamford while he was mayor, making it one of the 10 safest cities in the country.