In our last article about the current iteration of the Board of Selectmen’s 2024-2025 budget, we talked mostly about roads. Still, the Department of Public Works (DPW) wasn’t the only department at the meeting looking to make a case for its budget requests. Resident Trooper Joe Strogoff was at the meeting to discuss the Police Protection budget.
As it stood at the February 8, 2024, meeting, the budget request for police protection came in at $906,734, representing a 7.98% increase from the 2023-2024 approved budget of $839,745. This number, however, did not include the budget for another trooper, which Trooper Strogoff would like.
Currently, the department consists of five full-time officers, including the School Resource Officer Earl Middleton, who works school hours. No full-time officer is assigned to night shifts, though Troop C responds to calls in town during those hours.
When asked about how many calls for police are made overnight, Trooper Strogroff said peak call volume is around 9 a.m., during the morning commute, and that the night shift tends to be quieter.
While hiring another town police officer is possible, Trooper Strogoff said hiring another resident trooper is more cost-effective. A state police trooper comes with a gun, a car, and a replacement when that trooper goes on vacation or gets sick. He also pointed out that any trooper who applies for a resident position in Stafford is likely to be younger and on the lower end of the pay scale.
Selectman Rick Hartenstein asked if there was any benefit to putting a cadet through training, but with high attrition rates in the academy and no clear career advancement path in Stafford, Trooper Strogroff said it was risky to do so.
The added position still is not in the requested budget, but Trooper Strogoff said several times that he would not be doing his job if he did not advocate for what he thought was necessary to continue providing Stafford with an appropriate level of police protection.
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