Dozens of new CT state troopers graduate on Thanksgiving Eve
The 38 new troopers are helping chip away at a nearly 300-person deficit at Connecticut State Police. Higher pay is helping, but staffing challenges remain.
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Hitting the roads this Thanksgiving? If so, you might notice a shortage of Connecticut State Police.
The agency is still 300 troopers short of its goal.
But on Wednesday, dozens of new troopers graduated from the police academy – and even more are in the pipeline.
RECRUITING NEW TROOPERS
This holiday, 38 new troopers have something to be thankful for. After a grueling six months, they received their state police badges during a ceremony at Southern Connecticut State University.
“I wanted to help people and give back to the community,” said Trooper Abigail Lespier, who just graduated. "You do hear a lot and there are ups and downs, and things do make you nervous. But going through this academy, have to learn not to be nervous. You have to learn no fear.”
The state has struggled to recruit troopers, but higher pay and benefits are helping. Connecticut lawmakers approved a 4.5% salary increase earlier this year.
CSP is currently at 78% of its target – approximately 938 of 1,200 troopers.
"We have another class coming right behind them that begins in January. Our hope is that we can see at least 60 to 65 recruits in that class,” said Ronnell Higgins, commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. “The recruitment team is not only in the state of Connecticut, but in the surrounding states as well – on military bases, on college campuses, at HBCUs.”
CHALLENGES REMAIN
But Connecticut State Police face challenges.
In 2023, an audit flagged nearly 26,000 allegedly false traffic tickets. But later, an outside review cleared all but six troopers. The report concluded that most of the “ghost tickets” could be explained by sloppy data entry, poor training, technical issues and miscommunication by dispatchers. It said some of the stops were actually non-moving violations or “town tickets,” which do not appear in the Central Infractions Database.
“Overwhelming majority – almost all of them – were inadvertent problems, sloppiness,” Gov. Ned Lamont said after the report’s release.
But beyond that, the agency is facing a wave of retirements in February.
“There’s a lot of institutional knowledge that’s walking out the door,” said Higgins.
But new graduates said they’re ready for the challenge.
“It does make it a challenge that they're trying to staff up,” said Trooper Michael Johnson, of Tolland. “But at the same time, the prestige of the institution and the agency is drawing several recruits from all walks of life.”
The good news for Johnson? He doesn’t have to work the busy Thanksgiving holiday. Their new assignments start on Monday.
