Police in Stamford say they received orders to refrain from responding to non-emergency calls within the last 45 minutes of their shifts.

The order, they say, is designed to prevent police officers from receiving overtime pay during tough economic times.

Mayor Dan Malloy requested the department cut $1.5 million starting back in July. The budget constriction has led to orders like this one and has some residents worried their safety will suffer.

Police say non-emergency calls are defined as non-life threatening situations, but the president of the Stamford Police Association, Joseph Kennedy, is concerned that ignoring any situation may have negative results.

"By not responding you don't see what's happening in the mean time," Kennedy says. "The mean time is a minimum of 45 minutes. That's a long time to let things fester."

Malloy says public safety will not suffer from this order, but money will be saved. According to him, if a police officer works just one minute of overtime, he or she is compensated with four hours of pay.