Police chief: Winsted is a dangerous place

WINSTED — The town is not a safe place to live in and is getting to be much more dangerous, according to Interim Police Chief Kevin Kinahan.

Kinahan spoke at a special Board of Selectmen’s meeting at Town Hall on Monday, Dec. 8.

He previously served as sergeant of the police force for several years until taking the interim position after former Chief Robert Scannell left in October to become the town manager of Watertown.

The meeting was held by the board to discuss strategic planning concerning the upcoming fiscal 2015-2016 budget.

At the meeting, the board heard from representatives from several town departments about their needs.

Kinahan did not mince words when he spoke about his department’s needs and the current situations of crime and safety facing the town. 

“I’ve heard a lot of things tonight and they are positive things about growth and development,” Kinahan said. “But back in September there was an article on Fairfield Patch that listed Winsted as the ninth most dangerous city in Connecticut. There are 169 towns in our state, and we were listed as number nine. You talk about how you are going to attract businesses, families and make this town grow. But I am hearing that we are number nine, right up there with Bridgeport, Torrington, Hartford and bigger urban areas. But this is Winsted, and we’re one of the most dangerous places in the state.”

“Do you believe that?” Selectman Steven Sedlack asked Kinahan.

“Statistically, I believe it,” Kinahan said. “We don’t have drive-by shootings. We don’t have some of the things that they have in the bigger urban areas. But I can tell you for a size of the town that we are, we have had three serious stabbings this year. We had one shooting that may turn out to be a homicide. We are still waiting to hear on the forensic exam on that particular case.”

Kinahan said he could not go into detail about the investigation surrounding the shooting case.

“Do you think the Fairfield Patch knows Winsted?” Selectman Glenn Albanesius asked Kinahan.

“They are getting their information from state statistics and from statistics that we file,” Kinahan said. “I don’t believe that they are making it up. Even being in the top 10, or the top 20, is a concern. I have friends who are in the state’s narcotics [enforcement] and Torrington narcotics [enforcement]. The information they are getting is that if you want to sell drugs and get away with it, you come to Winsted.”

Kinahan said the problems facing the police department include a lack of manpower and infrastructure.

“When I was hired in 1989 we had 25 officers,” Kinahan said. “We are now down to 16. I don’t count because I’m the interim chief. We are way down in our numbers. That does translate. People in the illicit drug trade communicate. There is a lot of communication going on between Torrington and Winsted. A lot of the things we have seen happen have had some sort of connection to Winsted. We had a homicide in Wolcott, and the person was arrested in Winsted. The individual that just committed a murder in Torrington had a connection to Winsted. Certainly, there is activity in this town we have to be concerned about.”

Kinahan said he gives the town’s police force a “great deal of credit” despite the situations facing the town.

“They are all working in some pretty terrible conditions,” he said. “We have to watch out when we walk outside [of police headquarters in Town Hall] because there are bricks falling off of the building. Two months ago we had a septic tank blow up in our locker rooms. We had water and fecal material floating in the locker rooms, and these men and women come to work every day.”

Kinahan said that the turnover rate at the police department has been high in recent years.

“They make $5,000 to $10,000 more at other departments,” he said. “They get brand new equipment and everything they could ever think of at other departments. Meanwhile, our guys here are doing an outstanding job with minimal equipment and under some conditions that are deplorable. When you go into the locker room and your shoes are covered with this brown, icky water that smells like the sewage treatment plant on North Main Street. I don’t know a lot of people who would continue to work here, so I give them all a great deal of credit  for the job they are doing.”

Kinahan said that he understands that the department will not get a new police station anytime in the future due to the town’s budget constraints.

“We would like one, but we understand that it’s not going to happen,” he said. “What we need are the basic tools to get the job done for the town. It’s for the people in this town that the police exist, for their safety and well being.”

Kinahan said that he hopes to get a police resource officer back into the school district.

“With all of the problems in the schools, not just in our state but across the country, we really see a value of having a resource officer and the D.A.R.E. program,” he said. “Not only does it make the learning environment safer, but it really builds some good relationships in the future between the police and young people. That helps the town 10 years down the road.”

Kinahan said that the department will be making budgetary requests for body cameras for police officers, dashboard cameras for the department’s police cars and a new computer system to keep records.

“We understand the town’s problems,” Kinahan said. “But you have to fund us, too. Because if you don’t, bad things happen. Liabilities are a direct result of inadequate funding, training and equipment. We are just asking for the stuff we need to do the job efficiently and effectively.”

Later on in the meeting, Town Clerk Sheila Sedlack spoke about the town’s crime problem.

“There was a time where we had an undercover agent,” Sedlack said. “They made a difference, but I saw that cut out of the budget. They made a difference with the drug problem but now he’s gone. We never filled the position. Being a walker, I do not feel as safe walking on our streets as I did nine years ago. Things have changed.”

Sedlack said she once had to deal with a man in her office who was drunk.

“I could smell it,” Sedlack said. “I called the police downstairs. They had nobody [to respond]. They were all out on urgent calls, and they had nobody. I got the license plate [of the car the man was driving]. I got a call back [from the department] 15 to 20 minutes later asking for the plate number. I’m sure the driver ended up quite a ways from Town Hall, and there was no way to stop him.”