I am taking a break from the sign saga and posting a response I received today from Cheshire Police Chief Michael Cruess. I asked the Chief how many cars we are painting the new black and white colors, if we are going to bid and whether we are using money from the Police Gift Account that I had recently posted on my website or from the Police operating budget. We did briefly touch on the sign issue and the Chief was kind enough to set me straight on the correct State Statute regarding the posting of signs on telephone poles. I want to thank the Chief for his timely response. Anyone that knows me knows that I say what I have to say from my heart and then I move on. The Chief and I speak quite often and he knows I am interested in the operations of the Police Department. Here is the Chief’s response.

Cindy, we currently have two black and white cruisers that were purchased from the 07 budget. We have received very positive feedback on them. I have been authorized to purchase three vehicles within the 08 budget. These will be black and white. We will not be painting all the cars black and white but will attain this through attrition. I do have a white Ford Explorer which I may look to get painted as we would only need to paint a portion of this vehicle to make it consistent with our black and white scheme. I would use the request for quotation forms where we seek three quotes (as this would definitely be under the dollar amount required to bid). Depending on the cost we may or may not proceed. We recently received a Jeep Grand Cherokee at no cost seized from a drug dealer. This will replace the Honda Passport currently in our fleet (also seized from a drug case years ago) After minimal costs (from gift account) for minor repairs we will be seeking to have this vehicle painted black and white. This would be our DARE car. We would be seeking someone to paint it at a minimal or no cost. Should that not occur I would again use the request for quotation process. Most likely gift account money would pay for this paint job. As you have been interested in the past I just received from Ford aflyer stating that in the year 2008 they are offiering the Ford Crown Victorias (police cars) with E85 capability. We will be purchasing these flex fuel vehicles for our cruisers if possible.

As for the posting on poles issue I wanted to let you know that the statue mentioned is CT Statue 23-65(a). We always try to enforce all laws as evenly as possible. Not being a utopian state this does not always happen 100% of the time. After the newspaper articles I have noticed a drop in items on the poles. Voluntary compliance is always our goal and makes life a bit easier. We are hoping that those who have posted will voluntarily comply. If not we will contact those we can and the utility companies for the rest.

As I noticed in your blog you mentioned the letter we sent regarding voluntary compliance with people slowing down. Again we are aiming at voluntary compliance. Shortly we may be undertaking a “slow down” week (similar to a project in Norwalk) where after publicizing a slow down period we do a wave of enforcement in areas where we have experienced the highest number of speeding complaints. This is similar to the WAVE program and seatbelts. If you’d like I could e-mail you the press release when I put it out. Let me know. Thanks