WILTON — Wilton Town Manager Perry Ellsworth, at his last Select Board meeting as town manger on Tuesday, Nov. 7, shared with the audience and selectpersons that the Wilton Police Department had an officer resign the same day. The officer joined Wilton PD mid-July and previously worked for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
Ellsworth continued to share an incident a Wilton resident had shared with him, in which the resident had called the Sheriff’s Office to report a speeding incident on Route 2 and was told the Sheriff’s Office does not provide coverage for towns that have a police department.
“I intend, not as a town manager but as a citizen, to be talking to other towns about [this incident],” he stated. “We ought to be getting a little more service.”
At the Select Board meeting, Kyes shared several statistics of the department’s growth over the last few years, stating that the department from November of last year to November of this year saw 20 more arrests, issued 76 more tickets and saw a crash reduction with 22 less crashes.
Also in 2022, Kyes reported the department had a case clearance rating of 55.36%, with the lowest in Franklin County being 21.19%. In 2021, the state average was 39%, the chief added.
Prior to the meeting, Kyes collected data over a 36 hour period to demonstrate the amount of work the department covers. In his data, which was collected from Monday, Nov. 6, to Tuesday, Nov. 7, Kyes reported 26 calls for service, three motor vehicle crashes, four cases that included theft, threatening, trespassing and burglary, one child was removed from a residence and two people were arrested on warrants from out of state drug possession charges. The department also responded to the schools for an incident.
“How often do you get back up from the sheriff’s department?” Selectperson Mike Wells asked. “How often do you request or how often do you get back up from the sheriff’s department to cover a patrol for instance, if you got tied up doing paperwork or investigating?”
Kyes has stated they have never done that, adding, “[The Sheriff’s Office] always come to our backup if there’s something major, but if there’s [a harassment incident], they’re just gonna hold it for us or if there’s anything minor or misdemeanor or something like that.”
Kyes stated that, currently, the department has several active cases such as a pending stolen firearm case, a drug trafficking case, two theft cases that involve $10,000 or more, an adult sexual assault, two juvenile sexual assaults, one DHHS [Department of Health and Human Services] referral with alleged criminal conduct, a stolen motor vehicle and a $9,000 fraud case.
“All pending,” Kyes added, “We just aren’t getting to them because we don’t have time.”
Kyes added, “Our population is smaller, but we’re having the same amount of domestics as the bigger departments with 15 officers in 10,000 people compared to our small community. We have the same amount of [domestic abuse cases], more aggravated assaults and more drug trafficking cases.
Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols responded to these comments, telling the Livermore Falls Advertiser the department is more than willing to help and provide coverage for other precincts that are in need.
“We try to provide as much coverage as we can and we will always help when requested,” he stated.
The Sheriff’s Office is currently in the process of filling three vacant positions, with both Kyes and Nichols confirming the officer who resigned from Wilton would be returning to a position at the county. The other two positions have applicants that are still in the onboarding process, Nichols stated.
As for Wilton, the police department has been awarded a grant to provide three years of compensations for a new police officer and has 45 days to accept the grant, Kyes stated.
“Now, we have this officer to replace and in reality, we could replace that officer with this officer,” Ellsworth stated, “or we could add one more, but you have an opening now. As I said, I need to talk with Maria about this a lot more before she brings something to [the Select Board].”
Ellsworth will work with his successor, Maria Greeley, to look over the budget and discuss how to proceed with the grant, with more details to come at the next Select Board meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 21.
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