March 7, 2021

Letter to the Editor,
New London City Council repealed a minimum of 80 police officers on the false belief New London police are over staffed and over policing and may need downsizing. This will endanger public safety and officers. 

Activists compared New London to Cheshire, Newtown and Westport as similar sized towns with smaller police forces as reasoning to reduce staffing.  

2020 State of Connecticut Public Safety Answer Points statistics and latest FBI crime reports show New London had 17,682 911 calls. The other towns averaged 7,738. 

New London property crimes are almost four times higher than other town‘s average. Our violent crimes are 3.02 per 1,000 residents, other towns average 0.27 per 1,000. Chance of becoming a violent crime victim here, one in 332, others averaged one in 4,667.
Councilors wanted data to determine the right number of officers then ignored OSS manpower study as outdatedwith no new study requested. Appears politics has no place for hard facts. Councilors have indeed picked sides and certainly not with the police. 
A downsized NLPD will have negative consequences.Calls will not decline just the number of officers to handle them.We ask New London voters to get informed, support your police by signing the petition and let every voter be heard by a referendum vote.

Chuck Flynn, VP

New London Police Union