Public Safety
Police

Darien Police Brass Notes Letters Praising Officers

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When you send a letter to the Darien Police Department to praise one of their officers, not only do top police officials read it, but it gets passed on to the Police Commission and Police Chief Duane Lovello points it out during the commission meeting. That’s what’s happened at recent Darien Police Commission meetings, and Lovello singled out new Police Officer Louis Moura, who’s been the subject of multiple letters praising him since he joined the department in July. “I was very grateful and most impressed with the way he handled my case,” a town resident wrote in a letter dated Nov. 9. “He has been professional, thorough and also gentle and kind at a moment when I have been most upset,” the woman wrote (full text of each letter is below).

Government & Politics
Darien Police Station

Body Cameras for Darien Police May Be in Next Year’s Town Budget

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Police Chief Duane Lovello says the department again is looking into buying body cameras for all police officers, a proposal that was almost made in last year’s budget deliberations. “We are exploring potential implementation of body cameras, as is every other department in the state that doesn’t have them,” Lovello told a recent meeting of the Darien Police Commission. The cost of getting body cameras is not so much in the devices themselves — they cost roughly $300 or $400 apiece — but in storing and retrieving the video records, which could run up to $75,000 or $80,000 a year, he said. The state attorney general wants any body-camera videos stored up to four years, because civil lawsuits can have a filing deadline, in some circumstances, that long after an incident (for the most part, he said, the deadline is three years). “We did have it [a body-camera program proposal] all fired up for last year’s budget [deliberations] and pulled it out at the last minute,” Lovello said.

Government & Politics
Where's Waldo?

Darien Police Dept’s New Website Has Incidents Map, Other New Features

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Darien Police Department just launched its new website with new features giving the public more information about police activities in town. The new version of the website also has more links from the home page to information provided on the previous version of the website, making it easier to get to. Crime Reports

One new feature, “Crime Reports,” initially shows a map of recent incidents involving police, including traffic stops and motor vehicle accidents. If you click on a small icon at a particular location, you can get very brief information on the incident. The nature of an incident can be shown by the icon itself — sometimes an image of a car (for motor vehicle accidents), or letters (“PP” for police stops of motor vehicles; “Q” for some other incidents).

Business
Town Seal Patrol Car

Darien Police Offer Businesses Tips on Avoiding Wire Fraud

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Darien police have just offered tips on how to avoid having your business become a victim of wire fraud. Recently, two Darien businesses — a travel agency and a real estate business — were scammed by hackers who got into a top executive’s email account and issued directives to have money wired. The travel agency lost $10,000. The real estate business lost $48,600. Here’s the complete tip sheet, as posted on Facebook by Darien police:
Town of Darien Business Alert System
Issued by: Det.

Public Safety
Martin and Ehret shooting arrest 10-6-15

Police: Highway Workers’ Alarm at Gunshots Led to Arrest of 2 Darien Police Officers

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The arrests of two Darien police officers resulted from a report of 11 gunshots heard after midnight by highway construction workers near the Exit 13, according to a state police arrest warrant application, now public, which provides many more details about the case than were initially released. The application was made public by clerks at state Superior Court in Stamford, where Darien police officers Daniel Ehret and James Martin face charges of reckless endangerment, breach of peace and unlawful discharge of firearms after an Aug. 1 incident on Wakeman Road. Officers Martin and Ehret spoke to a Darien police sergeant who arrived at the scene, but both officers declined to provide a statement to the state police detective who arrived later, according to the warrant. The detective and the police sergeant both reported smelling alcohol on Ehret and Martin.

Public Safety
Darien Police Headquarters and Sign

After Arrest of Two Darien Police Officers, Chief Says Alleged Conduct ‘Intolerable’

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The alleged firing of a gun outside a home on Aug. 1 by an off-duty Darien police officer, now arrested with another town police officer is “disturbing,” “profoundly dangerous and wholly irresponsible,” Darien Police Chief Duane Lovello said. Lovello gave that description in a statement early Tuesday evening in reaction to the arrest of the Darien police officers, James Martin and Daniel Ehret. Both officers were placed on administrative leave immediately after the incident, Lovello said. Here is Lovello’s statement, emailed at 8:07 p.m.:
During the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug.

Government & Politics
Police

Police Contract Negotiated: 2% Raise for 1st Year, 2.5% for Next 3 Years

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The union representing 48 Darien police officers ratified a four-year contract with the town that increases wages 2 percent in the first year and 2.5 percent in the next three and eliminates unused sick time for new employees. All members of the bargaining unit will be moved into a high-deductible health insurance plan ($2,000 for the employee or $4,000 for the employee’s family of two people or more). The police union ratified the contract on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and the Board of Selectmen is scheduled to vote on it on Monday. The Representative Town Meeting’s approval will be needed before the contract goes into effect.

Public Safety
Police Officer Luis Moura

Meet Darien Police Department’s Latest Officer: Luis Moura

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Darien Police Chief Duane Lovello swore in the department’s newest officer, Luis Moura, a three-year Bridgeport police veteran who will start work on Saturday. “This is always a happy event for us, when we welcome someone into our family,” Lovello said. Police Commission Chairman Paul Johnson said his board is “very very pleased to get another officer who’s been working with another department, who is fully trained and who can step into his job in Darien” without further training. The department also has one officer who just completed police academy training and has another candidate in the police academy. Moura will be on patrol with other officers for a while as he gets to know his way around town, Lovello said.