Historical Perspective

1968-1975

In 1968, the budget for the police had risen to $744,794, for the department's 62 officers and equipment. In his budget proposal for that year, Chief Reardon had asked for four new patrolmen, one civilian mechanic, two civilian dispatchers, an additional two cruisers, and an emergency truck. He cited the expansion of business and population in all sections of town, the growing traffic problems, and the relocation of Route 6, as reasons for his budget requests.

Reardon was also a proponent of education for police officers. He and Tom Connors of Manchester community College were instrumental in arranging a scholarship fund for police officers. In 1969, eight officers were awarded scholarships for attending Manchester Community College. Chief Reardon went to great lengths to encourage his officers to continue their education, and encouraged them to take advantage of the L.E.A.A. funds available for higher education.

It was at Chief Reardon's direction that Lieutenant Robert Lannan began the planning for a Regional Police Academy that would provide in-service training to the officers of Manchester, East Hartford, South Windsor, Glastonbury, Coventry, and Vernon.

The funds for this academy were made available by the passing of the Omnibus Crime Bill in April of 1970. The first grant obtained by Lannan was from the United States Department of Transportation, and the second grant came from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administr5ation. The funds from the L.E.A.A. grant were used primarily for equipment.

The Regional Academy, know by all who attended as "Lannan U," started classes in December 1970, in a well-equipped classroom on the second floor of the police station. The instructors included specially trained members of the participating police departments and members of state and federal agencies. The curriculum covered a wide variety of subjects, including: Narcotics Investigations, taught by Mickey Camilleri of the State Consumer Protection agency; Criminal and Court Procedures, by Prosecutor William Collins of the Circuit court; and Firearms and Self-Defense Tactics, by Special Agent John Danaher of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Manchester Mutual Aid Association, or Police club, had represented the police officers from 1951 until April 1969, when the 45 policemen signed and application to join Council 15 of the State, County, and Municipal Employees Union, AFL-CIO. On May 29, 1969, Officer Samuel Maltempo was elected president of the police union.

The concern generated in the late 1960's by the growth of heroin addiction, and the resulting sharp increase in burglaries and larcenies was addressed in the Hartford region by the creation of the Capitol Region Crime Squad. The squad, with two supervisors from the Hartford Police Department and 17 undercover agents assigned from municipal police departments, conducted undercover narcotics operations throughout the 29 town region. Officer Ronald L. Roberts was the first Manchester officer assigned to the squad, and worked undercover from December 1969 to May 1, 1971. Arrested once by another police department, Roberts spent the weekend in jail, rather than "blow his cover." Officer Wayne Rautenberg was assigned to the squad from July 1972 to February 1973.

Prior to 1972, all juveniles apprehended by the police for criminal activity or for being a runaway were referred to Juvenile Court. As a result, in the early 1970's, the Juvenile Court was overwhelmed by the volume of juvenile referrals. Recognizing the need for a specialized program to deal with the increasing number of juvenile offenders, a federal grant was obtained for the position of youth services officer. Policewoman graves was assigned this new position. The policewoman position was filled in February 1972, when Susan Gibbens was hired.
Women wanting careers in law enforcement had been limited to the rank of policewoman until the mid-1970's, when a number of court decisions allowed women to compete with male applicants for entry-level patrol positions. Audrey Paradis competed with male applicants for a patrol officer's position. Paradis was sworn in as Manchester's first female patrol officer in September, 1974. The position of policewoman was retired when Policewoman Gibbens was promoted, after a competitive exam with male officers, to the rank of detective in August 1975.

In 1973, another federal grant was awarded to Manchester, and a highly complex, multidimensional radio communications system was designed and installed. This was one of many federal grants obtained through the efforts of Lieutenant Richard Sartor. The new communications system gave the Manchester Police Department advanced capabilities, and provided for town-wide radio coverage and "Code 5" (scrambled transmissions which could not be deciphered by radio scanners). The system also allowed a dispatcher to sound a cruiser's horn remotely. It was at this same time that the teletype system, which had been utilized since 1927, was retired and replaced by a video CRT system.

Civilians were hired as dispatchers for this new communications system, thus relieving regular officers for police duties. One unique aspect of the grant was the provision that the civilian dispatchers were to be disabled armed services veterans. The dispatchers hired under this grant were Timothy McCann (Vietnam), Ronald Lipp (Vietnam), and Victor Dubaldo (World War II).

In 1973/1974, the Manchester Police Department consisted of 80 sworn policemen; 16 civilians (10 men and six women); two mechanics (two others were sworn policemen); two custodians; and 31 part-time school crossing guards. The fleet consisted of 17 police cruisers and four police trucks. The police budget was $1,374,000.

In February 1974, the position of community relations officer was funded under a $12,000 grant from the federal L.E.A.A. program. This was a demonstration program to establish effective and meaningful communications between the police and community. Officer Russ Holyfield was assigned to the position of community relations officer on March 4, 1974.

Chief Reardon had instituted a 6-patrol district system in 1971, which was to provide more adequate coverage for the town. in June 1974, this three-year-old six-district system was redesigned and expanded to seven districts.

A Federal Highway Administration grant was awarded to Manchester in March 1975. With $36,000 for officer salaries, two cruisers, and a $1,000 Doplar radar gun, the Traffic Services Bureau, or "Traffic Squad," with two members, Officer John Marvin and Officer Gary Wood, was created. With the goal of reducing the number of motor vehicle accidents and injuries, through the use of selective enforcement and community awareness programs, the Doplar radar was used with great success. The first day of its use, by Officer John Marvin, resulted in the arrest of four speeders in a school zone on Spruce Street in a four-hour period.

Chief Reardon retired on February 28, 1975. Patrol Division Captain George McCaughey, who had been promoted to the rank of captain in 1963, was named interim chief. Lieutenant Robert Lannan was promoted to chief of police on April 4, 1975. Lannan, who had served three years in the U.S. Navy, had joined the force on October 14, 1957. He earned an associate's degree at Manchester Community College in 1971, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Police Administration from the University of Hartford in 1974. He attended the FBI's National Academy in 1972, and was the first local officer to do so since the 1940's.