Ledyard — After four months of intensive study and years of looking into the establishment of an independent police force, members of the Finance Committee plan to recommend it to the Town Council in the coming weeks.

Financially, committee member and Councilor Thomas Malone said, creating an independent force is a "no-brainer."

As it stands, the town budgets just more than $2 million to operate the Ledyard Police Department — a number that includes the amount the town pays to have a resident state trooper.

For five years, the town's lone resident trooper cost around $120,000. That number moved closer to $145,000 during last year's budget.

This year, following a change in the cost of resident troopers written into the current year's state budget, the state trooper is scheduled to cost at least $190,000.

As such, Councilor Fred Allyn III said, transitioning to an independent department — after the upfront expenses of things such as a records management system, a fingerprinting scanner and a vehicle for the chief are paid down — should result in savings for years to come. Those upfront costs, he noted, should total less than $100,000.

Assuming a base salary around $100,000 — a rate Allyn said is typical in towns similar to Ledyard across the state — a chief would run the town about $130,000 annually with benefits and cellphone costs added.

But, Allyn and others noted, the transition is not just a financial consideration.

"From a community standpoint, we have a far better chance of establishing consistency through our own chief than we do through the state trooper program," Councilor Bill Saums said, citing the relatively high turnover of resident state troopers.

And, without the outside entity that is the state, Mayor John Rodolico said, the town should have more control over what happens in the police department.

For example, the Town Council, which already determines and signs off on the department's budget, will no longer have to prepare for the unknown number coming from the state.

"The council still holds the purse strings," Rodolico said. "To me, that's powerful."

Malone said he is on board with the idea of an independent force, but would like to see two things — the ordinance that would create the independent department and the oversight options for the new force — examined in greater detail.

"I want to make sure that we let everybody in the community know that we're going to hold our police force to the highest possible standard," Malone said.

Allyn said the Finance Committee likely will come before the Town Council at the council's Sept. 23 meeting.

That way, the Administration Committee, which meets Sept. 9, will have more time to perfect the ordinance and to explore oversight options.

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle