New London ― A decision to limit this year’s Sailfest event to two days came after a post-2022 festival review found personnel “efficiencies” could be gained by eliminating the Friday portion of the festivities, police Chief Brian Wright said.

Wright said the review by his department and other agencies concluded that putting police, fire and public works personnel out on the streets for just a few hours on Friday night was not the best use of resources.

“While (the event) relies a great deal on police, it’s also important to note other agencies, including the fire department and public works, are vital in preparing for and staffing the event,” he said.

Wright said the “whole department,” or about 65 officers, along with various state and federal law enforcement personnel, first responders and area police departments, typically staff Sailfest.

He said the call to eliminate Friday’s festivities, a decision he described as “collaborative,” made the most sense and would enable support staff to better focus on Saturday and Sunday which are the busier event days.

“Our ultimate goal is to provide a safe and memorable event for everyone,” he said.

But police union President Joshua Bergeson said the schedule change, while not unwelcome, fails to address long-standing event staffing issues.

“It helps, but we need more than 100 officers ― at least ― out there,” he said.

Bergeson, a lieutenant, said officers who previously worked the Friday Sailfest stretch typically logged in for a four-hour shift starting at 7 p.m.

“Saturdays are the busy days, the times where you see police working anywhere from 12 to 20 hours and, in some cases, turning right around and coming back for Sunday,” he said. “And we still have to staff regular patrols throughout the weekend. There’re still domestics and noise complaints to answer.”

Bergeson said the state and federal assets brought in to supplement local police coverage are focused on logistics, not daily operations.

“There’re not putting more cops on the street or to handle traffic,” he said.

Since 2016, police have reported relatively few arrests directly related to Sailfest, except in 2018 when more than 20 people were charged with crimes ranging from breach of peace and carrying a dangerous weapon to drug possession and interfering with police.

Event organizer Barbara Neff previously said police, citing manpower issues, requested she shorten the festival by eliminating either Friday or Sunday.

Fire Chief Thomas Curcio said the call to cut back the length of Sailfest came from police, though he had no issues with the change.

“We’re ready for it,” he said. “All our on-duty staff will be coming in so that if, God forbid, something like a fire happens in the city, they’re already here and won’t have to fight traffic getting in.”

He said on Saturday the regular crew of 16 emergency personnel per shift will be augmented by 40 additional staff members for the event. The fire department also supervises the loading of fireworks onto barges.

Curcio said Sailfest Fridays are generally low-crowd days that the department staffs with bicycle EMTs. The Saturday and Sunday festival days call for a more robust deployment of ambulances, additional medical personnel and on-call mutual aid partner services. This year two EMT bike patrols will be added for Sunday.

Mayor Michael Passero said he was not involved in the decision to eliminate the Friday event hours.

Brian Sear, the city’s director of public works, said subtracting Fridays from the staffing equation, a discussion he recalled was made a couple of months back, serves as a sort of personnel pressure-release valve.

In previous years, the department was committed to staffing all three days of Sailfest with a full complement of clean-up crews and specialized workers, including a mechanic, sign technician and electrician.

“We had that kind of staff out there even on Fridays,” he said. “But Saturdays have always been the most intense days for us, especially after midnight after the fireworks when there’s a lot of cleaning up to do.”

Sear said he expects the elimination of Friday will lead to a wider pool of employees willing to sign up to work the remaining festival days.

j.penney@theday.com