An influential state lawmaker says he's considering new restrictions on how many hours state troopers can work after a CT Insider report showed troopers logging "excessive overtime" with few limits, sparking cost and safety concerns.

"When you get to the point of working 24 hours a day or two weeks straight, that is problematic," said state Rep. Steven Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport and co-chairman of the judiciary committee. "It's problematic for the officer and the public at large."

Stafstrom said he may push for legislative change to address the issue, including tightening an existing department rule that says troopers cannot work more than 18.5 hours during a 24-hour period. CT Insider found that rule can be — and it appears is frequently — waived.

Stafstrom said the waiver is only supposed to be used for emergency situations, not to have troopers work assignments at highway construction sites.

"It's not intended for directing traffic," Stafstrom said. "If you are doing a stake out, you might need to work three days in a row and that should be allowed. The issue is when working an outside overtime job. The problem is when they work their shift and then the outside overtime job."

Other lawmakers also said they were concerned about the issue but said rather than introducing new restrictions on trooper hours, they want to see the department hire more troopers to spread out the work.

CT Insider's investigation showed some troopers were paid for shifts up to 24 hours long while others logged one or more shifts per day for weeks in a row.

The department has few rules limiting work hours and, like the 18.5-hour cap, they can be waived by supervisors, CT Insider found.

The department's spending on overtime has ballooned in recent years and state auditors have repeatedly warned troopers are working "excessive overtime" wasting millions in taxpayer dollars.

Some troopers earned well over $300,000 and $400,000 in a year in recent years, with overtime earnings outpacing their base pay.

Auditors and outside law enforcement experts also said troopers within the state's largest police force regularly log so many hours in a day or week that it may threaten the health and safety of officers as well as the public they drive past and interact with.

Data compiled for a recent state audit showed 541 instances in which state police employees were paid for more than 18.5 hours in a single day during 2020 and 2021, including 15 times when employees were paid for all 24 hours in a day.

State police officials and union leaders said the overtime is being fueled by a shortage of officers, noting the department is down hundreds of troopers from authorized staffing levels. Department officials stressed they are "actively recruiting" more troopers.

"We currently have an academy class which is scheduled to graduate this spring with class scheduled to start right after," state police said in a statement.

The department recently told state auditors critical of the overtime spending its recruitment efforts "will increase staffing levels, helping to control overtime costs."

State police also said it offers programs to educate troopers about safety and support mental health.

"We have a wellness program, peer support program, [employee assistance program] EAP and rules in place that troopers and supervisors use to ensure the mental health and wellbeing/safety of our troopers," the department said. "Our mission is protecting those in our state, public safety."

'Hire people'

State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague and co-chairman of the powerful appropriations committee, said she was concerned by the findings of CT Insider's report.

She said excessive overtime poses a danger for troopers and the public.

"I worked a lot of overtime in corrections, ordered in on days off," said Osten, a military veteran who, before winning a General Assembly seat in 2012, spent more than two decades working as a corrections officer and advocate for women's rights within the prison system.

"We worked a rotating schedule," Osten said of her days working prisons. "Anyone working more than five days a week, it's not good for mental health, physical health and family relations or interactions with the pubic. We need to do what we can to protect the health and welfare of the staff."

Osten added: "I would urge and caution supervisors to be diligent and exercise reasonableness in assigning overtime."

Osten said she believes the excessive overtime is a result of a staffing shortage and the solution is to hire more troopers.

"The best thing we could do is hire the people we have already put money in the budget for and increase the number of classes we are doing," Osten said.

"The way the classes are spaced out it's taking too long to fill the empty positions," Osten added. "It does not deal with the backlog for positions. That would take care of the overtime, and we encourage the administration to increase classes and class sizes. That's what we did in the early 1980s and 90s to hire the correct staffing."

"If we got to over 1,000 [sworn troopers] that would take care a lot of the excessive amounts of overtime," Osten added.

State police had 919 sworn officers as of January, according to the state Department of Administrative Services.

'Problematic'

While Stafstrom said he favored new rules to limit trooper overtime, he noted lawmakers ran into fierce opposition when they tried to include restrictions in the sweeping Police Accountability Act passed in 2020.

"When we looked at accountability legislation several years ago, one of the things we looked at was outside duty jobs [or special duty overtime assignments] and whether those should be permitted over work hours," Stafstrom said.

"The unions pushed back on that pretty hard," Stafstrom said. "It didn't make it into the package. In the original version, there was a restriction on outside jobs."

Stafstrom added officers at many local police departments also log high amounts of overtime, including to staff construction sites. "I think if you look at municipal departments you will see many of the same things," he noted.

State Sen. Herron Gaston, D-Bridgeport, co-chairman of the public safety and security committee, also said legislating restrictions to troopers' work hours would be difficult.

"I'm sure we would receive an overwhelming amount of pushback on that," Gaston said, referring to union opposition.

"We understand [overtime] is costly, but not as costly as filling the ranks," Gaston added. "But we want to be careful about not overloading officers with overtime and spreading it out."

Gaston said he favored hiring more troopers to address the problem rather than creating new rules.

"Police departments are hemorrhaging from a lack of recruitment, and we are trying to work with unions and departments to make sure the health and welfare of officers is at the forefront," Gaston said.

"We understand the potential risk it poses with fatigue and having to make split second decisions," Gaston added.

Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven and ranking member for the public safety committee, said trooper overtime is worrisome.

"It's a valid concern for a few reasons, financially and being overworked," Cicarella said "But there are problems we need to solve. We need to focus on recruitment and retention of officers, and that will correct the overtime."

Cicarella said new rules limiting overtime is the "logical thing" and would reduce concerns about health and mental wellbeing. But, he added, it could also leave shifts unfilled if officers are not available.

"It's important to focus on what has to happen," Cicarella said. "We could go to outside vendors to perform traffic, and that may be a viable solution. This [discussion of overtime] is bringing up decent ideas and some concerns. It might be moot if we have the manpower. But we have to be careful not to have unintended consequences."