Group three worked on a proposal for a joint training center in the south central part of Connecticut, along the coast. This proposal encompassed a joint partnership between the townships of East Haven, Branford, and Guilford. These townships were surprisingly busy, responding to a combined total of over 86,000 calls for service, last year. Even more surprising, none of the townships had a training facility they could call home, and would have to seek out facilities to meet the needs of required recurrent training.

Throughout this project, my role was to be an advisory member to law enforcement operations, emergency management, and intergovernmental affairs (legislative matters). From the start, I was a supporter of the project and remained a supporter until the end. Law enforcement personnel require extensive initial training and follow up recurrent training throughout their careers to remain certified within the state. Moreover, law enforcement administrators often tailor elective training to meet the unique needs of regional or jurisdictional challenges.

The townships of East Haven, Branford, and Guilford are close together and often assist each other through mutual aid. From a law enforcement perspective, a joint training center would allow these three townships to train jointly and improve response effectiveness to regional challenges. From an emergency management perspective, this is ideal because an emergency manager will have the solace of knowing each responder has been trained the same.

One of the biggest challenges I identified throughout this process was finding funding. The total estimated cost for this training center was approximately $65 million. Ultimately, team three agreed on a cost sharing approach that would be based on the number of first responders employed by each township. In practice, this meant East Haven was responsible for 40.9% of the total cost, Branford 34.4%, and Guilford 24.7%. Working with legislators and community stakeholders, group three would seek federal or other grants to help offset the costs and lessen the financial burden on each township. Overall, I think the proposal is thorough and meets the needs of these tight knit shoreline communities.

questions:

Give your thoughts on this group final project and share with each other your perspective in this project and how your opinion of the project may have changed from the beginning of the course to the end.

As you went through the entire process, did you change your mind on the proposal? Why or why not?Support what you write withback up, yes, that means cite your sources.