The budget plan released Wednesday by Gov. Ned Lamont called for funding several initiatives related to public safety and the state’s Department of Correction, including additional resources and enhanced technology for state troopers. The proposed budget includes about $10 million for the Conn ecticut State Police to expand and upgrade its technology, including purchasing body cameras that automatically activate when the officer uses a taser. It also would go toward GPS tracking for state police officers, aerial drones, new tasers and cameras for vehicles, as well as tools designed to reduce the amount of time it takes officers to write reports and respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.  In his ‘State of the State’ speech, Lamont praised the Connecticut State Police and local police officers, saying that Connecticut has “perhaps the best trained police force in the world,” and remarking that police officers should be able to afford to live where they work.  His budget also includes funding for staffing studies at the Department of Correction and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.  Rick Green, director of communications for DESPP, told the Connecticut Mirror that the department is already in the middle of an internal staffing study. Joshua Wojcik, secretary-designate of the Office of Policy and Management, said a study would help determine the appropriate number of state troopers versus non-sworn officers at the state police, who could take on administrative duties. In the same way, he said, the Department of Correction staffing study would give the department insight on how many corrections officers were necessary to keep officers and incarcerated men and women safe, particularly in light of a reduction in the number of incarcerated people being housed in state prisons over the last decade.  A recent audit of the Department of Correction found that the department had spent $96.6 million on overtime hours in 2022 and $103.4 million in 2023. In a forum in which lawmakers reviewed the audit, Rep. Renee LaMark-Muir, D-Deep River, questioned whether the addition of more correction officers would really solve the problems, and said she would like to see a staffing study done. The budget invests $10 million in security upgrades, which Wojcik said would go toward cameras, mirrors and other methods for eliminating blind spots in the prisons. Wojcik said the investment was prompted by an investigation by Disability Rights Connecticut that found the Department of Correction had failed to protect women at York Correctional Institution from sexual abuse by correction officers. The report called for an investment in 63 new security cameras and 10 replacements.  Lamont’s budget also provides $1 million for a study looking at hospitalizations and outpatient visits of people incarcerated in the Department of Correction, as well as money for a deputy commissioner who will oversee medical services for incarcerated men and women. Medical care at the Department of Correction was recently criticized in a report from Corrections Ombuds DeVaughn Ward. The report noted instances in which individuals sent complaints to Ward saying that they or their loved ones had received delayed or inadequate care for a variety of conditions.  ...read more read less