From joining as an officer in to assuming the top role in , Fred has led the Waterbury Police Department with a deep commitment to community service, continual training, and innovative uses of technology. Welcome to The Waterbury Talks. I'm your host, Grant Copeland. Today's conversation is with Fred Spagnolo. From joining as an officer in , to assuming the top role as Waterbury's Chief of Police in , Fred has led the Waterbury Police Department with a deep commitment to community service, continual training, and innovative uses of technology.
Hear about why he actively supports youth programs, what new advancements are being used on the community's behalf, what he advocates for on a national level, and how a certain interaction as a kid in Hartford changed his life. It's a very eye opening conversation, so join us as The Waterbury talks with Fred Spagnolo.
Chief Spagnolo, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule today. We sincerely appreciate it. Grant, thank you for the opportunity to conduct this interview with The Waterbury. Take us around the Waterbury Police Department. What divisions do you have? What units, task forces, special ops? Give us a lay of the land of the Waterbury Police Department. We have a variety of different specialties, such as our forensics unit.
We have our own DNA testing system here. We're able to do a lot of ballistic forensics work here, test fire weapons that we seize or recover on the street. We're able to compare those shell casings with other shell casings from f- frankly, throughout the country through a special brass tacks system that we have here.
Through our partnership with the ATF, we have a number of different police officers that are working with task force officers here in Waterbury. That's what we do on the criminal side. Of course, we have our Detective Bureau, our Vice Squad, our Youth Squad, that is all organic, that works here within the police department, that assists, our School Department, and folks that, have a need for further investigations, whether it's fraud or some type of violence that occurs.
