VIDEO: From State Trooper to Local Officer

The Montville Police have a new officer, but it’s a face that is well known in the department.

Former Resident State Trooper Michael Collins was sworn in on Monday as a Montville Police officer, in a ceremony in Montville Town Hall.

Lt. Leonard Bunnell said that Collins will work part-time, filling in on patrol and doing extra duty shifts like directing traffic for events. He will supplement staffing when he is needed, Bunnell said.

will be receiving DARE training, starting Oct. 27, and will be the town’s DARE officer, Bunnell said.

The department has funding to cover Collins’s work “for a certain period of time,” Bunnell said.

The shift from state trooper to local officer is being repeated across the state, he said. Cutbacks and changes in retirement pay have made local positions more attractive to state troopers.

“We’re seeing a lot of this now,” Bunnell said.

Collins said he was looking forward to his new duties.

Bunnell said he expected no awkwardness being the boss of the man who has been his boss for the past few years.

“(Collins) will require very little supervision,” Bunnell said.