Michael Buck has police work in his blood from doing two tours of duty in Iraq as a military police officer with the U.S. Air Force.
Upon returning home, the Glastonbury resident signed up as a state police trooper and graduated from the academy for what he thought would be an uninterrupted career on the road. As such, Buck, 26, was stunned when he and the 55 other troopers in his training class received layoff notices in a cost-cutting move by the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
"It's the 22nd today. On the 24th, we supposedly don't have a job,'' Buck said Monday after a rally against the layoffs that was attended by an estimated 300 state troopers and their family members outside the state Capitol. "We were hoping to hear something yesterday. People are buying homes. I recently bought a home [and will be], getting married. It would be nice to know if I have a job come Wednesday.''
"I never personally thought we would receive layoff notices, based on our current staffing numbers and the amount of criminal activity and the amount of cases we're taking,'' Buck said. "I just never expected it. ... To me, this isn't just a job. It's a calling for me and everyone else in our class. This is much more than a job to state troopers.''
Malloy declined to say Monday whether the troopers will be laid off, saying that he will have discussions Tuesday with Commissioner Reuben Bradford about the department's staffing level.
"I am looking at all of my options, quite frankly,'' Malloy said. "We have invested about $4 million'' in training costs and time on the job for the rookies.
Asked several times by reporters about the layoffs, Malloy said he would speak more dispositively on the issue as soon as Tuesday.
The issue has arisen because of the state's financial problems and the decision by the troopers in the state police union to vote twice against Malloy's proposed wage freeze for two years. With the rejection of the freeze, the troopers - including the rookies - received a 2.5 percent salary increase on July 1. All other state unions that accepted Malloy's freeze will not be receiving any raises for the next two years.
The troopers gathered on the steps outside the Capitol on Monday morning, and they were joined by the widows of Troopers Kenneth Hall and Russell Bagshaw, who were both killed in the line of duty. They were also joined by retired trooper James Reidy, who was shot by a delusional former postal worker in an ambush while answering a call to help two other troopers who had been shot at a trailer home in Willington. Reidy was hit at least three times but survived.
"I never came back to work, and my life will never be the same,'' Reidy said in an emotional speech. "I am alive today because of the back-up I had on September 3, 1998.''
Reidy directed his remarks squarely at Malloy in saying that the layoff notices must be rescinded.
"They gotta be back. We need these troopers back,'' Reidy told the crowd on a bright, sunny day. "Mr. Malloy, give them the raises they deserve!''
