New Patrol Boat Arrives in Westbrook
Westbrook’s new police patrol boat has arrived in town, but it’s under wraps until the spring. The $220,000 patrol boat was constructed in Florida; now home in Connecticut, it’s being prepared for its initiation on the water.
The town will celebrate by christening the boat in the spring, said First Selectman Noel Bishop.
“Westbrook’s one of the largest recreation boating communities in the state,” said Dave Russell, one of the town’s three marine patrol officers. “We have over 2,500 boats in our harbor and some very large boats here, up to 100 feet or even a little bigger. It’s an active harbor—a lot of people aren’t aware of it because the town’s so small.”
This boat replaces a 1987 22-foot boat that has lived a long and useful life, and was determined by inspection to be in need of replacement. At the start of 2018, the Board of Selectmen (BOS), concerned that the state’s budget situation might further cut funding to the town and intent on retaining a spending cushion, decided against any capital spending approved as part of the 2017-’18 budget. Once the state budget was known and funding to the town was deemed intact, the BOS made a $200,000 allocation to its highest-priority capital project: the new patrol boat. Voters followed suit at a public meeting in June.
Most of the old boat’s electronic equipment, which was purchased in the past few years, will be transferred to the new one, said Russell. This includes GPS, four different types of radio communications, radar, and an AIS (automatic identification system). The boat will also be striped and equipped with necessary signage.
The new boat, like the previous one, is a Boston Whaler, but is 27 feet long rather than 22, and has a cuddy cabin with a full windshield and sides to protect crew and passengers from foul weather. It is also equipped with a diver door to assist with swimmer rescues.
“Our primary goal is safety on the water,” said Russell.