CT State Police Respond to Social Media Video Involving Trooper

*Statement of Colonel Stavros Mellekas regarding the YouTube Video**

The Connecticut State Police has been made aware of a video posted on social media involving one of our Troopers. While the Trooper’s behavior in the video is disturbing, it is not indicative of the great work of the women and men of the Connecticut State Police and their dedication to protecting and serving during this pandemic. We hold our Troopers to high standards and the behavior displayed in the video is not reflective of the values of Commissioner Rovella or my administration.

An internal affairs investigation has been initiated and the Trooper has been placed in an administrative capacity which does not allow him to interact with the public.

We do recognize that all of us everywhere are under extreme stress during this pandemic. For our troopers, they are dealing with the impact on their personal lives along with workplace stressors of being on the frontline. While not an excuse, we are sensitive to this and also referred the trooper to our employee assistance program. We have also recently launched a resiliency program to help all our employees dealing with this pandemic.

We will release more information as it becomes available.