Mia Cortés Castro Photo
Board of Police Commissioners weighs the specs question.
Officer Evan Kelly and Det. Paul Vakos won’t have to dip into their own pockets to cover the full costs of replacing two pairs of eyeglasses each has broken over the past year while on the job for the New Haven Police Department.
That’s because the Board of Police Commissioners has decided that those on-the-job eyewear replacement costs should be covered by the city. To a point.
At their latest monthly online meeting this past Tuesday night, the commissioners unanimously voted to reimburse both men for their broken eyeglasses, though for only part of the amount.
“We are working on increasing the amount that can be reimbursed to staff members per incident due to damages to equipment or personal belongings,” Police Chief Karl Jacobson said during the meeting.
Currently, if an officer, detective, or other police staff member incurs damages to personal property while on the job, the New Haven Police Department will reimburse up to $250 of the cost of the damaged item.
For both Kelly and Vakos, that was both fortunate and unfortunate news. Fortunate because, even though each has recently broken their eyeglasses while on the job, the department will cover (most of) the cost of replacing them. Unfortunate because, given rising prices over the past year, both requested reimbursements of $270 — above the $250 cap.
Tuesday night’s discussion of the reimbursements led to confusion among the commissioners, who wondered why these two employees weren’t reimbursed the full amount for something as important and necessary as eyeglasses.
However, the commissioners ultimately decided to pay both men double the reimbursement cap, or $500 total each, as they had both filed for reimbursement on two separate occasions. That is: Each had broken their glasses twice over the past year, and each had asked for reimbursements both times.
Poliec Commissioner Tracey Meares moved to reimburse Kelly and Vakos as much as they can be reimbursed for these eyeglasses replacement for now, with plans to update the department’s policy going forward. All of her colleagues then signed off on that motion to reimburse each officer up to $500 apiece for their two pairs of broken eyeglasses.
Neither officer could be reached by the publication time of this article as to how they had broken their glasses in the first place.