State Police Assign New Commander to Tolland Barracks

For the second time in less than a year, there is a new commander in charge of the state police troop at Tolland Barracks.

Lt. C. Leon Pierce, a 17-year veteran of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety, State Police Division, has taken the helm at Troop C at 1320 Tolland Stage Rd. He replaces Lt. Samuel Izzarelli who started work there last fall, but who earlier this year received another assignment at state police headquarters in Middletown.

For Pierce, 41, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant from sergeant in March 2008, it is his second tour at Troop C. As a patrol sergeant there in 2007, he along with TFC Kevin Mulry and Trooper Eric Hurley forced their way into the home of a suicidal man and prevented his death by intentional carbon-monoxide poisoning. The three were awarded lifesaving medals for their actions.

Pierce also received two unit citations while at Troop C, once in 2006 and again in 2007, for the way he and other troopers handled emergencies involving an armed man who was intent on harming himself. In the first instance, a man armed with a knife had run off into the woods. With the help of TFC Patrick Dwyer and his K-9 Brit, troopers found the bloodied man who still held the knife to his own throat. Both instances ended peacefully with each man being taken to a hospital for treatment.

While incidents such as these are infrequent, handling them is part of the day-to-day job, along with investigations, traffic enforcement and crime prevention, for those who have chosen a career in law enforcement. As a barracks’ commander, however, Pierce has taken a step back from the street but remains connected to it through the actions of those he supervises.

In a recent interview in his office, Pierce spoke of his role as a troop commander, first at Troop F in Westbrook in 2008 and then here, and the adjustments he’s made personally and professionally to make it work.

Pierce said that even though he’s administratively in charge one of the first lessons that he and all barracks commanders learn is there are limits.

“You can’t give everybody what they want,” Pierce said.

That goes for the public as well as the troopers under his command. Sometimes you just have to say no. And where he once stepped in to defuse tensions between a feuding couple, he now applies his mediation skills as an administrator to the occasional clash of personalities that are common to any large organization.

Pierce earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Connecticut and master’s degree in management at Albertus Magnus College. His management skills are useful not only within the organization but will also help shape the troop’s reputation across a 10-town, 370-square-mile service area with a population of some 75,000. He knows that the actions of individual troopers can reflect either positively or negatively on the entire agency and when there’s a complaint, a suggestion or a compliment related to Troop C, it will land on his desk and be dealt with.

Pierce is married and lives in Enfield. He and his wife Jennifer, have two young daughters: Gabrielle, 5 and Sage, 3. Pictures of his family are spread out across his office. There’s one of his girls standing beside the Connecticut River that flows past Enfield.

“You want to capture every moment of the kids growing up,” Pierce said while glancing at the picture one more time.

At the moment, there are 77 troopers assigned to the barracks that also oversees 27 resident troopers, including sergeants, who provide primary police services on a cost-sharing basis in five towns: Tolland, Mansfield, Elllington, Somers and Stafford. The barracks also provides police services in Union, Willington and Ashford. Vernon and Coventry have established full-time police departments.

Stafford recently cut a resident trooper position from its budget, leaving the community with three troopers and a sergeant. Stafford, Ellington, Mansfield and Somers also have constables handling public safety in those communities.

Pierce said it is the differences in character and population in each community from the main campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs to the suburban and rural areas of Ellington and Union that he enjoys most.

“It’s a nice diverse troop area,” Pierce said.

Pierce said he is not aware of any major issue that needs immediate attention by law enforcement. He said the area has a major interstate highway (I-84) and a “typical criminal element” that keep troopers busy most days. Though “Spring Weekend” at the University of Connecticut has become a perennial headache for public safety and university officials, Pierce said that the event

“UCONN really stepped up,” Pierce said, noting that the university asked students to cancel the event out of respect for student Jafar Karzoun who was fatally injured in an alcohol-related fight with a non-student, during Spring Weekend in 2010. Rapo has been charged with manslaughter in the case but has been offered a plea deal, details of which have not been disclosed. His decision on whether to accept the offer is pending.

Even though Spring Weekend happened in late April, it’s an event that gets a lot of attention by the state police, Pierce said, noting that an “after action” report is in the works and will be coming up for review shortly.

Pierce said that as a barracks commander, he has noticed that there always seems to be something that needs his attention.

“You could easily put in a 12-hour day,” Pierce said, “and you wouldn’t stay ahead of every thing.”

With this in mind, he tries to strike a balance between work and home life. He spends it with his family, travelling on vacation or ferrying his daughters to their various activities that include soccer, T-ball and ballet.

He also enjoys listening to the smooth jazz sounds of saxophonist Dave Koz.

When he’s physically out of the office, he tries to stay there mentally as well. Pierce said he’s not generally drawn to news about crime and criminals. He gets his fill of that at work.

Pierce said that as part of the job he studies incidents like the last week that left an officer shot in the shoulder and the shooter dead to see what can be learned from it.

“These are always discussed,” Pierce said of major incidents to identify mistakes to try to keep them from happening again.

What he learns, he shares with other troopers. “You want them to be safe. Don’t try to be a hero.”