The Wilton Select Board gets ready to have their meeting Tuesday, April 18, where Mike Wells updated the board on the development of their Neighborhood Watch Program. Selectpersons Keith Swett, left, and David Leavitt, right, are currently running for reelection, which will take place in June. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal

WILTON — Wilton Police Department in conjunction with the Select Board have formed a committee to bring a Neighborhood Watch Program to town.

Selectperson Mike Wells brought the need for the program to the board on Tuesday, April 4, citing a rise in criminal, drug, and gang activity.

“We’ve got to do something really quickly about the drug trade that’s occurring in the town of Wilton,” Wells stated to the board via Zoom at the April 4 meeting.

A police advisory committee, which Wilton Police Chief Ethan Kyes stated is officially titled the Community Enrichment Program [CEP], was formed in the aftermath of the meeting. It consists of Wells, Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri, Kyes, Officer Jerry Maccione, and two local business owners who Kyes described as active community members.

The intent of the program is to offer a way for members of the Wilton community to better their community through means such as a neighborhood watch program.

“It kind of fell together that way,” Kyes said in a phone interview. “We were thinking of doing a neighborhood watch program, but then we’re like, ‘wait a minute, why don’t we have a Community Enrichment Program’, and then start branching out from that, different programs that we can send out to the citizens to help with enriching the community.”

At their April 18 meeting, the Select Board heard more details about the program from Wells, who was not able to attend in person and spoke via Zoom.

Wells stated the program will have a soft launch at the beginning of June and it will be formally introduced to the community at the annual town meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, June 20. Initially called the Community Watch Program, the name was changed to avoid confusion with concealed weapons permit, which shared a similar acronym.

Wells also stated that Officer Maccione had volunteered to make a training video, which would inform citizens on how the program will run, what to look for as a citizen and what to report to the police. The Wilton P.D. website will also be updated to allow Wilton residents, as well as other community members, to give tips for officers to investigate.

Kyes stated that the website will allow citizens to report suspicious activity that has not been elevated to the level of immediate police involvement.

“We’re looking to make an easier way for citizens in Wilton, or any citizen, to report to us crime that they’re seeing,” he said. “If you’re seeing something suspicious in town, it might not reach the level of needing to call police right now and have them respond, but [the website] provides a way to report it. We’ll send it to our officer on duty, and they can see the tip in real time, and we can build cases off of that.”

According to Kyes, over the last two years Wilton has seen a rise in drug activity, with crack-cocaine, cocaine and fentanyl being the drugs with the largest presence in the community. Kyes also stated that out-of-state gang members have been known to frequent Franklin County, warranting a need for a neighborhood watch program. Kyes, however, also asserted that his team has been able to handle the increase.

“We have a very good crew,” he stated. “They’re very knowledgeable. We’re having multiple incidences in the last couple of weeks where we have recovered or seized drugs off individuals walking on the streets and/or motor vehicle stops. In the last month, we’ve seen a significant increase in getting usable amounts of drugs off of individuals.”

Kyes, along with the rest of the Wilton P.D. will be hosting Support Safe Medication Disposal with DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Walmart in Farmington. Located at 615 Wilton Rd., the officers will be collecting and safely disposing of unused, unwanted, and expired medications.