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Old Saybrook Police Officer Fired

At a special meeting on Feb. 13, the Old Saybrook Police Commission unanimously voted to fire an Old Saybrook police officer accused of using department equipment to learn a woman’s name so he could follow her on Instagram.

In December 2022, the Old Saybrook Police Department announced that patrolman Josh Zarbo had been arrested and placed on administrative leave. Zarbo was accused of illegally accessing the Connecticut On-Line Law Enforcement Teleprocessing (COLLECT) system to obtain vehicle registration information of a young woman he had seen earlier in the day so that he could get her name and follow her on the social media site Instagram.

Misuse of the COLLECT system is punishable by criminal charges. Following an investigation, Zarbo was charged with computer crimes in the third degree, a felony to which he has pleaded not guilty, according to the state judicial website. Zarbo is next due in court on Feb. 21.

In addition to the legal case against him, Zarbo was faced with an internal investigation. The Commission met on Feb. 13 to enter into an over 90-minute executive session to hear the case against Zarbo.

Following the executive session, the Commission unanimously agreed to terminate the officer’s employment with the department. Zarbo had been with the department since 2017.

This story will be updated, and a longer story will appear in next week’s Harbor News.