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02/19/2023 08:08 AMAt 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.
Speaking with the Harbor News following the meeting, Police Commission Chairman Alfred Wilcox said that the decision to fire Zarbo was an easy one for him.
“I believe the commission had to fire him. An officer who misuses his access to police resources in order to pursue his personal interest in a young woman, and then lies about it, cannot be either trusted or tolerated,” Wilcox said.
The Next Steps
Per the collective bargaining agreement between the union and the police department, there is an appeals process.
According to Wilcox, a terminated employee has the right to ask the Police Commission to reconsider its ruling. If no agreement is reached at that stage, either party has 10 days to submit a dispute to the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration. Whatever decision that board reaches is final.
“Often there is a waiver granted to permit an appeal directly to the State Board, without the formality of asking for reconsideration,” Wilcox said.
Zarbo could not be reached for comment on this story, but union representative Ron Suraci said that a grievance would be filed in the case.
The Original Incident
The charges against Zarbo stem from an incident that occurred at a Black Friday event on Nov. 25. In an affidavit, Master Sergeant Christopher DeMarco wrote that the department received a complaint about Zarbo on Nov. 29.
DeMarco wrote that on Nov. 25 a 21-year-old woman was at Walmart in Old Saybrook shopping with her sister as part of a black Friday event. Zarbo was working to provide security at the event. Beyond perhaps a quick hello to the officers, the alleged victim said she and her sister had no contact with Zarbo during the day.
Meanwhile, Mairin Finnegan-Johnson, wife of Old Saybrook Fire Department chief Joseph Johnson was at home and, according to DeMarco, heard the name and plate number of the 21-year-old come over the scanner. According to the affidavit, Finnegan-Johnson alerted her husband, who knew the alleged victim through a work connection.
Johnson texted the 21-year-old woman to ask if she was ok and advised her he heard the police running her plates on the scanner, which surprised the woman. DeMarco wrote that the woman later found she had a new follower on Instagram, which was determined to be Zarbo, whom she recognized from seeing at Walmart.
Upon being made aware of the complaint against Zarbo, the department opened internal and criminal investigations. DeMarco wrote that in an interview with Zarbo on Dec. 1, Zarbo told him he ran the plates because he was suspicious that the 21-year-old’s sister kept looking at him as they drove by him in the parking lot.
In her interview with police, the alleged victim said that her sister noticed Zarbo staring at their car and waved to be polite. Zarbo told DeMarco that once he learned the woman’s name, he thought it sounded familiar, so he followed her on Instagram.
As part of its investigation, the department reviewed texts between Zarbo and dispatcher Charles Moriarty. In the messages Zarbo told Moriarty that he was “gaming” and asked for the plates to be run. DeMarco wrote that "gaming" is popular slang for attempting to pick up women. Moriarty asked Zarbo to call in the request over the radio instead of text. DeMarco wrote that it is not OSPD's standard operating procedure to request plates to be run via texts to dispatchers.
Zarbo initially told DeMarco that he called in the plate request immediately after the women drove by him in the parking lot. However, a review of call logs revealed Zarbo had waited about 20 minutes for the request, which DeMarco noted was odd if Zarbo believed the women had been acting suspiciously. Zarbo countered that he didn’t realize it had been that long before he made the call and just wanted the call documented in case something was stolen.
In the affidavit, DeMarco stated that as part of his COLLECT system training, Zarbo signed a document acknowledging that the system was to be used for law enforcement purposes only and not personal use, acknowledging the punishment for such misuse is criminal charges.
DeMarco concluded that enough evidence was present to ask for an arrest warrant which was granted on Dec. 13.
A Bad Year
Zarbo is now the third officer to leave OSPD in the face of serious misconduct charges in 13 months.
"Even one such development is concerning. Three in such a short period is acutely disappointing," Wilcox said. "But I think it reflects badly more on the maturity level and self-control of the individual officers than it does on the efforts by the Department to find and keep the very best people it can develop to 'protect and serve' our community."
"I believe that both the members of the commission and the leadership of the department remain united in their dedication to that goal," he continued.
In January 2022, the Police Commission voted to fire officer Austin Harris after Harris filed a false police report and lied to his superiors about how his computer was damaged. Harris did appeal his firing to the grievance committee and then to the state board but withdrew his appeal from the state board before a decision was rendered.
The state's Police Officer and Standards and Training Council issued a ruling that Harris' police officer certification is revoked for two years, effective Jan. 7, 2022.
Later in 2022, Officer Tyler Schulz was handed a 90-day unpaid suspension by the commission for allegedly choking one person and pushing another while intoxicated at an Essex restaurant. Schulz then resigned shortly after being reinstated following an internal investigation that showed he had admitted to participating in sexual acts while on duty and intentionally damaged department property.