The mother and daughter team that saved a man from choking at Fox Hill Inn in August received certificates of commendation at the Police Commission's monthly meeting on October 6.

Patty Neal-Petrillo and Samantha Petrillo, both New Fairfield residents and servers at Fox Hill Inn in Brookfield, were working a wedding on Saturday, August 21, when a the bride's uncle, Charles Williams, began chocking on his dinner.

Neal-Petrillo, who is certified in CPR and the Heimlich maneuver from her days as a dance team coach in New Fairfield, was managing the section the Williams' were sitting in and immediately noticed something was wrong.

"Right after we had served dinner, as I was watering, I noticed that Mr. Williams looked like he was coughing, but he was choking," she said in an interview after it happened. Neal-Petrillo, with assistance from her daughter, who is currently training for her EMT certification, was able to dislodge a large piece of meat from Williams' throat and save his life.

"I am so very thankful that Patty and Samantha were skilled in that maneuver – they saved my husband's life that night," Kathleen Williams, Charles wife, said, "They were so calm and focused when they did it and did a great job."

The two waitresses did not skip a beat and the wedding kept on rolling without any commotion. The bride was not even aware that there was an incident until later in the evening.

"This is absolutely magnificent," Neal-Petrillo said after receiving the certificate Wednesday evening. "It's really nice, just the recognition on top of being able to save a life."

"They just acted, they didn't expect anything in return," Mrs. Williams said, holding back tears and eminently appreciative, "All the more reason they deserve it."

Other Business

More Life-Saving Action: Employees at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics on Silvermine Road were quick to act when an employee suffered a near-fatal heart attack. While the ambulance was on its way, several employees were able to save the man's life using CPR and a nearby automated external defibrillator (AED).

COLLECT System: All the hardware is in place for the Brookfield Police Department to begin using the Connecticut Online Law Enforcement Communications Teleprocessing (COLLECT) system, "but now we need to get all the bugs out," Police Chief Robin Montgomery said, "We're 96 percent there."

The COLLECT program will allow officers to access motor vehicle and license information in their patrol cars, rather than having to call into the dispatchers, and will include GPS location software and video cameras in the vehicles.

The program also links the local patrol officers to the State Police, Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Corrections (DOC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

Dispatch Consolidation: The state is pushing for local departments to begin looking at consolidating their dispatch offices with other police departments in the region. The Brookfield PD has been compiling dispatch data, such as the number of 9-1-1 calls to come in, the number of walk-ins coming to police headquarters and time spent aiding officers on patrol.

The state has mandated that the regional consolidations occur by 2016, however it is an unfunded mandate, according to Montgomery, and the timeline may be moved in accordance with economic realities.

The preliminary suggestion coming down from the state is to merge Brookfield with Bethel and Newtown, though Montgomery is suggesting New Milford as a more suitable companion. New Milford has the same CAD system (computer-aided dispatch) and, according to Montgomery, a model has been created that shows that the two systems could be tethered to each other for approximately $3,000.

If that funding were included in next year's budget, "We could have a link where we would have access to their database and they'd have access to ours," Montgomery explained.

31^st Officer Test: Of 256 applications sent to the Police Department, 209 showed up for the test on September 18, of which 132 passed. Those who scored in the top 20 percentile (53 candidates) will be brought back in for a series of interviews from October 26 through October 30.

Those who are successful through the interview process but are not chosen to fill the single open slot will be kept on a list as potential replacements for any officers who leave the force. That list will be valid for up to one year, according to Chief Montgomery.

Monitoring Domestic Violence: A new program has been initiated in Connecticut called the Domestic Violence Monitoring Project, whereby frequent domestic violence offenders will have to wear a tracking devise that will alert authorities if they violate a restraining order. The program is being pilot tested in communities in the Bridgeport, Danielson and Hartford judicial districts.

"This is the only way it's going to work with some of these people," Commission Chairman Nancy Power said. If the program, which was started in June of this year, is successful, it may be enacted in the Danbury judicial region as well.

Prescription Drug Take-Back: On September 25, Brookfield Pharmacy along with thousands of locations across the country participated in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in an effort to remove excess drugs from the population and dispose of them appropriately.

Brookfield's one location brought in over 198 pounds of prescription pills and medicine. More than 5,000 pounds were collected statewide, according to Montgomery, and almost 30,000 pounds in New England as a whole.