On the wall of Lt. Samuel F. Izzarelli Jr.'s new office hangs a picture of the serious-faced graduates of the Connecticut State Police Academy's 96th Training Troop.

Izzarelli, now 48, who was recently named commander of Troop C, is among the freshly minted troopers standing at attention on June 17, 1987 ready to begin their careers in the Connecticut State Police.

Also standing proudly in the photo is his friend, Trooper Russell Bagshaw, who would be shot to death in the early morning darkness of June 5, 1991, in an ambush as he investigated a suspicious car parked outside a gun shop in North Windham.

Izzarelli remembers the frantic radio calls. He remembers being among the first troopers to rush to the scene, only to find his friend dead inside his cruiser. He also remembers going with another trooper to Bagshaw's home in Columbia, where he'd been welcomed many times before, to tell Carol Bagshaw that her husband was gone.

Seated at his desk at the barracks on Monday, contemplating a new arrangement for the trappings he'd brought along from his previous assignment as head of the state's sex offender registry, he glanced up at the picture, the first one he's hung in his office, and thought again of his classmate. He thinks of him often.

"He was a good trooper," Izzarelli said. "He was just following up on a burglary investigation."

There had been a recent break-in at the Land and Sea Sports Center on Route 6 in North Windham, so while patrolling the area, Bagshaw noticed an unfamiliar car parked outside the business about 3 a.m. and stopped to check it. He was shot dead before he could get out of his cruiser, before he could use the radio. He was 28.

"Russ was a quiet guy," said Izzarelli who lives with his wife Darcy and two teen-aged sons in Hebron. Their pictures appear on his desk. "He loved the job."

Izzarelli feels much the same way about working for the Connecticut Department of Public Safety's State Police Division.

Izzarelli now leads Troop C that operates from the barracks at 1320 Tolland Stage Road. There are 70 troopers assigned there. The command staff includes six sergeants, a master sergeant and five resident trooper sergeants. He is replacing Lt. Francis Conroy III, who has been reassigned to the Eastern District Traffic Unit.

The state police division, which was organized in 1903, provides primary police services in 82 of the 169 municipalities in the state. These mostly rural towns are individually too small to be able to afford effective police services.

Izzarelli said Troop C has the largest contingent of resident troopers assigned to it among the 12 troops that are spread cross Connecticut. He proudly points out that out that behind each resident trooper is a small army of specialists ready to assist in investigations or threats to public safety.

He cited as examples the state police major crime squad, the state forensics lab, canine teams, drug dogs, divers, arson investigators, an aviation unit and the sex offender registry. All of that is available to troopers patrolling even the narrowest roads in the smallest towns of Connecticut.

"These are not just assets," Izzarelli said. "These are top-notch assets."

After graduating from the State Police Academy, he, like Bagshaw, was assigned to Troop K in Colchester where he worked as a road trooper for five years.  He was on patrol on Route 6 in Andover when he learned that a trooper was in trouble in nearby North Windham.

Two brothers, Terry and Duane Johnson, were charged and later convicted of murder in Bagshaw's death. One slug from the 19 shots Terry Johnson, then 20, fired in the darkness at the trooper got past his bulletproof vest and pierced his heart.

In 1993, Terry Johnson was sentenced to death, but in 2000, the sentence was reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Duane Johnson, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Izzarelli, who began his career in law enforcement working part-time at the Glastonbury Police Department while in college, has also been assigned to the criminal investigations and major crime squad while with the state police. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1996.

Along the way, he also was assigned to the community policing task force that was organized in 2000 at the Windham Heights public housing complex in Willimantic. Residents there had long been plagued by drug dealings, among other criminal and social problems that had a negative impact on their quality of life.

In 2003, Izzarelli accepted an assignment as executive officer for the state's Sex Offender Registry Unit and, while serving in that job, was promoted to lieutenant in March 2008. He guided efforts to enhance the registry to include mapping that allows residents to find sex offenders living within a two miles of their home.

In 2005, the Connecticut registry was linked to the National Sex Offender Database. This database reduces the likelihood that a sex offender can move to another state and go unnoticed by not notifying authorities of the change in address.

Izzarelli also coordinated law enforcement efforts to bring about greater compliance with state laws that require sex offenders to provide their address to the registry which is available to the public on the internet.

In January, Izzarelli received the Department of Public Safety's Outstanding Service Award for his management and supervision of the sex offender unit that oversees sex offender registration and notification programs for the state. He helped to maintain the registry's public profile as an effective tool to protect public safety and oversaw improvements to the database that met federal mandates.

Now he is in charge at Troop C. What he wants from the men and women serving at Troop C is, "first and foremost," that they "be professional and well trained." He said the troopers' "words and actions" will be the yardstick the public uses to determine their effectiveness and value to the community.

As Connecticut state troopers "we are fair to all the people of the state," Izzarelli said, "regardless of who this is."

Izzarelli said a large part of his job will be ensuring that that the personnel at Troop C have the training and equipment they need to do the job right.

For Izzarelli, doing it right doesn't involve only police work.

"We are not an island unto ourselves," Izzarelli said.

He encourages troopers to become involved in their communities and many are. In Hebron, Izzarelli helped organize a youth lacrosse program primarily because of the interest his son has shown in the sport. It didn't matter that in college, Izzarelli played soccer. He is also now a scout leader.

"All too often we are looked at as a negative thing," Izzarelli said of police in general. "If there's a lion in a cage, you won't go up to it."

 Izzarelli is not the only member of his family currently serving in the state police. His brother, Trooper First Class Thomas Izzarelli, is assigned to truck inspection squad for eastern Connecticut. Thomas Izzarelli entered the academy in September 1987, nine months after his brother walked through the same doors. Their father, Samuel F. Izzarelli, had been a trooper for 22 years until his retirement in 1996.

Izzarelli said that being the son of a trooper gave him a unique vantage point from which to assess the demands of the profession and the "sacrifices families make."

Six new troopers will arrive at Tolland barracks next week. The lessons learned from Bagshaw's death, about the "need to be on their toes" all the time, will be drummed into their heads over and over.

Training Troop 96 has lost other members since their class picture was taken 23 years ago. Trooper Robert Berry suffered a fatal heart attack at home in 1994. Trooper Kurt Hulburt, who was founder and president of the Pipes and Drums of the Connecticut State Police, died following complications after surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2000. Trooper Trainee Kenneth Moore was killed in a head-on crash involving a drunk driver on April 17, 1987, just eight weeks prior to graduation.

"You don't lose co-workers," Izzarelli said after reciting the names of his lost classmates from memory. "You lose family and family and friends….."

"We are a proud agency," Izzarelli said. "We carry them with us."