{PHOTO OF COMMISSIONER JERRY FARRELL JUNIOR} It is a great honor to serve you, the people of Connecticut, as Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection.  This is an agency that plays a crucial role – not only in ensuring a fair marketplace, but also in protecting public health and safety.  The Department’s broad purview covers licensing, inspections, investigation and enforcement activities in five major areas: food and standards; drugs, cosmetics and medical devices; alcoholic beverages; occupational and professional licensing; and trade practices.

The expertise and knowledge of our staff is unparalleled, and is available to you for the asking, through our print materials, website, public appearances, email, telephone, and at our Hartford offices.  Our field agents travel the state each day, monitoring and educating the persons who fill prescriptions, sell gasoline and heating oil, serve alcoholic beverages, slice deli meat, build, sell and repair homes, install electrical wiring, and work in so many other areas that touch your lives daily.

{Governor M. Jodi Rell speaks with DCP Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. and his wife Natalie at a recent supermarket grand opening, as infant daughter Emilia looks on} Our broad purview affords us legal leverage through a wide array of public statutes, that we may employ to provide remedies for persons who have been wronged in the marketplace. 

My overall goal is to make this 150-person agency even more responsive to consumers, particularly through the effective use of technology. This website is one example of our recent efforts.  Please use it to your benefit.  Additional improvements to our customer service will soon be provided through on-line application and renewal for the hundreds of thousands of licenses, registrations and permits that we process each year.

 I’d like each Connecticut resident to know that we will listen to you, whatever your concern or suggestion, and we will make a concerted effort to help you. Please let us know how we are doing in our efforts to serve you.