I KNOW, I KNOW...INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

PICTURED ABOVE, HECTOR ROBLES'S UNION ENDORSEMENT MAILER


After residents in Hartford's Southend got a political mailer that stated "Endorsed by the Hartford Police Union" before the recent primary, my phone was ringing. People were asking why the Police Union would support Robles if they knew the Internal Affairs Investigation was going to be bad and Robles might be getting arrested?

At that time no one had seen the report and much of the information was not known yet. Once the IAD report came out people, myself included, were asking "what was the Union thinking?".

Now my phone has started ringing asking why Hector Robles is still allowed to be working. I spoke to someone who saw Robles working a "PJ", a private duty road job, downtown last week. Today I got three calls asking why Robles was directing traffic on Preston Street for a construction site?

I responded that it might be contractual and maybe Chief Roberts hands are tied when it comes to suspending Robles. I think we have to ask though, why is Hector still allowed to work PJ's, or even be on active duty for that matter. It seems as though the City has no problem putting others on "Paid Administrative leave" as they handle employee hearings, why not Robles.

The first question to ask is why are they allowing the fox back into the henhouse? If you read Captain Ciesinski's original memo that led to the extensive IAD investigation, it was all about Officer Robles's abuse of PJ's and his double dipping, although others refer to it as larceny.

For a department that has worked hard under Chief Roberts to re-build its image with the community and show that Police Officers are not above the law, this does not bode well for building on those achievements.

Again, innocent until proven guilty, but for Hartford residents to see a Police Officer they know is potentially facing an arrest and termination any day now, this does not build trust or confidence in our Police Department.

An administrative suspension with pay would seem to be in order, anything else sends a terrible message to those that want to trust and believe in the good officers of the Hartford Police Department.

For those that might have missed it, Captain Ciesinski's memo is below:

Ciesinski's Robles Memo