Although no one can be blamed for Hector Robles's behavior except Hector himself, how could this situation occur unchecked for so long?
Is anyone else amazed that in this day of technology and "blackberry this" and "i-pad that" that the Hartford Police Department is still using handwritten index cards to account for payroll time? And what about tracking and payroll software? Were there no red flags when the payroll was input that he was billing for the same, duplicate hours?
Is it really conceivable that Officer Robles is the only rocket scientist that figured out how to beat the system by double dipping? Out of a force of almost 460 officers could Robles be the lone fox feeding in the "PJ" henhouse?
How could an Officer that was assigned to the South Meadows as the community service officer be missing in action on all those occasions he was alleged to be double dipping? Did anyone ever notice he was making no traffic stops , no arrests, no case numbers being drawn, no productivity of any sort?
Where was the supervision? Where was his Sergeant who should be checking on him throughout the day? Where was his Lieutenant who at the very least should know what his activity was for his area for the week?
And just for the sake of Officer safety, why wasn't the dispatch center aware who is working and who is not? Routinely only patrol units sign "on the line" at the beginning of their shifts. Shouldn't every officer, detective, supervisor, Lieutenant Captain right up through the Chief be accounted for when they are working? Who tracks that all officers on the street are safe and return at the end of the shift?
It amazes me that no single person, whether a dispatcher or the Headquarters Commander could answer specifically at any given time who is available and accounted for. That just seems like a huge safety issue. Not to mention shouldn't it be known what resources are available at any given time?
Whatever happened to that modern technology we were supposed to be implementing called "GPS"? Would that have not shown that Robles's assigned cruiser was stationery for hours at a time at a construction site when it should have been patrolling the Southend of Hartford?
And with the number of Assistant Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs assigned to know what is going on in their areas of the City, were they all asking "Hector who?"
Heads need to roll on this one and it shouldn't just be Hector's head. He is responsible for his actions, but a lot of others need to be held accountable for theirs.
Fortunately a new supervisor assigned to the area noticed something wrong with Robles's productivity and started asking questions that others didn't. Luckily HPD has a Chief that has taken his responsibility and accountability to the community seriously and immediately launched an Internal investigation. And more importantly, Chief Roberts has built an Internal Affairs Division that handles investigations promptly and efficiently and has greatly reduced the backlog of investigations that he inherited as Chief.
A year to complete the IAD may seem like a long time to complete the investigation, but I think a 300 page report speaks for itself as to the extent of the investigation and its thoroughness.
It is getting late, but maybe tomorrow I'll try to address the timing of the reports release as my sources have explained it to me. It had nothing to do with politics.
If you have questions as to how this happened , feel free to post them and I'll try to get the answers
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8 comments:
Kevin...on another related area ...there appears to be a "culture of corruption" within the political system in Hartford.First we had Perez and now Robles and we now also have others within the political system under active investigation from one federal or state agency or another, to the point where statewide democratic candidates are hesitant to come into Hartford and campaign.One statewide candidate told me that the candidate avoids Hartford like the plague in fear of being held up by political folks for money or other emoluments.
It seems to me that the Chair of the HDTC should call a meeting of the party to discuss how we got to where we are and how best to get the political system cleaned up.If we as a party refuse to talk about these events and continually bury our heads in the sand, then the situation within the overall political system will only get worse.
I think part of the problem here is the lack of intestinal fortitude of many within the political process.Recently as I tried to engage town committee members and elected officials about our corruption problem I found many unwilling to discuss the situation or afraid too.This lack of balls was apparent as I went around all sections of the City.Perhaps a party generated meeting to discuss the corruption problem will be the start of a broader and more lasting discussion of this culture of corruption in Hartford.
As to Hector Robles...
1.When the report is made public Hector should invite the public and especially the town committee and citizens within his district to ask him questions on why he apparently lied or mispoke or refused to answer questions when he went before the 6th district town committee just a month ago.Also questions will need to be answered from the report itself, after it is released to the public.This meeting should be open to the public and held in a public place,like a school.
2. He should carefully weigh the terrible ensueing publicity that he and Hartford will receive from here on and do the right thing.The right thing may well be his resignation as a town committee member and a resignation as state representative, which will allow him more time to prepare for his defense as we understand that the report itself has been sent to the Hartford Chief State's Attorney for their investigation and possible action.If he cares at all about the democratic party and Hartford he would be well advised not To "hang around" and take the coming "hits" that will only precipatate a drop off in democratic party support,which may mean that the individual running as an independant might well beat him in Novmber.
2.If he is found guilty at his hearing on 9/20/10 he should resign any elected posts that he holds,if he hasnt already resigned from them.
As an amplification of my 1st post above;
If the chair of the HDTC doesn't wish to call a meeting to discuss the rampant corruption problem in Hartford, there is provision in the local party rules for 20 town committee members to call a "special meeting" for that purpose.
kevin:
the numerous questions you ask in this column point to the answer that we (those who live or used to live in hartford) all already know: the problem is systemic, rampant and at all levels (top to bottom). of course, there are good people at hpd and it sucks for them, but you know and i know, we all have our stories of ineptitude from the hpd.
Kelvin how many male escorts will $3,500.00 buy tell me sugar daddy. Did you and Angel break up, because that is the rumor
Anonymous,
Did you mean "Kevin" or "Kelvin"? since you work at City Hall, you probably should be doing something better with your time. In case you don't know, even "anonymous" posts are tracked and the IP address and related info are logged with every posting.
And to reply to your stupid comments, I could never have anything to do with someone who still lives at home with his mother, especially at that age.
Larry Deutsch for State Rep!!!
I love the way this guy Bruce has conversations with himself. He is constantly writing writing and writing, does he feel it makes him a "hero" of some sort? Makes him look like a loser with no life. Oh wait that is what he is. As long as he gets him name printed he feels big. Everything is I talked, I interviewed, I called. I, I, I, WE KNOW ABOUT YOU, AND THE REAL TRUTH. We the real people of Hartford want to see the "cleaning up of house in Hartford", but first you must go.
Maybe we were ignoring your request to clean up the "corruption" because you are not the most honest person to discuss this with.
Lets call for a "special meeting", haa what a laugh, a special meeting for "special" people.
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