Sources are telling me that a letter has been delivered to Mayor Segarra today from the attorneys for Lieutenant Neville Brooks requesting an outside investigation into actions at the Hartford Police Department, specifically the Internal Affairs Division.
According to the sources, shortly after the letter was received, Chief Daryl K. Roberts was summoned to the Mayor's Office.
Numerous issues have been raised here on the blog as well as numerous comments calling for an outside investigation.
This afternoon Mayor Segarra ordered Chief Roberts to initiate an "immediate independent review" into the IAD matter.
Here is Mayor Segarra's statement:
(May 12, 2011) --- Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra issued this statement today regarding the Hartford Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division:
“I have already met with Police Chief Daryl Roberts and have directed him to order an immediate independent review of the IAD. As matters continue to unfold, I reserve my right to take additional action to preserve the integrity, trust, and public safety of the community.”
Please keep posting details here, or contact me personally if you feel more comfortable with that. Shining light on these things does make a difference.
Below is the letter from Lieutenant Brooks' attorney to Mayor Segarra requesting the outside investigation:
N Brooks Atty Letter
Thank you so much Mayor Segarra. Please stand firm on this. The people of Hartford and the police officers need honest and fair leadership from their police department.
ReplyDeleteSince Chief Roberts was promoted our morale has been driven to an all time historical low. This greatly impacts job performance and the quality of service. The citizens of Hartford deserve better.
- Hartford Police Officer
You know, it's great that Kevin reports on these things -- but it's also sad to see both the Courant and NPR essentially saying, "Duh, we don't know what this is about, go read this blog." What kind of press do we have in this area?? How are they not running with this story all over the map?
ReplyDeleteThere is an entire career waiting for the federal prosecutor who tackles Hartford and a Pulitzer waiting for the reporter who exposes the whole rotten core of this city. But people have to stop being so damn lazy and letting a blogger do their jobs for them.
If you let anyone destroy your morale as a police officer then you are in the wrong line of work. A lot of persons who make rank do not anticipate or appreciate the responsibility that they have acquired, forget where they once were as patrolmen, sergeants, lieutenants etc.. and even worse most time forget what they did as young officers that just did not seem right. Everyone makes mistakes so live with them but do not let the best job in the public sector be affected by anyone trying to wreck your morale. Keep good notes, a daily journal and never forget that you are in charge of protecting the citizens of Hartford. Back each up, write good reports and do not let lesser individuals, even of higher rank cause you to lose hope. Thay always fall hard in the end.
ReplyDeleteIt is always much better to weed out the jerks, non workers and persons who ruin the job by their poor attitude. Too many police officers wear the uniform like a Halloween costume and not with pride and it is sad. A federal prosecutor is never the answer. Clean out your own house
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 1:43 PM,
ReplyDeleteIt's taken a while to build this blog to the point it is, but none of this could happen without people trusting their confidence in me to provide the information honestly, sort through it all and hopefully make some sense out of it while still protecting their identities.
Never the less, it still amazes me the number of stories of things going on that no one pays attention to. If I didn't start with this a few weeks ago, it might have quietly gone away. But it is not only up to the media. Where is the City Council demanding information? And why is it that the Mayor only reacts after it becomes an issue here? If he really is a leader with competent people working with him, shouldn't they know these things before I do?
Kevin, Am I the only one who thinks it is odd that the Chief can select who investigates this? The hired "independent" investigator should be at least an arm’s length from the chief, twice removed. Theoretically, if we left it up to the chief, he would hire Lester McCrash and Lt. Ford to investigate him. At any rate, you know he will hire somebody “on the team”. It’s the only way he knows.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it say about DKR that his own boss does not trust him or his administration to conduct a fair investigation? Any chief with any foresight would have initiated this independent investigation himself. Walk away DKR. You can’t possibly emerge from this with an ounce of honor unless you walk away. And… if I were a betting man, I would say this Brookman fella still has some more junk in the hopper for you.
Anonymous @ 3:15PM,
ReplyDeleteEven if you aren't a betting man, take that bet.