It seems that HPD is starting their spring cleaning prior to a possible larger scale housecleaning, depending on the "independent investigation" that is about to commence.
Boxes and boxes of payroll time cards were incinerated yesterday, just days before investigators are scheduled to begin looking into possible irregularities at the Hartford Police Department. The payroll cards may have also shed light on activities similar to those that led to the arrest of former Hartford Police Officer Hector Robles.
Robles, through his attorneys, has a rather extensive Freedom of Information request with the HPD and the City of Hartford currently pending.
The City had requested permission from the State of Connecticut to destroy the records, as required by state law. That request was granted on May 10, 2011.
The records were transported to an incinerator in Wallingford and the entire operation was overseen by a Hartford Police Captain who also followed the trash truck containing the records and watched as they were burned.
I'm not sure if this is the normal procedure, but it all seems interesting in light of the current state of affairs at Jennings Road.
29 comments:
Short of the Chief going on the 6 o'clock news and declaring a time fraud cover up, can it get any more obvious?
WoW!!!!!!! Great reporting Kevin!!! And what will be done? Nothing like usual! The chief will continue to do whatever he wants to the very end, if there ever is an end to the corruption.
Gee whiz, I'm no criminal law expert but...
TAMPERING WITH OR FABRICATING PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. (a) A person commits an offense if, knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress, he:
(1) alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence in the investigation or official proceeding;
TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD. (a) A person commits an offense if, knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress, he:
(1) (3) intentionally destroys, conceals, removes, or otherwise impairs the verity, legibility, or availability of a governmental record;
I would say "McKrash/McKant go into records" and the captain knew of an offical proceding, no? Maybe a pending one? Maybe a criminal one?
What! Are you kidding me!!! And this was allowed after all the on going investigations- Why wasn't this denied!!??
To interested readers:
The HPD’s annual burn is authorized and conducted every year in accordance with
State of Connecticut records retention requirements as set forth by the Connecticut State Library Public Records Administration. You can view guidelines established by the Public Records Administration at the Connecticut State Library at http://www.cslib.org/publicrecords/opraforms.htm#guidelines
Nancy Mulroy, PIO, HPD
860-757-4021
Dear interested readers:
The HPD’s annual burn is authorized and conducted every year in accordance with
State of Connecticut records retention requirements as set forth by the Connecticut State Library Public Records Administration. You can view guidelines established by the Public Records Administration at the Connecticut State Library at http://www.cslib.org/publicrecords/opraforms.htm#guidelines
Nancy Mulroy, Public Information Officer
Hartford Police Departmetn
That may be, but the state does not keep track of what investigations are going on, and there by, would unknowingly give you permission to burn them.
TAMPERING WITH OR FABRICATING PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. (a) A person commits an offense if, knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress, he:
(1) alters, destroys, or conceals any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence in the investigation or official proceeding;
TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD. (a) A person commits an offense if, knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress, he:
(1) (3) intentionally destroys, conceals, removes, or otherwise impairs the verity, legibility, or availability of a governmental record;
To Daryl Roberts,
You're not seriously trying to get the public to buy that line, are you? Certainly, there is a procedure for destroying records. However, it would stand to reason that this could have been put off for just long enough for say, an investigation to be completed??
ok, so do other city depts burn their respective time cards? While the paper time cards may be destroyed, the data therein is entered into the city's electronic payroll system.
To interested HPD:
If you know a time card investigation is about to take place in a few days you intentionally hold off on burning ANY time cards if your goal is to prove to the public you have nothing to hide.
Hartford voter who wasn't born yesterday, CT
wow, it's really shocking that boxes of time cards are labeled ''burn'' when there is an active investigation into time card fraud. wow i really am lost for words on this one.....
It is true that Mc Coy was banned from the records division. They posted a larger then usual sign at the window. I actually a couple monthes back saw it and wondered what had someone done. i guess the records employees did not fall for the disingenuous actions of the assistant chief...
Nancy,
Thanks for the explanation. Just a question though, doesn't annual mean once every year? If so, why was more than one year loaded in the truck to be burned?
If possible could you e-mail or fax me a copy of the request to the State so that I can post it here for anyone with questions? The fax is 860-278-9256, you already have the e-mail.
Frank, have your team find out who authorized the burn of that evidence (Roberts most likely) and have CT charge them with tampering with physical evidence. Enough is enough.
Something tells me Pedro is soon going to educate Chief Roberts in the proper way to terminated a city employee so they can't win their job back.
Ummm, does the Connecticut State Library Public Records Administration know of the pending investigations being conducted? -of course not. I'm sure you didn't tell them that either.
If it's an annual burn, when was the last time you did it? Kevin an invoice is generated every time this is done to pay for the dump services, foi it. This may sound a little crazy, but wouldn't it seem prudent, or maybe just a good idea to store those records, just in case? Ya know, to show honesty and openness- to maintain public trust.
Who the "F" made this decision? It is unbelievable, or all too believable, depending on your perspective.
Here's the correct law.
Sec. 53a-155. Tampering with or fabricating physical evidence: Class D felony. (a) A person is guilty of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence if, believing that an official proceeding is pending, or about to be instituted, he: (1) Alters, destroys, conceals or removes any record, document or thing with purpose to impair its verity or availability in such proceeding; or (2) makes, presents or uses any record, document or thing knowing it to be false and with purpose to mislead a public servant who is or may be engaged in such official proceeding.
Notice it says "official proceeding" only and not "an investigation or official proceeding" as the prior post indicates.
The legal definition of an "official proceeding" is:
Sec. 53a-146. Definitions.
(1) An "official proceeding" is any proceeding held or which may be held before any legislative, judicial, administrative or other agency or official authorized to take evidence under oath, including any referee, hearing examiner, commissioner or notary or other person taking evidence in connection with any proceeding.
Therefore, I do not believe this is an official proceeding because Frank's team is not a government entity with the power to take evidence under oath.
If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me Frank.
If I'm correct the investigation is pretty much pointless. All the findings will get turned over to the Mayor and he can do whatever he likes with it.
Don't you think Hector Robles investigation and arrest, and now his right to launch a defense may constitute and official proceeding?
Were any of the documents requested through his rather large FOI request be part of the "burn"? Could they have possibly shown a pattern that went back years? What was the rush to destroy them knowing that the perception would most likely be that of a coverup?
If nothing else, it was a very poor decision. Hopefully Nancy Mulroy will follow through and offer up the request so some questions will be answered. I'm sure Nathalie Feola-Guerreiri from the Corp Counsel Office will come up with some nonsense claiming an exemption to the FOI laws to delay the release of the request as she typically does.
Unbelievable. There is no way to defend this. Just burn evidence. I guess we now know where the complaint went concerning Chief Lester Mc Coy and the emergency hair cut with the state police....... I guess robles will be geting a hefty amount , just like mirtha.....
Absolute Madness..... I guess the proof shall set you free..... Whoever toke those photos should get a free steak dinner or something .......Outstanding photography.....
i cant believe it, nancy mulroy did some work to earn her 75k a year. wow.. I want to hear Chief MC Crash defend his reasoning why to endanger public safety in order to get his hair styled ...
I agree with mr x. I have absolutely no idea what mulroy does or why she makes more then a supervisor....but if she is the new voice of the 2nd floor, they are in big trouble.....Kevin is also right, corpret council is also a bunch of cover up artist.
Good point Kevin on the Hector aspect of this mess and maybe his lawyer can seek charges against the Chief for burning those time cards he asked for. That's sort of it's own side thing.
My 10:00pm post was referring to the investigation process initiated by Pedro and how I don't think Frank's team really has any bite. It seems almost pointless because they are not government investigators.
wow. if those pics are real. someone has some questions to answer.......did city hall know about the burning? I guarantee that city council did not know, they would never allow it...there has to be a signiture on an auth. somewhere......
Has the media covered it yet? kevin, it seems that this needs to go national, since a city hall corporate council coverup has begun......i hate the fact that my tax dollars are going to pay out hefty wrongfull termination suits because of the roberts and lester
if they needed to burn the time cards, why was it not done in the fire training academy located in the rear of police headquarters????it could have been a party, just dont let certain people drive their vehicles home........
anonymous 11:12pm;
how about getting the local media to cover it, that would be a good start.
anonymous 11:09pm;
You are giving the City Council too much credit. Don't forget that they all sat by during the Perez years and did nothing, Pedro Segarra included. And the fact of the matter is that the Mayor only called for an investigation after Lt. Brooks' attorneys called for it, partially as a result of this blog, as was mentioned in their demand letter.
At some point, somebody had to think this might not be the best idea (oh wait- Mckrash is in charge of this area).
At some point, somebody must have thought, "Well this might not be tampering with evidence, but it's damn close, maybe we shouldn't do this." (oh wait- Mckrash is in charge of this area).
Mckoy, he's going Code 3:
*Car Accident/Failure to make immediate notifications. Dunkin Donuts (not disciplined)
*Car Accident/Failure to make immediate notifications. Unknown location (not disciplined)
*Car accident, towed from NY State. Circumstances unknown, city car out of state, timely notification unknown (not disciplined)
*Toll Booth infractions, failure to pay. (not disciplined)
*Toll booth road rage incident. (not disciplined)
*Highway brake test/emergency lights- road rage incident. (not disciplined)
*Harassment issues Records Division (not disciplined)
*Code 3 Hair Cut (not disciplined)
*Burning Time Cards during investigation (wont be disciplined)
*Hundreds of thousands of dollars lost money from poor labor and personnel decisions. Tally growing daily. Literally growing everyday day. List lost grievances and labor board hearings, and tally all expenses, legal fees, back pay, (not disciplined)
Did I forget anything?
How can any records be burned while an investigation is going on? Is this a joke?
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