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Friday, June 3, 2011

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO COMBAT HARTFORD'S CRIME ?

If you read the comments here, and I know that many readers of the blog have an agenda one way or another, there doesn't seem to be a lot of change or increased attention to the fact that we have had 4 homicides in four days and we are rapidly approaching the total number of murders last year when we aren't even halfway through this year.

In case our Mayor and Police Chief don't realize it yet, we have a war going on in the streets of Hartford. A war that will most likely add more casualties this weekend at the rate we have been going.

It will be interesting to see who is out on Hartford's streets this weekend. Will any of the Assistant Chiefs be out at 2 or 3 in the morning to see what is actually going on and provide some leadership to the rank and file bailing water against the tide? If they can find time to start e-mail efforts with community groups to save their jobs, then I would hope they could find time to send a message to our street thugs that we are serious about fighting this trend of murders.

Does anyone on the corner of Albany and Vine even recognize Assistant Chief McKoy? When was the last time our Mayor or Councilpeople hit the streets to try to send a message to the young people of our City who are killing each other.

And where are our "Poverty Pimps"? Are they out working the street corners where these shootings are taking place? I know they make it a point to show up at the vigils and make their quick appearances while the TV cameras are rolling. They make even give a hug or two to victims families while they stand there crying. Then when the cameras disappear, so do they. What are they actually doing to quell the violence.

We pay good money to them and they should also be held accountable for the violence. Obviously what they are doing isn't working and it is time to try new ideas so that we as taxpayers start getting our moneys worth from those that have their hands out for the grant money.

And I am not a big believer in State Police coverage when the going gets tough, That money spent on Troopers coming in would me much better spent given to HPD for additional overtime for officers who already know Hartford's streets and its players. With that being said though, WE NEED HELP !!!!

I know for a fact that no request has been made to the State or the Governor's Office for assistance of any kind. Why not? When people are dying in Hartford's streets with 22 bullet holes in them from gunshots, it is clear that the situation is out of control.

How much overtime has been spent on the Intelligence Division at HPD to track these guns? How much has been spent on overtime for Vice and Narcotics to make a real dent in the drug trade that is fueling the violence. The answer is pretty much none, it is business as usual.

How many Community Service Officers and Conditions Teams are being given overtime to attack the hotspots in their areas. Pretty much none, more business as usual. The only overtime being spent is out of necessity for the Crime Scene Unit and Major Crimes detectives to come back after the murders take place because they have to investigate them.

Reacting to crime is not called leadership, planning ahead, identifying trends and working to prevent these crimes is a sign of leadership. Putting egos aside and asking for help when it is needed is also a sign of leadership. The people of Hartford deserve that, at the very least.

Which do you think affects Hartford's image more, people seeing the Capitol West building or reading daily about Hartford's crime. I would guess that the "4 homicides in 4 days" headlines harm Hartford a lot more than any blighted building ever could. Maybe we should take some of the money that is going to be spent on legal fees for that Capitol West mess and get some cops on the streets to hammer the hot spots and send a strong message or prevention.

In the meantime, the Governor's Office is listed in the phone book, call and ask for some help.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are now feeling the delayed fall out of Eddie Perez's choice of Chief Roberts more than ever.

Eddie selected Roberts for some of the north end votes (Chief grew up there) and because Roberts is a "yes" man who is easy to control. Why Segarra renewed his contract is beyond me.

Mulroy, the Chief, the Mayor, city council, whoever can put all the spin they want on things but everyone knows how bad things are getting in Hartford and the buck stops at the top.

The voters need to hold the Mayor accountable and if he can't straighten things out then he needs to be replaced so maybe the next person will.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
DKR is way too busy to come up with any plans on stopping this violence. In case you haven't noticed, DKR has disappeared. No press conferences, no public lime light. Nope, no summer initiative planning. Nothing about stopping this incredible violent surge. No way, this year we didn’t have any big summer violence plan laid out. No all encompassing meeting on ideas to stop the violence, or prevent it in advance.

However, I am willing to bet he has had time to have more than a meeting or two about saving his own ass. I bet he's met with the mayor plenty of times. I bet he's met with his band of merry chiefs many times. I bet he's had meetings with Bernier, McKoy, Natelie and so on. These meetings are not about violence, or the good of the city. No, these meetings have to do with inadequate leaders sitting in a circle, afraid to admit their own mistakes or take even a little blame. These meeting are about self survival. In these meetings they say things like "we didn't do anything wrong, we were right, yeah that’s fine, it should all go away." Something tells me there are some high level command staff thinking that they should have done things a little differently, maybe taken a different approach. Of course this has nothing to do with violence in the city; it has to do with their own survival.
You see, it’s far more important for DKR and McKrash to figure out a believable excuse for burning the time cards in such a hastily fashion even though the State of CT told them not to. It’s more important to try to explain how you didn’t see the huge gouge dent, 4 inches below the driver’s door handle that runs the entire length of the driver’s side of your cruiser. It’s more important to start coming up with excuses for not ever assigning an I-File or IAD number, despite all the complaints, for one of your chiefs. (fyi: Didn’t McKrash get accused of picking up prostitutes in New Britain? Didn’t they give his license plate? Why didn’t that get an I-File number? You can bet if Ed Dailey had the same allegations leveled against him, he sure would have an I-File on it. DKR would even pay investigators overtime to “look into it-make sure Ed is guilty”)

It’s over, DKR is gone, he knows it and he is preparing his exit strategy already. Hell, DKR hasn’t been to a comstat since Brookman was there. He and McKrash are stuck wading through a pond of self explanations, lies and litigation. They are way to burden with this stuff, they don’t have time to worry about the violence.

But luckily HPD had $30,000.00 extra lying around to send Lt. (Nollie) Ford to PERF training in Boston... He'll be gone for half the summer.

mr x said...

Why is Chief Lester M C Coy wasting more tax dollars to redecorate the chief complex area with new rug. Because of a stain ? The new department will be done in less then a year......Also it has been made aware to me that Chief Mc Coy conducted his first motor vehicle stop the other day. Congrads >>>

me x said...

I think the post above this one says it exactly. I guess we will be stuck with Chief Ford soon.... at least we will have a good sports league..

mr x said...

You are right kevin, Chief M C Coy should meet the community and face the citizens who pay the burden of his 115k a year to get hair cuts and harass records employees. ( also an internal coverup)
The only chief to pull cars over was Neil Dryfe. And wrote the report himself. That shows leadership and motivates officers......Capt Buyak is also the best thing since sliced bread ...

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:37pm

Ditto

don't forget to add our honorable... State Reps and Senators, they tend to disappear too.

Anonymous said...

Wow Ford is going to be Chief soon, wow ......Rashim will not allow that.

Fuzzy Flatfoot said...

The only thing an officer has is his or her integrity....if they don't have that, they have nothing. I think the Command Staff at HPD have forgotten this.
This department needs to 'weed and seed' with 100 or so rookies that are raring to go, with nothing BUT their integrity and enthusiasm to help better the city.
The City needs to 'weed and seed' their project managers, engergy czar, parks manager and other redundant positions that don't actually do anything and get the sworn officers in their PD to over 500. The safety of the citizens and visitors need that first and foremost!

James Brown (good god) said...

The only way Rob "the fabricator" Ford will ever make Chief is if DKR is Mayor and we know that is not going to happen. So, put your worries aside and take s deep breath because if things dont change after this outside investigation is done, then the DOJ will get a call. So, Mayor Seggara buckle in and prepare for a bumpy ride. You had an opportunity to carve out this cancer called DKR last July and you didn't and now look what your stuck with, a dept. In shambles, homicides increasing on a daily basis and an election year where you need the support of the police. Mayor make the right choices and listen to what people in the know have told you in the past, if you would of done that in the first ace we would not be here right now.

Anonymous said...

Junior Lt. Ford is getting executive training for the next month. How many other senior Lt.'s were passed over for this training?
Intelligence had all their OT taken away so they are not doing any real in-depth nvestigations, their Detectives are working road jobs instead.
DKR said he puting more officers on the street. From Where??

Anonymous said...

Kevin you should ask the Mayor and the Chief why the ATF doesn't have anyone assigned to them. The ATF has a task force to combat the violent crimes that are occurring in the City yet they were ushered away. They have the resources of the Federal Goverment such as equipment and funds not mention tough sentencing guidelines that can make a significant impact on the streets. The Violent Crime Impact Team as it is reffered to was very successful in taking dozens of firearms off of the streets. Much of the work was being done by members of the intelligence division. The falling out supposedly happened when the use of ot became an issue along with other things. The agents left the building. It became a he said she said issue. Recently another member from another division was assigned to the ATF but pulled back. I'm sure you'll get the "we were short staffed and needed the 1 person back" excuse.

@ 9:48 it was an acquitall not a "nolle"
@ 11:18 OT is not an entitlement, although its a necessity they still get paid for a 40 hour work week.

Anonymous said...

The ATF had the option to say "we're sick of working with this idiot command staff". Unfortunately us cops don't have that luxury. Roberts' massive ego will not allow him to work with any agency he doesn't have direct bully power over. He also can't work with women which is making for a fantastic relationship right now with the female state prosecutors.

Anonymous said...

I agree, Roberts must go. Horvath too, especially Horvath! Him and Hawkins are always bustin' everyones asses in MCD. I hate them.

Anonymous said...

What is being done to combat Hartford's crime? Very simple answer, absolutely nothing! Point blank, nothing! Robert's has the department upside down. Robert's can not get along with any outside agencies, he's burnt bridges with the court, DEA, ATF, you name it. Robert's has openly bad mouthed the CT State Police and has demeaned and embarrassed them to their command staff's face in meetings. I believe in a meeting with State Police, where Robert's was unfashionably late, he introduced himself as "Superman"!!! Intell unit has a Sgt with three months experience and was thrown into that unit by a lieutenant

that thinks all the chief's are out to get him. The Intell unit
has basically shut down. Narcotics unit is busy driving
around arresting street corner junkies. There's one person
responsible for the surge in crime, that's Robert's. No
leadership, no direction, all the wrong people in the wrong divisions.

Bring the State Police, partner them with HPD officers, get ahold of this violence and stabilize the situation. Bring in undercover officers from State Police and other agencies and conduct hand to hand undercover drug buys with video
in all the hot spots. Write ten to fifteen warrants and have a publicized drug sweep. Have a prosecutor assigned to over see the initiative and aggressively prosecute the cases. Have Traffic and Conditions conduct routine motor vehicle check point in "hot spots". Have Intell get back to doing what they used to do, if that lieutenant is to afraid to do it, put someone else there who isn't. After the crime is stabilized, continue with efforts such as these, don't just let it go like nothing happened. Preventative steps throughout the year will most likely prevent violent surges like this from occurring. Wake up Robert's, do us a favor, leave while your somewhat ahead of the game. And let's just pray the next chief will set HPD in the proper direction, it doesn't take a rocket scientist!

Anonymous said...

Amen Anon 12:13. AMEN!

Anonymous said...

Good luck Former Chief Horvath geting a job. Red Lobster is hireing....

Billy said...

Apparently all Hartford needs is DKR and Segarra to walk around the city on a Fri night telling people to be good, and to cooperate with police. What is their real objective here?