Early this morning, Hartford recorded its 21st homicide for the year. That might not seem too bad for those that compare us to New Haven, we have been running neck and neck for the lead with them. New Haven currently is at 19 homicides for 2011.
New haven isn't known for any stellar government operations and neither is Hartford. But then look at the greater picture and let's compare Hartford to Boston. Boston, a city almost five times as large as Hartford population wise (Population in July 2009: 645,169) is only at 26 total homicides for the year. What are they doing right as compared to what we are doing wrong.
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but when we brand the City as recommended by the Canadian marketing firm, do you think visitors or potential companies moving here will pay more attention to the crime statitics and how many cops we have on the streets or do you think they will feel more comfortable coming here knowing that Hartford's Chief Operationg Officer, David panagore, is hiring four new assistants?
It still does not make any sense to me that we consider spending $100,000,000, yes that is $100 million dollars, on some crazy skating rink proposal to link Bushnell Park to the Riverfront at the same time we have eliminated money from the Police department budget and cut new officers from the latest recruit class.
What am I missing? Can anyone apply some logic to this to help me understand?
Maybe a suggestioin for a possible "brand", let me know Canadian's what you think of this if we keep going in the direction we are going..."Hartford, we are better than Boston...when it comes to homicides"
What are they doing right as compared to what we are doing wrong?
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Have you ever heard the Mayor of Boston speak? Believe me, whatever Boston is doing right, it's not that Mumbles Menino is a highly competent social engineer. Maybe our punks are better shots than Boston's.
"According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of Boston was as follows:[80]
* White: 53.9% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 47.0%)
* Black or African American: 22.4%
* Native American: 0.2%
* Asian: 8.9%
* Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.0%
* Some other race: 1.6%
* Two or more races: 2.4%
* Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 17.5%"
What are you doing wrong? Well first the politics in Hartford are comparable to a three ring circus. Everyone is out for him/herself. When Eddie was removed, my first thought was that Mayor Segarra was making a power play just to get in office. His action - or inaction - seems to support that theory. How long until the chief of police is held accountable and removed? How long until someone questions the projects of "beautifying parks" vs. safety of residents? Granted these are important to attract new business and residents, but perhaps revisiting some of the business taxes would address that issue. Just because you have the money to spend on those issues, doesn't mean you must. Put more into public safety. Fire those who are not meeting standards - and that starts with the Chief. Hartford is full of back room deals and conversations. STOP IT AND WORK TOGETHER!! Unfortunately, I have been a democrat for so long and over the last two years, the most I've seen the Democrats do is get press time. I'm ashamed, and no longer a democrat. Mayor Segarra it's time to interview for a new Police Chief. Hartford Residents, it's time to look at candidates who spend less time in front of reporters, and more time making policy and decisions.
ReplyDelete"New haven isn't known for any stellar government operations " are you kidding me? Where have you been? NO comparison between New Haven and Hartford.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think we have serious problem with the way we police in Hartford. The serious crime happens in the sames areas around the city. I constantly see lot of cruisers/officers in areas that are low crime/no crime. Flood the problem areas. If I have to deal with a few more nuisance issues in my neighborhood due to this then so be it. At least less people might die. This is not rocket science. Other cities with equivalent or smaller forces have managed to do it. Stop all the loitering around businesses, it's really ridiculous and just invites trouble. I see it constantly on Blue Hills, Albany Avenues and other areas around the city.The police have a built in bias not to ultimately resolve all the crime b/c it would put them out of business. It would mean less resources/money allocated to them. Hartford has approximately 445 offices and it is 18 square miles. That's almost 25 offices per square mile. Now I know not all those officers are "patrol" officers so let's say 275. That's still 15 officers per square mile. We know the serious issues do not occur in the vast majority of the city. So now we have no more than 9 square miles to truly worry about. So now we have 30 officers per square mile. Seems like enough personnel to me. I think the biggest issue we have in the police department is a resource allocation issue, not a resource issue. We need someone willing to not do what has always been done. It's obviously not working.
ReplyDeletewe have eliminated money from the Police department budget and cut new officers from the latest recruit class.
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It may very well be that our Police Dept. could be doing a better job, and it may be (although, I doubt it) that crime might thereby be reduced. It's just damn difficult for a guy-on- the-street, a Joe-12-pack, to tell what the issues are. It would be nice if those issues were to be illuminated in the course of elections for our Mayor and Council. Nice, but, if history is prelude, not likely. If I were you, Kevin, I'd be pointing out a.)how much more than the average bear you know about the situations with the cops and firemen, and, b.)what policy changes you'd like to consider.
@ Sol, I agree, part of the problem with policing in the City of Hartford may be due to improper allocation of resources. The nuisance issues you speak of; I challenge you to contact City Hall and request the number of calls for service regarding noise complaints and minor parking violations that Officers are dispatched to in any 7 day period. I would guess that well over 75% are from anonymous (3rd party) callers. If the complaint is so serious that you need the police to assist you in a resolution why would the caller not leave a name, and a valid callback number?
ReplyDeleteIn my 17 + years of service I have found that the majority of these situations could have been resolved by the complainant speaking to the other person in regards to moving the vehicle, or turning down the music, yet we dispatch Officers, thus not allowing them to address more serious issues you speak of.
Then request the number of calls for service Officers respond to regarding “suspicious people loitering, no description” again with no callback number.
I have yet to meet an Officer who didn’t want to resolve a crime for fear that it would put us “out of business”. I think it’s more of an issue with dealing with the same problem/people day after day, year after year. I further believe the rank & file do not have faith in the City itself. If an Officer is involved in a “Politically Incorrect” situation he/she has absolutely no faith that City Hall is going to back them (if they are proper in their actions). Just look at the number of times a judge/arbitraitor has ruled against the city, yet the employee is still out of work.
You speak of the loitering on Albany Avenue and Blue Hills Avenue. Those issues could quickly and easily be resolved if the property/business owners would obtain standing complaints thus allowing the Officers to assist them in addressing those issues (and then follow up with the courts).
I agree that its not a resource issue, we have enough Officers, we just need more community involvement.
People like you (and I do NOT mean that in a negative way) speak of several issues, making it sound like it’s the Hartford Police Departments fault that the City is in the downward spiral that its in, when in reality its more of a community issue.
we have enough Officers, we just need more community involvement
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Probably true. And, also a need likely to go unmet. We in Hartford are not much of a community. And, our pols, an expression of the community, such as it is, seem hostile to the cops.
I can't think of an aspect of muni govt. more fundamental or critical than cops. Our pols should be inquiring of themselves whether to support cops, and to maximize their efficiency, or to join their victim-group-ward-of-the-State constituency's latest irrational clamor. I believe Kevin's candidacy well worth considering on this score, and believe he'd do well to emphasize his position on the matter.
I sympathize with M. Miller's query as to anonymity of quality-of-life complainers. Perhaps such anonymity ought not to be allowed except in instances of serious crime/emergency. On the other hand, I sympathize with those of us reluctant to directly address members of the a-hole community who create the myriad nuisances we enjoy here daily. There's a good chance such a-holes may physically retaliate and only a poor chance such nuisances will be voluntarily abated.
Maybe if you get them to skate they'll be too tired to kill each other.
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ReplyDeleteDivide that number by 3 (shifts) and that 15 turns into 5 per sq mile. That's about what there is, 8 zones, a sgt and a few officers per zone, not including LTs, traffic division and conditions unit and officers on road or private jobs.
@M. Miller
ReplyDeleteLook, I respect police officers quite a bit and what they do unlike some others in our city so I hold them to a high standard. Lots of good cops in Hartford. Jeff Morande in the North End is one of them. But there are always a few bad apples that can spoil the bunch and I have encountered them and professional friends of mine have as well in a bad way. I wasn't speaking to denigrate cops, only to comment on the subject matter at hand and provide what I think is representative of a systemic issue in Hartford. A doing nothing reactive government that is satisfied with status quo. I appreciate some of your insights regarding call types. I would imagine there can't be a rule implemented that a name and contact number must be provided for non-emergency calls? I imagine that would help cut down significantly on non-legitimate calls. Simple but I know simple can be very difficult in Hartford. With regard to my comment about police having a built in bias my thought was not to say Police would intentionally seek not to solve a crime. More succinctly I was speaking more to the police administration doing things in a way that creates a false need for more resources. This is not exclusive to Police by any means, it happens in other private and public businesses all the time. Also, I agree with your thought that the community needs to involved but we don't get to pick our hands in cards. This is the hand we've been dealt and we must play it. I also believe police need to make a greater effort to become part of the community. (ex: former sub station on Albany Ave is an embarrassment and bad monument). And potentially live in the city to become better vested. Yes, I know you are handcuffed by city government in that regard sometimes. We have to be innovative in trying to resolve these issues. You sound like a very serious and committed person and officer and I hope most of your police brethren in the city are the same.
In all reality as a taxpayer I am happy when the drug dealers kill each other. One less useless mouth to feed and less section 8 dollars out of the taxpayers pocket. The 21 supposed "victims" I would guess contributed very little to society except making the cities crime statistics higher
ReplyDeleteI think you might look at things differently if that were a relative of yours that was murdered, drug dealer or not. And these thugs are not expert marksmen, when the bullets start flying it doesn't matter who is in the way and a few of the victims were actually innocent victims, not drug dealers
ReplyDeleteI agree with u Kevin if an innocent victim gets hit that is a tragedy. But I dont agree that the homicide number is the worst statistic we have.
ReplyDeleteMarty Miller is an excellent supervisor, maybe too good in a department filled with illogical and power hungry select few. The dept. does need a complete make over.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Morande is a good cop, and a snazy dresser too.
Chief Complex Wish List
ReplyDeleteChief-Joe Buyak
Ast Chief- Chris Lyons
Ast Chief- Marty Burke/ Marty Miller
Deputy Chief- Hightower/ Sigersmith
Janitors- current admistration, except Chicinski he is ok..
This so called great cop Morande is the reason why people don't want to leave a call back number. For years he would try and resolve police issues over the phone. Whenever he was dispatched to a call, he would ask for a callback number and several minutes later clear the call without any police action. He's such a bum that he once cleared a sexual assault call (Delta) meaning the victim declined police action. Later to find out that he talked the victim into seeking legal advice from a lawyervbefore filling a police report. Just so he wouldn't have to investigate the crime. He's such a great cop.
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