Search This Blog

Thursday, August 18, 2011

AND HERE IS A PERFECT "ANONYMOUS" EXAMPLE

I received this message earlier today and it is perfect example of why people post anonymously. And yes, it was sent through a "real" e-mail address with a "real" name attached. If this doesn't make it clear why "Anonymous" is important, I'm not sure what will.

I am writing this letter under the name of "Anonymous" because I fear retaliation from my supervisors. Management, namely the Director of the Dispatch Center Andrew Jaffe will not do anything to protect me. The communications division was once a proud Department that served the residents of the City of Hartford. Now because of mismanagement it is one of the worst departments in city government.

- The dispatch Center has the highest "sick abuser" in City government
- There is no discipline for employee or supervisors
- Employees routinely "walk out" effectively abandoning their post leaving the center short staff impacting public and officer safety with no repercussion or discipline
- Supervisors threatening subordinates with physical harm, again with no repercussion or discipline
- Training is nonexistent. Only training is training that new hires get. No ongoing training to staff or supervisors. There is a training budget that goes largely unused. When used it's for the useless "Fred Prior"
- The Director routinely instructs the supervisor not to follow the "PD" policy and often gives instructions that conflict with the "PD's" policies
- The operations manager made it difficult for the supervisor's to supervise his "girlfriend". When this was brought to the attention of Director Andrew Jaffe, he took no action
- The operation manager does not manage the center schedule, training or administrative issues
- Calls for service not being entered or dispatched properly (Goodrich Street)

I could fill several pages with problems with the Public Safety Dispatch Center. Director Andrew Jaffe does not have the background, training or experience to run the center.
- His rank when he retired from the Police Department was Sergeant. He was primarily and administrative supervisor who never supervised more than two or three people
- Jaffe was able to compile a $90,000 plus pension without working one road job, bar job, concert, civic center concert, etc
- He earned his pension doing administrative duties. He is now making $130,000 as Director of the Dispatch center
- He is now the highest paid employee in the City. He does not live in the City and does not plan on moving here.
- He was and is a political appointee from the Eddie Perez regime

Director Andrew Jaffee lack of management background is the problem. Political appointees generally lacks the experience or training for the job that they are appointed to. In two years Director Jaffee will be eligible for the embers package ( life time paid medical) for mismanaging the Public Safety Dispatch Center


Postings like this may not portray the full picture, but it seems to at least identify a problem that helps point in the direction for more research. Do you think the "writer" would be welcomed with open arms by the Administration for identifying problems ?

As a sidenote, I have heard Mayor Segarra state in public on several occasions that as a condition of Jaffee's appointment, he agreed to move into Hartford within six months of his appointment. Mr. Mayor, has that happened?

23 comments:

I.P. Day Lee said...

My problem with reading all these "anonymous" allegations is that they choose to get into stupid rumor and innuendo's about people.

for instance: "- He was and is a political appointee from the Eddie Perez regime "

Jaffee was originally going to be submitted by Perez until Perez resigned. His name was then submitted by Segarra. Segarra was running away from anything that had the Perez stench on them (ala Lillian Ruiz, John Rose) so I don't think he would have submitted Jaffe's name if he was in fact a Perez crony.

This person sounds like a disgruntled employee who has too much time on their hands.

Shut up and go back to work.

Mr king said...

One of the problems here is that "anonymous" has all of the salary information wrong. I would bet that Jaffee is trying to get this person to do their job and they don't like it

Anonymous said...

Just as with the a newspaper or news on the TV, it's up to each individual reader/viewer to filter and interrupt what's presented to them and use their own judgment. Even the "official" news presents it's own political or social agenda (FOX News, CNN). If Kevin requires people to use names those can be fake anyway. I'm sick of the anonymous debate because it's pointless anyway and the only people who argue Kevin requiring real names are those who lack the mental ability to filter what they read or HPD Command staff who just want to single out people to give them LT Brooks treatment.

John B. Kennelly said...

Maintaining venues where individuals may make anonymous comments on issues of public debate is critical to maintaining a vital democracy. Many a Founding Father wrote under noms de plume and their opinions helped make the revolution not only successful but possible. A person's failure to identify themselves should go to the weight of the veracity of the opinion offered not to its admissibility into the virtual public square. Readers should take a person's unwillingness to identify themselves into account when analyzing the content. However, that alone should not bar admittance to this or any other public forum. I have been vilified on this blog by many an anonymous individual and I will still ask Kevin to allow their postings.

John B. Kennelly

James Brown (good god) said...

Mr. I.P. Day Lee, you should have your blatter checked, if you read the letter carefully you would realize that the dispatch center is just as dysfunctional as the HPD command staff. Issues addresed in this letter should cause anyone a great deal of concern. You can't have dispatchers or 911 operators walking out of their job, it puts the officers as well as the community at risk. Hartford will never change just look at the Democratic convention, what a joke. Maybe it will take the Govenor taking an intreats into the city for things to get done, but we all know politics makes strange bed fellows.

Locker room mic said...

First off any person that has to take calls and deal with the certain insane citizens of htfd has my respect. I would not wanna do that job. Someone should suggest hpd dispatch to dirty jobs on the discovery channel

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Just to clarify, the above letter has many valid points and it may have a tone of "sour grapes", but even if a third of it is true, it should raise some real concern for the Mayor and others as to what is going on in there.

And before we paint the whole group with a wide brush, there are many dispatchers that take their careers seriously and many officers are more than willing to place their lives in their hands, which they do everyday. With that being said, there are also a lot of problems in there . On many occasions it is almost impossible to hear dispatchers actually dispatching calls because of the background noise, laughing, shouting and what sounds like a party atmosphere. Combine that attitude with the poor attitude many residents get when they call the Police Department number or 911 and think they are talking to police personnel, unaware that they aren't and to make it even worse the PD has no control over the dispatchers, none at all.

That is where Jaffee comes in. Like the letter said, before he retired from HPD he had the rank of Sergeant. He held a position that should have been held by a civilian, not wasting a sworn police position. Also as the letter said, he may have supervised a handful of civilians in his police position and he was responsible for handing out cellphones, pagers and key fobs to the entry doors. I'm not sure what qualifications the City looked for or if the position was even open to a competitive process.

As far as the comment that Pedro got as far away from the Perez stench as possible, and therefore Jaffee couldn't have been a Perez appointment, think again. If that theory were true, I would offer one name to disprove it, Sarah Barr. The Segarra Administration is still full of Perez cronies, still loyal to Perez.

And hopefully since Mayor Segarra keeps praising himself and the transparency of his Administration, he will let us know where Jaffee is residing in Hartford as was required by the agreement when he was hired.

No John Kennelly !!!!! said...

No John...you were vilified or called out because of the grievance filed and won against you, the sits for non-payment of your student loans and the non payment of your Hartford Club dues and of course the baby you fathered with a woman while making your fiance pregnant at the same time with another child...

Frustrated Dispatch Vet said...

Mr. Day, even if the anonymous poster's figures are inaccurate, the majority of the information is true (unfortunately). The Dispatch Center is a very toxic place to work. Training is not nonexisent BUT the same people get the training building their training files (usually newer people)and those that are not puppets or friends with those in power get nothing. Some of the supervisors allow their buddies to regularly arrive to work late and do nothing but subject others to discipline for even the most minute infractions. One supervisor on C-Squad even threatens and intimidates her subordinates. She literally "rides" the dispatchers to the point where it is an uncomfortable place to work. She holds people to standards which she herself couldn't abide by when she was a dispatcher. Just two weeks ago she nearly assaulted a candidate during union elections, where it was believed she was steering voters to a specific candidate. Also, NOTHING has been done about that yet. The victim was told by Jaffee not to file a police report. Years ago another dispatcher accosted a coworker in the PD parking lot and was subsequently fired. Our B-Squad supervisor needs to reassigned to another location in the city where she does not have the ties she has in Communications, where here bullying tactics won't be tolerated and where she can actually be trained that just because you're a supervisor does not mean you're GOD. Two years ago she would walk around with a Bible like she was a Holy Roller, sic-"Bible in one hand, Pitch Fork in the other". She routinely threatens the workers and has been complained about to Jaffee to no end. The civilian supervisor, Peter, is always being disrespected by the subordinates and although he is a fairly good supervisor, I really don't believe he's used to dealing with "urban" employees, for if he were, more suspensions&terminations would occur. I would love to continue (and I can) but I don't want to be late because I wouldn't get the treatment that my C-Squad supervisor gives to "her people".

Anonymous said...

Get the cashmans out

Anonymous said...

Common sense says that something isn't working in dispatch center, just look at the results. Where is our City Council and why aren't they demanding an investigation?

Anonymous said...

No! Get the Chapman out!

Anonymous said...

We need to fix the department. First things first, lets get rid of Chapman. Chapman has been thd worst ever to happen to dispatch since she became a supervisor. Chapman creates hostility, causes a toxic work environment for the dispatchers that want to come to work and do their job. Chapman harasses the dispatchers until they cant take it anymore. It had been brought to the director Jaffee and he doesnt seem like he cares. I think they are waiting for a dispatcher or an officer to get hurt due to Chapmans offensive and threats. We need help!
What we really need is Sgts. In here before dispatch gets out of hand. We have some great dispatchers in here that care and like their job. Some of us take the lives of officers in our hands to make sure they are safe and go home to their families at the end of their tours. Chapman makes it impossible for us. Chapman picks and chooses who she praises, like the ones that are always late and abuse sick time, those are her peoples as she refers to them. The dispatchers that are at work on time and show up everyday for work and go above and beyond get repremanded! We dont want civilian supervisors anymore! They have no training or experience!

James brown (good god) said...

I've got the solution to the problems that plauge the dispatch center, put them all under back under control of the PD and have them all be part of the police union as civilians and have them all fall under the dept's. Code of conduct. Jaffe should be a deputy director reporting to the Capt and or Chief of support services. His salary should be reduced and he too falls under the rules of the PD. But first we need to get rid of DKR and his command staff.

Anonymous said...

To James Brown, thats exactly what we need to do. Well said!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Dispatch needs a street sgt in there. Too much days of our lives. Jaffe is another example of someone who played the system. Like good ole lester. Fact is if i was mayor i would not want to be a laughing stock. Corporate council is giving poor advise.

Anonymous said...

James brown. U are right ! U should run for mayor.

Anonymous said...

Looks like one of the cashmans is starting rumors about Andrew j they ain't that smart anyway none of them have what it takes to be the boss, for example college and intellect.

Anonymous said...

First things first. Leave the Cashmans alone!!!! No need for a college degree in HPD! We have supervisors wit GED's. Even if they have an education they don't have the experience to run a dispatch center. for example; we have the Training Coordinator getting a salary of almost $$80,000 per year, yes, $$$80,000. She created herself a title as trainer and has no idea how to do our jot but yet we can do hers! and we are overworked and underpaid. Lets get rid of all these unnecessary positions in dispatch and the administration beginning with A. Jafee and Mike Bruce and the city will have lots of extra money for the dispatcher that do all the work. These people in administration do absolutely nothing and get paid big bucks and they are not needed. Let's get the Sgt's back and lets fix the department!!!! Stop with the Cashmans, they are the least of our problems!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

There is a silent majority within the dispatch center. Those who are tired of the group who whine and stamp their feet "oh poor me", the big bad supervisor tried to correct me!Well, I'll show them, I'm going home sick.And these childish "god's gift to dispatching" persons, can't even see when one or two others whisper little sweet nothings in their ears with the intent to set them off and then sit back and let the fireworks begin! Well, others in here know that the public counts on us and the police and fire depend on us for their safety. So how about we just knock off this stupid in fighting, stop getting manipulated, sit down and act like professionals and get back to work!Rolls of paper towels for use in whining and crying on sale whereever fine papergoods are sold!

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with professionalism in the workplace. Why must this site be used? Dispatchers for this city make themselves look petty and childish, we are adults, let's behave as such. Pointing fingers gets absolutely nothing done and neither does all other bs. We should take pride in the fact that we help those who need help, the officers who protect the city as well as the firefighters and ems workers. Take pride in that.

I'm tired of the complaining and it only seems like we only come together as one proficient unit when the $@!t is hitting the fan and its sad. Enough of that mess, we're only hurting ourselves and are bringing down the morale on the floor.

cooper said...

I'm tired of all these things being said. Let me set it straight. Some co-workers don't get along but when it comes to doing our job we do it the best we can. As far as leaving a position that position is covered before anyone leaving it. Yes their are problems in Communications but they citizens of Hartford are not at danger. I will love to have citizens come and sit with Dispatchers and see how many phone calls we take a shift. We are not like other emergency services were they get to take some time between calls. We could answer a call such as a dad killing his family getting that info then answering a 911 call with a lady swearing at me because their is a cat stuck up in a tree. We don't get breaks between calls.

Anonymous said...

some people have to pack their things and just leave that place it is stupid