"IT'S NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL IT IS ON THE BLOG"

Apparently that was the word on Facebook today regarding the sudden retirement of Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts. And now for all of my blog readers, it is official , Chief Roberts is retiring effective December 31st 2011.

I think we all knew it was coming, one way or another. The Rudewicz Report was apparently submitted to the City on Monday and word is that Tuesday was not a pleasant day for the Chief at City Hall. Thursday was a little bit better, Chief Roberts won a set of golf clubs at the HPD Union Golf outing. That may have been an omen that it was time for retirement for DKR.

And now today Chief Roberts submitted his letter of retirement. We won't know what was in the Rudewicz Report until Mayor Segarra releases it under that policy of transparency we keep hearing about. I think it is safe to say though that the report had a lot to do with this retirement.

It really is unfortunate that we are at this point now. DKR came in at a time when we needed a strong Chief(not that there ever is a time you don't need a strong Chief). He was well accepted by just about every corner of the City. He had a personality that people could relate to, myself included. Even when we weren't on the best of terms, the Chief still took my calls and responded when needed.

He had a lot of potential, but that old management saying that "you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with" should have been painted on his office wall in 2 foot high letters to remind him everyday. Daryl surrounded himself with some that were clearly incompetent, some that were set on undermining him to get his job and some that just had no business being anywhere near the second floor.

The really sad part is that Chief Roberts knew it. We had a discussion a few months ago he readily acknowledged that he knew that some of those around him were undermining him regularly, yet he still kept them there.

There probably isn't enough space to list all of the poor decisions made by those around him, yet the Chief condoned them and allowed them to snowball. The Secore case, the Murtha case, the Brooks case, the Condon case, the Dailey case, the Foley case, the Pawtucket Street shooting matter and the list goes on. Several of these matters have already cost the City huge amounts and the potential is there for a lot more liability.

I recently had a somewhat heated, although respectable, discussion about things that were happening at HPD and I asked him to look at the facts in several of them. At one point Mayor Segarra looked at me and asked me "do you know why Chief Roberts still has a job?" , I said "no" and his response was "because of you". That was a shot, but he was right.

Shortly after Mayor Segarra took office last year, there was talk that he was going in a different direction for the leadership at HPD. I asked to meet with the Mayor and we set up a time to meet in his office. One of the things we discussed was the tenure of Chief Roberts. I asked the Mayor to give Chief Roberts a chance to prove himself without being under the control of our former felon Mayor Eddie Perez.

Eddie Perez kept Chief Roberts on a very short leash and in my opinion that kept DKR from being able to function and have a real impact on crime. Mayor Segarra made the decision to keep Chief Roberts on and I want to thank him for that, but I will admit now that it probably wasn't the best choice.

Myself, like many others, had high hopes for the Chief. Unfortunately we saw the opportunities squandered over the last year. Just the fact that the Governor and our Chief State's Attorney had to step in to create what will probably go down as one of the most effective crime fighting initiative in HPD history, the Shooting Task force, is troubling.

If Chief Roberts had surrounded himself with the right people, he would have had that initiative presented to him months ago. Instead vindictiveness and petty differences kept gun fighting ideas from moving forward when they were suggested, and I( know for a fact that they were suggested and funding was denied by the second floor brain trust

It is just sad to see an organization implode as we watch. I spoke with someone earlier today who expected the media to ask for a comment regarding the Chief's retirement. They didn't want to use that "canned" response we saw from the Mayor's press person with the usual accolades which any casual observer knows weren't true.

My advice was to say that in any organization there comes a time for change, new leadership and new direction. For HPD that time is now to begin building a once proud and admired organization.

Best of luck in your retirement Chief, I am still proud to say you are a friend. For the good of the organization the time is right, but if HPD is going to move forward, DKR's retirement is not the only one that needs to be submitted, And if they aren't submitted, I think Mayor Segarra knows what needs to be done.