Early on the question was asked of me if I thought Frank Rudewicz was being "set up for failure" when he was contracted to investigate HPD. I'm not sure if he was "set up", but the answer seems clear that the report was pretty much a failure no matter how you look at it. I responded to that question that I guessed the report would be the only answer to that , one way or the other. The answer to that now seems pretty clear, the scope of the report was so limited that it really won't change much, other than maybe the Chief of HPD.
The questions that drew the report into question for me, and the agenda behind the report, are more in what it didn't say and maybe the way that it seemed to present one sided facts.
I had hoped from the beginning that the report would be legitimate and a hunt for the facts. Once I heard that the report was sent back to Rudewicz a couple weeks ago for "changes and clarifications" I began to lose hope. The report should have been submitted as completed without any interpretations or "corrections" submitted by the City or Mayor Segarra. That was not the case.
Rudewicz took the report back to make the changes requested by the City. What those changes were we will probably never know. Shouldn't it have been up to the City and Mayor Segarra to present their side if they thought the report was inaccurate or if they wanted to make clarifications?
And it also seems odd to me that depending who was being discussed, they almost went out of their way to "bury" certain individuals, while giving others a free pass.
Why is it that out of over 45 people interviewed the only one that seems to be clearly identified and actually quoted through documents he submitted was Sergeant Gabe Laureano? Was there a need to identify Laureano as the "IAD snitch" to add emphasis to how bad IAD supposedly was? Where is the record of the other 45 interviews? If IAD was so bad, was Laureano the only one who felt it?
I know I mentioned this in my original posts, but where was the mention, other than here on the blog, that Lt Brooks was battling cancer during the period that they called his attendance into question? Without all of the facts it paints a negative picture of Brooks. It also seems quite ironic that Lt Brooks was just given an "Exemplary Service Award" for the period 2000 to 2010, in part for his excellent work attendance record.
Why were the Dryfe's, both former Assistant Chief Neil Dryfe and his wife, retired Sergeant Cindy Dryfe, just brushed over as "former officer" who removed reports from HPD. Might it have been noteworthy that Chief Drye was a previous Commander of IAD and should have known better. If Dryfe was so concerned about the operations of IAD in his memo to Chief Roberts, shouldn't he have returned the missing files first?
And just out of curiosity, the files that the Dryfe's removed from HPD pertained to what? Whose cases were they and what were the allegations? Were they friends of the Dryfe's that were being protected from investigation? And from what sources are telling me, the reports still have not been returned. Is there another investigation into that matter now or is it just water over the dam?
The mention of these missing reports in the Rudewicz report was so brief it seemed like a "non-incident" . To me though, files removed by a former IAD commander, who would later become an Assistant Chief and eventually the Police Chief in Cheshire is more troublesome to me than any personality conflicts Sgt. Laureano may have had or how many times Lt. Brooks scanned his keytag to get into the office.
The issue of access to the IAD complex is also a red herring. It is pretty much wide open, but that is not the doing of Lt. Brooks or anyone else in IAD. I have gone to look at FOI requests and they took me into IAD each time at the conference table in there. Security at HPD has never been a priority and until something drastic happens, it most likely never will be, IAD is no exception.
Back in 2006 the City contracted another report on HPD by a buddy of then Chief Patrick Harnett.m Gordon Wasserman was hired for a study entitled "POLICE DO MATTER" which was submitted in July of 2006 to former Mayor Eddie Perez. It was a more wide ranging scope of HPD, but it touch briefly on IAD.
One of the objectives mentioned was the "IAD Steering Committee" and stated "in keeping with the Department's new emphasis on accountability, the entire complaints investigation process, including the various time limits, is now monitored by a new IAD Steering Committee, which meets twice a month. Chaired by the Chief of Police personally, the committee includes the Chief of Detectives, the Chief of Patrol and the Lieutenant in charge of IAD and his investigators. The meeting reviews all open cases and monitors progress in much the same way as COMPSTAT meetings monitor progress relating to crime in the streets. The IAD investigators are held personally accountable for the status of their investigations and for ensuring that these are handled expeditiously, fairly and professionally.".
If that was the case, the blame seems to be much more wide ranging than just dumping on LT. Brooks. Where was the Chief of Police, the Chief of Patrol and the Chief of Detectives during the time period that IAD, according to the Rudewicz report, became such a mess. When was the last time the "IAD Steering Committe" met. And if they were meeting regularly as the Wasserman report states, shouldn't any management issues have been identified in weeks, rather than months?
Also, according to the Wasserman report, on January 1, 2006, "IAD upgraded its computer systems significantly by implementing a new software package, IAPRO, which both the New York City and Philadelphia Police Departments use to handle their inernal affairs cases." The Rudewicz report does mention IAPro and its "red flag" component. To the best of my knowledge, Lt Brooks was not the IAD Commander in 2006, and it might have been interesting to note if thjose "red flag" components were ever enabled at the time. If not why and who was the Commander at the time, and if they were enabled, who disabled them, or were the "red flags" just being ignored when they popped up?
If nothing else, maybe it is time to start listening to people who have suggestions inside the HPD, rather than shutting them down as "malcontents". If all of these things just happened to slide by all of those on the Command staff, do we really need all o those positions on the second floor. The Wasserman report, if I remember correctly, was well over $200,000. The Rudewicz report probably will be in excess of $100,000. It might be cheaper for the City to just commission an "outside independent investigation" every couple years and eliminate a few Chief's positions. It looks like the reports keep identifying the same issues and nothing changes, so why the top heavy command staff.
Add into that amount the money being spent by the City defending poor management decisions as well as the likely six-figure settlements that come out of these complaints and lawsuits, and you have to definitely question the management decisions, or more likely their inability to make decisions.
Maybe it is time for a position of Public Safety Commissioner who has management experience and can run the Department as a manger , not as a cop. Daryl Roberts is someone I consider a friend, but you have to look at the facts. He went from the rank of Lieutenant to Assistant Chief and then Chief. The size of the organization does not allow for little or no management experience, other than maybe a squad of 10, 15, or even 20 officers. It requires knowledge of budgets, labor laws, community issues, purchasing requirements, FOI laws and the list goes on and on. Quite frankly, there aren't a lot of people that have that wealth of knowledge, Daryl Roberts included.
The only saving grace would be someone that was smart enough to surround themselves with the best and the brightest they could find, and even Daryl Roberts has admitted to me he hasn't done that.
The report was a disappointment, but in the end, I think it accomplished the original goal. Mayor Segarra won't have to terminate or refuse to renew the Chief's contract. Daryl Roberts will be gone as of December 31, 2010 as he retires.
The next big test will be the choice for "acting" Chief and the new permanent Chief. I have some ideas for the Mayor, but since I encouraged him to give Chief Roberts a chance last year, I'm not sure how well my suggestions will be taken this time around. I still stand by giving Chief Roberts a chance to run with the leadership of HPD, unfortunately he didn't come out like I thought he would and make a difference.
14 comments:
Kevin...Am I correct that Pedro paid 100k of our taxpayer money for a " targeted report", when if he had any integrity and "stones" at all, he could have simply terminated DR when the contract ended?
What happens to all the information given to Rudewicz that was "outside" the spectrum of his investigation? Some of it criminal in nature and some of it internal. The Pandora's box has been opened! Does Pedro close it?
So Brooks was a complete disaster as IAD commander, but it wasn't his fault he screwed the job up completely, it was his bosses fault. I see.
What good is a lieutenant who's boss has to hang all over him to make sure he doesn't turn to crap everything he touches?
What a crybaby. Do Brooks and his buddies need Roberts to change their diapers for them, too, or can they handle that themselves?
Anonymous at 5:36PM
And who are we going to blame the missing files on? Was Lt. Brooks the IAD Commander when the Dryfe's were removing files from IAD?
I am anxious to find out exactly whose files they removed and for what reason. This is something that the State's Attorney or the Justice Department should be answering, not Frank Rudewicz.
Kevin, at what point are you going to put your friendship with Brooks aside and acknowledge that Sgt. Laureano was and is not wrong for doing what he did? At what point? put yourself in his shoes. Im sure all your getting is Brook's side of the story, but really this blog has the potential to do great things, you just have to stay neutral and offer an unbias opinion. Come to the station talk to the troops, find out who gabe really is. The guy works harder than anyone at HPD. He also has dozens of emails and text messages from Brooks, where all Brooks did was praise him for his work ethic, integrity and honor. Why did Brook's opinion of him change? because Gabe did the right thing and it effected him? its confusing
I'm not sure it comes down to me blindly supporting Neville Brooks out of friendship. I think it is more a matter of trying to speak out on right vs. wrong. And I don't think I am overly critical of Sgt. Laureano either, except for my comments about his PJ's, and that is an issue I have not only with him, but many members of HPD. Not to go off track, but every officer at HPD needs to realize that their first commmitment is to their primary job as a police officer in the City of Hartford. As a taxpayer I don't think we are getting our moneys worth from officers when thay are burned out from working 50 or 60 hours a week in side jobs on top of their 40 hours for their assigned shifts. That may have muddied the waters by me saying that in the posts about the Rudewicz Report, but it is something I strongly believe.
I have never really met or even spoke with Sgt. Laureano except for one night when an officer offered to buy me a coffee, after I declined I saw the nametag "Laureano".
Personality conflicts exist in just about every organization, and I am not sure what happened between Laureano and Brooks. I think it is clear that Chief Horvath, rather than acting like a professional manager and getting to the bottom of the issue, escalated the situation and dragged Laureano into the middle of the mess. Like I posted earlier today, don't you find it odd that Laureano is pretty much the only rank and file member that figures prominently in the report?
If there really was an IAD Steering Committee in place as the Wasserman report stated, why did it take so long for any of the Assistant Chief's to chime in and identify the problem. And where were the 3 memos that Lt. Brooks apparently wrote back to Chief Horvath responding to Laureano's claims and explaining why Gerrity rights and other techniques were used on Chief Sansom? Are those not pertinent to a fair investigation, or were they ever even given to Rudewicz?
And even if Lt. Brooks may have mismanaged IAD, it is far more troubling that Assistant Chief Dryfe intentionally removed files from IAD. And apparently when he was questioned about it during the investigation he claimed he was still working on the cases from what I have been told. First off, what authority does he have to be doing that and secondly does he not have enough to keep him occupied as Chief in Cheshire that he needs to be working on HPD cases? Does anyone really buy that excuse? Where are the Chief's on that issue? Brooks actions may have been incompetence, Dryfe's actions I would venture to say may potentially be criminal. Where is the outcry over that or is it another example of those in the Chief's complex protecting their own as Brooks originally claimed?
I am loyal to my friends and I don't apologize for that, but in the end the facts are the facts and it comes down to a simple matter of what is right and what is wrong, and this whole thing stinks.
Kevin, I agree you should not apologize for being loyal to your friends. I consider Sgt. Laureano a friend and I also consider Lt. Brooks a friend, thus my predicament. It would appear that errors were made by Lt. Brooks, were they malicious? I don’t know. It would appear that the ball was dropped by several people.
I did overhear Lt. Brooks talking negatively about Sgt. Laurerano I spoke to him about my concerns regarding the negative comments. Lt Brooks never spoke negatively about Sgt. Laureano, in my presence after that.
Do I think Lt. Brooks is/was upset about not being promoted? Yes. Do I also believe that this was the beginning of the end for him in IAD? Yes.
Any officer who is summoned upstairs to answer questions has a duty and responsibility to answer them truthfully. Why are we bashing Sgt. Laureano for doing his duty? Kevin I am confident that if Sgt. Laureano failed to tell the truth in his interview you and all the others would be asking for his head, for lying.
You make mention of Sgt. Laureano working a lot of private duty road jobs, yet you make no mention as to whether any of his reports or investigations suffered from this. Having worked/discussed cases with him I can tell you I never saw any of his cases suffer.
After reading the report I too question why more information was not included. After conducting 45 interviews they chose to signal out a handful of people, documenting minor offenses, yet failing to address some of the greater issues.
That then, Officer Reynolds, allegedly used a racial slur. That then, Sgt. Ford allegedly showing favoritism towards Lt. Pleasant in a citizen compliant. Neither of those allegations were ever proven. What about Robles stealing money, what about the treatment of Detective Condon? Those are greater issues befalling HPD yet no mention is made of them anywhere in the report.
Dryfe should be arrested for removing and knowingly withholding sensative documents Plain and simple.
Marcum LLP was used and scammed, shame on them for allowing it. If integrity was a pinnacle of their organization then it just went down like a twinkle at fat camp. It was tailored to fit the exact needs of the city and their agenda. It was made to make Lt. Brooks look totally incompetent and the Chief even more incompetent. They crafted it to limit their liability in any future litigation, and ignored the powder keg that is still waiting to explode at 50 Jennings Rd.
What the Mayor did at his press conference was a disservice to the tax payers and the police officers who
work at HPD. To spend hard earned tax payers money and give them a watered down version of the facts is a serious issue and shows a total lack of transparency. Maybe Pedro should look up what that word means in a book called Webster's Dictionary, in case he can't find one I'll help him out it's say according to Merriam-Websters (on line version) transparent #2 a. "free from pretense or deceit." What he did was pretentious and definitely
deceitfully. If he really cared about his Cops he would of allowed Frank to look at everything that was discovered by the investigation there are a lot more serious issues left untouched and will bite the city in the ass in the end once again, costing the tax payers more money and the department more embarrassment. This was an opportunity to flush the toilet and get rid of the floaters and really clean the bowl. An opportunity for the Mayor to be a true leader but instead he stumbled and fell into the same footsteps of the previous corrupt administration, oh wait he kept some of the same people from that era, that explains it. It looks like the tail wags the dog at city hall.
I am sure that the police union is rethinking their endorsement of Pedro, they went out on a limb in my opinion, and endorsed him and still no contract I am sure that their leadership will not play nice to much longer. With this sham and no contract I am sure the Police union members are not going to remain silent at the next meeting. Pedro the least you could do with all of your talk about public safety is to take care of the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to make you and the rest of your administration look good. With all of the recent back door deals and political mess this city is in it makes you wonder why no one wants to live or do business in the Capital City, maybe the Governor can bail him out of this one again like he did with the Shawn Wooden deal.
Hey Pedro next time you are going to lie on camera maybe you should practice in the mirror your eyes told a different story. The city of Hartford deserves better. You appear to be an educated man but I didn't realize you are blind. Keep using your seeing eye dogs (no names need to be mentioned) to get around the City of Hartford. BE WARE OF THE DOGS. Yes you too can get bit.
Hey Pedro next time you are going to lie on camera maybe you should practice in the mirror your eyes told a different story. The city of Hartford deserves better. You appear to be an educated man but I didn't realize you are blind. Keep using your seeing eye dogs (no names need to be mentioned) to get around the City of Hartford. BEWARE OF THE DOGS. Yes you too can get bit.
It will be intresting to see what the city does knowing the names of the former employees who removed city documents, especially ones from internal affairs which could have an effect on that employees future employability.
Removal of city records is a criminal offense and not to follow up would be just a criminal, and to think they made DKR leave because of his failure to act and correct problems witin the PD,sounds familiar. Pedro don't be afraid to take action because one of those employees mother has influence in the north end, do the right thing for once. Oh yeah shame on Frank and his merry band of thieves, former FBI agents,a retired Chief and an active commander of Boston IAD, you discover criminal activity
and turn a blind eye to and don't report it the the states
attorneys office you should all turn in your badges and be ashamed for selling your ethics for such a small price.
I am pretty sure if it was a Brooks supporter or a Hector Robles there would be a warrant waiting to be served. Hartford at it's finest.
The Dryfes removed files from IAD???? and to think these are two people who arrested numerous Americans throughout their opolice careers. I ddont get isnt that criminal???? Removing sensitive police files Kevin I am so happy that we have this blog it shows just how corrupted the city is how corrupted the mayor is and all the bullshit that goes on the pd. Im telling you man I dont advocate violence but the shit that these people are doing an ASS WHOOPING is required Im talking Rocky 3 Rocky Balboa Clubber Lang (MR. T)the first fight ass whooping this shit is disgusting there will never be Morale in a immoral place Shonuff!!!!! Ill never forget when Sergeant Dryfe chewed me out when i first started the job and that woman was stealing files?????
Kevin, in your reply u felt u had to remind HPD that their primary responsibility is to their full time position. Well if the city paid HPD what they are worth compared to other departments officers might start to give a shit AND HPD will start to attract some better quality applicants instead of the bottom of the gene pool. But the city pays HPD like crap so they are forced to work 30 - 40 hours a week extra @ STRAIGHT TIME to earn a decent living. I'm surprised u went down that road because I normally agree with 99% of ur posts.
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