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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

THE END OF THE DOWNTOWN SPECIAL ?

Every weekend a contingent of Hartford Police officers are hired on overtime to maintain order in the streets surrounding the bars near Union Place as the bars are running and for a while after they close to control the crowds. The area has been the source of quite a few shootings and gunfire as well as fights and general drunken behavior. The "Downtown Special" as the assignment of officers is called seems to do a decent job of quelling the potential violence.

Apparently this past weekend after word of raises for the Mayor and his Chief of Staff started making the rounds it didn't sit well with people. As the previous posting detailed, Hartford Police officers have been working without a contract and also without raises for nearly two years. Apparently the Mayor's handling of his raise and the $20,000 raise for his Chief of Staff made some officers sick. The "Downtown Special" assignment seems to have went home sick Saturday night.

That has now created another problem as HPD sources are telling me that the "Downtown Special" has now been cancelled indefinitely.

I have a couple problems with this. First off, it used to be that cruisers were pulled from several neighborhoods to block off streets and control traffic usually from around midnight to after 2:00am when the bars emptied out. I always felt that was done at the expense of the neighborhoods that deserved those cruisers to be patrolling the neighborhoods they were assigned to.

More importantly though is why this is allowed to be such a burden on the HPD budget. Roughly $5,000 is spent every weekend from the Police overtime budget to facilitate the "Downtown Special". That is money that should be spent elsewhere, no other neighborhood, with the exception of the "North Main detail", has the luxury of this type of coverage.

The North Main detail was instituted to patrol the area of North Main Street after many complaints of unruly behavior, traffic problems, public urination and other quality of life issues from the club patrons on North main Street.

If the bars are creating the problem, shouldn't they be paying for the solution? In cities like Springfield, MA, it seems like every club has two officers hired for the doors of the clubs to maintain order. Why aren't we doing that in Hartford? There probably aren't two many clubs in the Union Place area that couldn't be classified as a "nuisance" and be required to hire officers if they want to remain open.

I don't think this was the way to get the Mayor's attention. I would have suggested informational picketing at every stop Mayor Segarra makes until a union contract is signed. The Mayor is very image conscious and anything questioning his leadership would most likely prove embarrassing and result in some serious negotiations.

It also puts the other officers in danger anytime the HPD is short staffed. Without the downtown special, regular patrol units would have to answer any calls for service in the Union Place area and the show of force for an area with thousands of bar patrons, many highly intoxicated at 2:00am, just won't be there and it could result in officers getting injured.

I am quite confident that Mayor Segarra is aware that we routinely lose officers to other agencies, many times based purely on better pay and benefits. That cost the City of Hartford quite a bit when you consider the investment that is made in recruiting, testing , academy training and ongoing training. The raises at a time like this for the Mayor and his Chief of Staff are wrong and so is stalling the HPD Union contract.

Some true leaders need to step up and get this done before it hurts the residents of Hartford more.

A request for comment from HPD has not been received yet, if and when a comment is received, I will post it here. In the meantime, West Hartford Center might be the safer bet for your weekend entertainment

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give it a few shootings and well see what the PD and Mayor think about cancelling the downtown special.

Anonymous said...

The entry of the bar patrons at 0200am is a disaster. Its a complete traffic mess, plus you have drunk out of towners that have little or no respect for authority. Mix some alcohol and a fair amount of gun happy locals, and you have a steaming pot of %&**%%. Remeber the numerous papas shootings..Wait till the criminals find out there is no authority downtown.

Anonymous said...

Downtown Special is classified as ''blood money'' by the officers. Its the toughest detail. I have personally worked it and it is either dead as a doornail, or like the end of Animal House. The problem is ..1. bars sway problems onto the streets for the police to deal with the problem..2. most problem people are from out of town and have little or no respect for authority. 3. The bars need to stop hiring security with fight glooves and size small shirts, who are lookin and enciting violence.

Liquor Commission said...

Im sure the bar (Pour house) that has ties of ownership to a certain hpd sgt is well protected.......

Anonymous said...

Maybe when a trinity student gets beaten up outside a bar, changes will happen, but wait, just blame the police...Its our job to protect every singles drunken underage out of towner that comes to hartford to take a crap..

Anonymous said...

ohhhhhhh. I know who runs the pour house..Must be nice...technology these days is quite amazin.....

Anonymous said...

Since the Whale games sell out every game to a crowd of about 1,500, there should be little or no impact

Anonymous said...

The downtown area in the late evening is a lovely place to take your wife and kids. Plenty of open restaurants, parking, and helpfull city residents.
I also think the trnsit system is amoung the best....

Anonymous said...

No one complains when bum gets beat up, but wait till someone blows away some drunk college student downtown.. With no police presense, it will happen...look at papas.

Anonymous said...

The Liquor commission needs to enforce drinking after 2am. Its ok for off duty police but when i do it, im locked up..

the rock says... said...

This Weekend Downtown....

Forecast.. cloudy with an 80% chance of SHOTS FIRED!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Why are the businesses downtown crying anyways. Next it will be the fault of the police because people are scared to come downtown....Reality is most people are, except for bums and transients.......but not my problem I party in sprinfield !!!

Anonymous said...

So they want to make booking civilians, like dispatch... good move that was. Just make sure there are plenty of microwaves and bibles around...

the toliet said...

Making booking civilians would be a big mistake by the city. It will cost a ton in lawsuits....but then again the city loves to pay out. I actually have one pending and it will cost six figures. ....

Anonymous said...

With no cops downtown, why dont they make the downtown cso's and conditions unit work the detail, then watch them all transfer back to patrol....

The Big Biscuit said...

I think you need a seperate blog item about the raises for the Mayor and his "assistant". With a $50,000,000 deficit should anyone be getting a raise?

Anonymous said...

Maybe if HPD didn't beat people up, the city wouldn't have to spend money on lawyers protecting bad cops, and spend money on payouts in civil rights cases, and the boys in blue could get their raises and their downtown special overtime.

Anonymous said...

The Union President has no business making unilateral decisions that adversely affect the officers who work here. If he wants to make a point do it with the union memberships approval, not some stunt that ends up costing union members.

the magic eight ball said...

Im sure once the Downtown area turns into a scene out of boyz in the hood, we will then send in the Dark Knight to save the day.....


(the dark knight is not Reathis)

Anonymous said...

No contract, good way to boost morale Mr. Mayor, u r a true patriot. Why don't we donate some of that raise money to fix the crumbling ecomnomy of Hartford. Oh wait I forgot, u just want that judge position. who cares about the citizens.. I can guarantee that the next mayor will do a better job.

Anonymous said...

So how can Mayor Pedro expect to get a judge position when he takes tax payer money. If you intend to donate it, make it public. I don't trust any politicians. Prove your honestly and integrity. Also sign the police contract, seriously two years, how long do you actually think before picketing starts and you look like a idiot on channel 3. tick tick tick ....

Anonymous said...

Its time kevin, get len form channel 3 to do a story on this nonsense of two years without a contract.....New Haven police marched, we will if it comes to it...MAKE THE CALL

Anonymous said...

Numerous Democratic political conventions will be taking place in and around Hartford in the next several weeks. The HPD Union membership should be picketing at every one of them. What good, loyal Democrat would cross a union picket line?

I am sure Congressman Larson would not look favorably on Segarra's management if his Convention is disrupted because of a 2 year delay in a contract agreement.

It is time to turn up the heat and expose Segarra and his over paid Chief of Staff for what they are, incompetent frauds.

Anonymous said...

So who might the Dark Night be?

Anonymous said...

Chilly could not even fit into the bat suit, let alone instill fear into the hearts of the criminal underworld of downtown Hartford. You are better off geting the Uconn mascot to fight crime......

Anonymous said...

So i guess the conditions teams will be forced to work the downtown detail. But now the stats will be suffering in other areas of the city. We shall see how long this lasts for. I would rather scrub toliets at headquarters then work downtown everyweek....

Anonymous said...

i used to drink downtown, but since they opened all these rap clubs, it is quite scarey to go with my friends. I rather go to new haven. At least there cops pack heat in the clubs....

Dept. Of Health said...

Around 2am Saturday nite, is a very safe and orderly environment downtown. I dont know what is worse, the shots fired or the nasty hot dog karts.
( there is no way that each of those karts is cleaned each day )

Anonymous said...

Who would ever eat from a cart where the person doing the serving doesn't have hot water to wash their hands. Scratch his buns serve you a dog. I wouldn't go downtown for anything after dark. Hartford is a real big crap hole and I wish even after 37 years of living here I could move.

Anonymous said...

downtown detail is going to be staffed by cso and other resources within the department. not to many people pleased about the change of assignment. cso will not be addressing your neighborhood concerns as they are tasked with. they will not be attending your communioty meetings. they are chosen for there unique ability to communicate with the community to be placed in cso positions. they are there to resolve your unique neighborhhod problems. for now they will be tasked with the downtown special and other activites the deapartment doesnot want to pay for. again only the neighborhoods suffer to save a few dollars so the people not from hartford can enjoy themselves and are not concerned what happens in hartford neighborhhods. dont be surprised all the freindly officers you know will be a little on edge after working deatails like this one for the years to come. also notice the officer you have come to know will be transfering at an alarming rate. i think this is what city hall is trying to do to put all officers back in patrol and not the neighborhoods. i know the publisher can choose to post this but the comminuity needs to be made aware of this. guess you should contact lt. jason thody on the matter. like he has ethics.