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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

AND HERE WE GO

For anyone that follows the comments on the blog, parking at the new Public Safety Complex is turning out to be a big issue.

This was a project that was put on the planning table by a corrupt administration and three groundbreakings were held  before the funding was ever in place,  probably to make it look like they were doing something. A full floor was cut off the building, a full level was cut off the proposed parking garage and many other areas were scaled back, including the community room and the roll call room for patrol officers, which now could probably be used as a phone booth if they were still around. The Emergency Operations Center  takes up a large part of the facility, even though it will hardly ever be used.

Back to the parking, the gravel unpaved lots around the new building are being used for parking for the police officers personal cars. The lots are not secured and are not well lit or very accomodating. Last night marked the first officers car that was broken into while he was working and the glove box was rifled through and the cars registration taken. That is probably a little unnerving to the officer knowing that someone now may have his home address and personal information, depending how he registered his vehicle.

At least one Deputy Chief is showing leadership by example and he has begun parking in the same unpaved lot that the officer's are requiired to park in foregoing his private spot in the elevated , secure garage.

Sometimes you have to wonder how other cities and towns like New Britain, seem to get it right almost effortlessly while Hartford continues to trip over itself at almost every step.

It also seems that someone forgot to notice the building faces east and Teleserve Officers are blinded in the morning as the sun rises without any blinds on the windows.Now you would think that someone who was overseeing the construction might think to himself, "gee, this lobby is awfully bright in the morning, we might need to order some blinds".

 Nope.Maybe he didn't arrive from Suffield before the sun rose.  I was a little surprised during the walk through of the building at the location of the property room on the ground level. One look up and all I saw were mechanicals, plumbing pipes, heating and cooling pipes, waste water. Any one of which would damage an awful lot of evidence if and when a pipe breaks.

All in all it is better than 50 Jennings Road, but it would have been nice to see it working right from the start. We ask an awful lot of our police officers, is a paved lot too much to give them in return?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Imagine how unnerving this is to the wife of a police officer. Not only does she have to worry about his personal safety while he's working, now she has to worry about her children and her own.

kermit the frog said...

Jaffee is to blame for a lot of this. He thinks its funny to make a janitor closet into a role call room. The 3ft fence surrounding a gravel lot is a complete embarassment. Morale is very low once again. City Hall complains there is no money, but the council members want to make 90k a year? Corruption is plentiful in this here city. .......

springfield bar fight said...

If the gravel lot is soo safe, why don't we park all the marked cruisers in there and park our personnel vehicles in the secure rear lot...The personnel property of ofcs is not that important I guess. ANd why are certain priveledged few parking in the rear lot? Certain detectives that think they can do what they want........must be nice to have a sponsor....

occonnor supporter said...

As said before, few drink the wine, while others sip on salt water......

Anonymous said...

Kevin, Im glad this story is here, Its not like the officers have enough stress to worry about in the streets, now add the security at their own station. Thisv is not good, the Union is involved now, the media knows, and yet City hall drags their feet. Why? Politics? not that important?

This issue will not go away or forgotten about. Either now or later, something needs to be done!

Anonymous said...

Let's not mistake what the unnamed DC u mentioned is doing by calling it "leadership" until he starts parking his personal car with his personal effects in the gravel lot. Parking a unmarked cruiser in the same lot as frontline officers is comparing apples and oranges. If something happens to his cruiser, the city will repair it without any hassle. If one of our cars gets damaged, we'll have to weave our way through all of the red tape for to recoup our losses. It's only the beginning for these types of incidents. Wait til the weather gets warmer and there's more people walking down High Street to get to the methadone clinic or on their way to break into non city residents cars that park around the XL Center with all of their personal effects in plain view.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Anonymous @8:25pm,

You know as well as I do that the "unnamed Deputy Chief" would crawl through that lot on his hands and knees if it meant supporting one of his officers, so please don't trivialize his actions. I don't see the Mayor or Chief Operating Officer over there with you correcting the situation

Anonymous said...

HPD now has one of the best HQs in the state. If parking is problem, the Union should do its job and get involved to help the rank and file.

Anonymous said...

The EOc was open today along with the EOC conference room. Did not see anyone in the conference room or any use for it other than to distrubute the donuts someone (hopefully from Fire's budget) bought for the EOC personnel. (They seem to have most of the day watching TV) Meantime, officers are using that closet for a roll call room. Please(!) someone steal Jaffey's keys so officers can have a real roll call room.

Anonymous said...

I really dont care. There is no magic left in this police department anyway. The clicks and politics have poisoned the well beyond repair. To me, as long as my check comes every Friday, I really don't care where I park or who did what.. Management is for it's self, the union is a joke in bed with the Chief and we are no longer a family. So who cares. It is all just a means to an end.

Anonymous said...

Are you talking about the Fire Department or the Police Department? There is absolutely no difference between the two departments in the city of Hartford.