Several Hartford families have been the victims of hoaxes by scammers this week. An elderly southend couple was ripped off after they let four men posing as MDC workers into their home Monday evening. The men stole several thousand dollars from an unlocked safe under the couples bed.
All utility workers carry photo ID, most are dressed in uniforms and driving marked company vehicles.Be sure to check identities before letting anyone into your home, especially if you aren't expecting a service call from a utility.
Also making the rounds is a scam where people are getting phone calls telling them that a family member has been involved in an accident and being held hostage in exchange for a ransom. The ransom is usually a relatively small amount of a few hundred dollars. The call may be originating from a Puerto Rico phone exchange.
If you receive a ransom call, be sure to notify the Hartford Police at 860-757-4000
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7 comments:
Both incidents are bothersome. However, the situation where the police are called for a home invasion and do not respond for several hours would typically have a community in uproar. Where is our community? Where are our leaders? Is it the victims fault in Hartford. Is this a message we should accept as citizens. It should not be accepted in any community. I am sure the elderly couple has lived there for years. Additionally, this is near a park that many people visit. I'm two seconds from crossing the Hartford line so I no longer have to worry about what Hartford sees as minor mishaps and granted this can happen anywhere. Unfortunately, it happens too often in Hartford with little to no action or good results. Do we know why people do not vote because nothing ever changes. I think some of them care but not enough of them live in real Hartford neighborhoods to understand what the average Hartford citizen deals with on a daily basis. Tonight, I am thankful this elderly couple is left unharmed but no deserves to be left without answers after this type of violation and disregard for their phone call to the Hartford Police.
Anonymous,
There will be a much more detailed posting on this in the next couple days, but your posting should not be mentioning "police" any where in it, the screwups here were caused by the Dispatch Center, which unfortunately is totally seperate from the Police Department. The Dispatch Center is a totally seperate department from the PD, under the direction of the Department Head Andrew Jaffe who has turned the Department into a disaster since the previous director Gary Stango left. The outrage by the Community should have started when Jaffe's Depertment allowed a woman to lay dead and decomposing in her house for weeks, and now here we go again with this incident. I am sure Jaffe would not be around if that were the Mayor's house or a relative of his that was victimized. And you are exactly right, as poorly as that call was handled by the dispatch Center, we should be thankful the elderly couple were not injured and laying on their kitchen floor for two hours waiting for a police response while the call was being mishandled. As far as the police response once the call was given to them, it was exceptional. I was there and saw it first hand. The area Lieutenant, Lt Allan, actually came in from home to deal with the family and reassure them, Lt Foley came in to deal with the media and burglary detectives, police officers and supervisors were going door to door in 20 degreee weather and freezing rain to try to develop information and canvass for witnesses. It is very sad when Channel 3 can get to a serious crime scene before the police, but put the blame where it lies, squarely in Andrew Jaffee's lap and the 911 dispatch Center.
Kevin,
Not disagreeing with you-at all. But correct me if I'm wrong--I thought I heard that when the victims called 911, they made no mention to any kind of burglary, break in or active threat..? Im assuming the dispatcher coded it as a low priority-which was probably the cause of the delay..?
Also, if the "victims" were THAT worried, you'd think they'd call 911 again-NOT Channel 3 News!!! During her interview, the woman of the house voluntarily admitted to calling Channel 3 because the "police took too long". COME ON.
You want the cops running to your house for every low priority call??? Then stop jumping at every chance to publicly blast them.
did you read my comment? where did I publicly blast the police? these screwups are happening far too often. there was a language barrier originally which started the confusion, the victims daughter called about 20 minutes after the first call and from what I am told, the call wasn't recoded as an "A" call, high priority, I was also told today that it appears as though the call may have actually been deleted at one point. HPD is not to blame here at all. And as far as calling channel 3, where do you suggest people turn when they wait 2 hours for a response to a home invasion, that call got the job done, didn't it?
Oh no, Kevin, I'm sorry you misunderstood-that blasting police comment was by no means directed towards you. It was was to the homeowners, and the public in general. It bothers me that people will tear cops apart alllll day long, but don't even think twice about calling for their help when in trouble. If you feel that the call to Channel 3 was warranted, Ill take your word for it-you know more about this specific situation-and Hartford's issues in general. I was also unaware that there was actually a 2nd call made to police. And you're right, it got the job done-just at the expense of the police officers (kind of like if the cook screws up a meal, the waitress takes the heat). The news didn't dig deep enough to find out where the ball was dropped, like you did.
And I guess that's what fueled my post-everyone is so quick to "blast" the police when any little thing goes-or appears to go-wrong, I just wish that we could see more of what goes right.
Mr.Brookman regarding the second call made by the daughter who informed the call taker that her parents were robbed that call was put in as a (A) call to notify the dispathcher of the update information the dispatcher looked at it then cancelled the information call and never sent it out. She is a new dispathcher who was just signed off probation even though their was some quesrions about her ability to do the job
Thanks for the information, I have been able to confirm that the call at one point was actually deleted. Let's see how much of the truth will actually be in Mr. Jaffe's final report
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