Search This Blog

Monday, February 11, 2013

WE DESERVE BETTER

This may surprise you but this post is not going to be about snowplowing, even though I will be the first to say we deserve better in that regard.

No this is going to be about the people we hire to serve the residents of Hartford, and are they here to build their pensions and just collect a paycheck or are they truly public servants.

These thoughts started from a phone cal I received early this morning. It was from someone questioning why a Ford Crown Victoria Police Car with a City of Hartford "HFD" municipal plate was able to pass them every morning on I-91 south, using the HOV lane with only one person in the car. They recognized the driver of the car as Andrew Jaffee, Hartford's Emergency Teleommunications Department Head.. The caller said the vehicle routinely passes them almost every morning headed into Hartford.

I replied to the caller that the bigger question to me was why Jaffee would be on 91 Southbound every morning when as a Department Head, Jaffee, claims to be a Hartford resident as required by his contractand the City Charter. That Jaffee would ignore his contractual obligations to Hartford, especially while the City is under a State of Emergency, seems to be a matter that the Mayor needs to address immediately.

If Jaffee is not living in his Woodland Street Condo, as he has told community members when asked at numerous meetings, but instead goes home to his Suffield home every night, he is perpetrating a fraud on the taxpayers of Hartford and should be gone. The daily journey's in the HOV lane would seem to prove the latter.

Other questions arise also. Why does Jaffee feel he has the privledge to break Connecticuts's laws and drive in the HOV lane as a single passenger in a vehicle that looks like a police car, complete with red and blue lights and antenna. Jaffee is not a police officer now and does not have the legal right to abuse the privilege that most commuters would also like to use.

Jaffe and his Dispatch Center have also been a source of embarrassment for the Mayor and the City. We have a lot of good employees in the Dispatch Center and I am trying not to paint all of them with a wide brush, but since Jaffee took over , several high profile news stories have been embarrassing to Mayor Segarra and his administration, The woman who laid dead in her house for weeks rotting after a dispatcher mishandled a call made national news. Recently  a home invasion Police response in the Southend of Hartford was delayed for hours when a dispatcher mishandled the call,

The call was actually deleted at one point from what high level sources at HPD have told me. The actual dispatch was only properly handled after a family member of the victim called Channel 3 out of frustration.  Reporter Karen Lee actually arrived at the scene before police did.

Jaffee may very well be in over his head. As a sergeant at the Hartford Police Department, Jaffee was known as a "house  mouse" , which is a term that means he was never on the streets as a supervisor but instead handled duties inside Police Headquatrters. Jaffe only supervised a handful of people, mostly handling cell phones, pagers and computers.

Once our felonius Mayor Eddie A. Perez hired Jaffee as the Director of the City's Dispatch Center, and Mayor Segarra kept him on after he took over the Mayor's Office,
he took over a 24 hour a day, 365 day a year operation managing approximately 60-70 employees. A monumental task for anyone, especially someone with very little management skills. Jaffee's predecessor, Gary Stango managed the Department for several years and I don't recall much turmoil under his leadership.

Stango was a retired Lieutenant from the Waterbury Police Department and was given the task of building the newly established Department of Emergency Service Telecommunications  from the ground up.

Jaffee, who was also responsible for the creation of the new Emergency Operations Center in the Public Safety Complex. Sources are telling me that Thursday evening as the Center was preparing for its first use in advance of the Blizzard, there was a mad scramble for WI-FI, since no "dryruns" had been conducted to test the Center. Cell service from what I am told is almost non-existent in the EOC with poor reception.

Wouldn't a full scale test of the EOC had made sense long before it was needed ? That's what managers do, think ahead and have everything ready

For what Jaffee is making through his police pension that he is collecting and his six figure salary, we deserve better for our tax dollars. At least maybe if he lived in Hartford as he has promised us he might feel what we go through daily here as residents.

A full audit of all Department heads needs to be conducted, are they actually Hartford residents? Do they own vehicles and have them registered in Hartford paying taxes on them? Are they registered voters and voting in Hartford?

Like I said, we deserve better.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

He isn't any different then when I use to see the prisioners travel down in special vechiles for their court dates, and they would use the special lane, but if Jaffee is telling the City that he lives in Hartford...this should be checked into,along with other Dept.Management who say they live in the City and don't!

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

at least the prisoner vans meet the legal requirement of 2 or more passengers, Jaffee does not

flush the little turds said...

Jaffe is a good man. He helped me carry my groceries into my house one day. He also possesses the people skills of a seasoned kennedy. You cant blame him or lestor mccoy for plundering the castle while the king is away, everyone else in the city does the same..........and by the way, the mayor better get his check book ready for the HULK check. They will need a dump truck stolen from Wethersfield public works to haul it up to Umass. Maybe we can get one of the D/Cs that likes to 68 firetrucks to help out... liqour optional of course.....

Anonymous said...

Das deparment heds hav big bellies like guana lizard over fed in zoo. Es goin be cloudy daz for us monis payers in sity.

Anonymous said...

Pull the civil suit involving jaffee. he is a fool, he was having some type of affair and went on the news media about it. That is why marquis put him inside, because he is a FOOL.

Anonymous said...

Jaffee was a loser turd when he was a cop and is an even bigger turd now. He is another prime example of this moron city having no idea what they are doing. Good luck Hartford your a joke.

Anonymous said...

Jaffee was never a good cop that's why he ended up inside.Jaffee is a computer geek that's what he's good at.He's not a people person that's why he's having so many problems within his department. He doesn't hold his people accountable when he should that's why his people are running wild within the dispatch center. When Stango was there if his people did something wrong he suspended them or wrote them up with a warning. Asq is off the chain not all of them but most of them. The Supervisor on the shift is a Joke!!!! She's Awful. She's not fair. She has favorites & she sits on the dispatch floor & Gossips & talks about people with her squad!!!!! Jaffee should be ashamed for letting things like that occur..He has cameras & mikes sll over the place what good are they if your not using them..Jaffee is only in this for another pension..

Prado on Watch said...

Ha ha, yes Jaffee is a real piece of shit! He walk high and mighty like he's important. News flash he is no better than the scum sucking welfare bandits in Hartford! He has no clue what he is doing! If it weren't for his former supervisor appointed by Stango Mike Bruce dispatch would really be in shambles. Someone needs to investigate A shift supervisor Bermudez she dates the newly appointed clueless High strung Hightower who sits in dispatch with her DAILY and gossips about fellow police officers and dispatchers. That's real class, Kevin! Bermudez had been written up by her 'kindergartners' several times since the new year and nothing has been done. Jaffee only cares about defrauding the system and making his money. Someone should follow him, you'll see he is just a lying scheming city of Hartford corrupt crook!

Anonymous said...

I see him leave every morning and return every night to his West Suffield home..

Hot sista said...

Hightower needs to be barred from dispatch. Who does he think he is, Ohhhh i forgot, someone with rank. Bermudez is ok, what about all the other drama queens in here that think they are the first lady or something.......I come to work to get paid, not to hang out and talk about food and geting my hair done........enough people!!!!

Patty Suarez said...

Yes, you are so right! A fashion show the center has become. And sorry Bermudez is a joke, come on who else dresses that sleazy and struts around like a cheap hooker.
Kevin, this place has more issues than Jaffee misleading the city or how the new Dc Hightower forgot he was only promoted because he was friendly with the new chief and did not rise thru the ranks like others. So stop blowing smoke Hightower you are not anything special. You and Bermudez deserve each other both shysters! Good luck to everyone. Thankfully my journey ends here soon!

Anonymous said...

There are detective units that do not have a vehicle, and have to utilize patrol units to privide them with rides, thereby taking a uniform patrol officer away from answering calls for service.