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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

IT'S OFFICIAL ,OFF INTO THE SUNSET

Despite  some half -hearted efforts to salvage the HPD Mounted Unit, tomorrow is the unit's final day. As the old saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way, but apparently the will wasn't there by the Bronin Administration to save what may be HPD's best public relations tool.

How much more our identity as a City are we willing to sacrifice, Riverfest, cultural events and now the HPD mounted unit. How many of our corporations had been contacted for help. One high ranking official from a local corporation that I spoke with stated they would have been more than willing to help but they had "virtually no communications from Mayor Bronin or his staff", Sad.

According to sources at HPD, the remaining two horses, Daley and Toohey have been donated to the Connecticut Governor's Horse Guard unit, who will take over the maintenance and care of the horses. Apparently, the other equipment (saddles, trailers, vehicles, etc)as well as the stables will be kept by HPD on the hopes that if and when police staffing  gets back to proper levels, the unit can be reconstituted.

Despite campaign promises by Mayor Luke Bronin to hire as many as 70 officers in his first year, no officers have been hired yet. Bronin is now in his second year as Mayor. As of June of this year, HPD may be short more than 145 officers


34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Send Ricardo Torres and the CPRB packing, they did nothing besides milk the city for money. They are a complete circus of overpaid clowns. Use the CPRB money, well over $100k yearly, and put that towards the mounted unit.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Too late. But apparently the Board has some different ideas how that $100,000 should be spent. Stay tuned

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Too late. But apparently the Board has some different ideas how that $100,000 should be spent. Stay tuned

Anonymous said...

It begs the question, how is Hartford better off after 1 year under Bronin? Segarra set a really low bar and Bronin has fewer cops on the streets, a worse bond rating, a still empty stadium, a state finding the city failed to properly fund education and on, and on. This administration has to stop listening to themselves and take a look around and see what they (not the state) has done for the people of Hartford.

Anonymous said...

Kevin,didn't they save a "whopping" $45,000 a year by laying off animal control officer DeGenova ? Go figure,I thought that savings would have helped. Please have your children cover their eyes. LUKE BRONIN IS A F#%KING A$&HOLE !!!!

Anonymous said...

9:18pm

You left off a fraud and a liar also

Oopsy Duppsy said...

@7:47

Answer to questions:

* fewer cops on the street means Hartford is broke. Do you need me to say this in another language?
* Empty stadium and it's winter, buddy. Did you ever play baseball in the winter in one foot of snow? And it's not his baby or did you forgetaboutit?
* Funding education? Do you know that Hartford has spent one billion over 20 years and test scores have not improved. Drop out rates remain high. Guess what, try blaming the dysfunctional mommies and daddies who send dysfunctional kiddies to school. Don't blame the commitment of dedicated teachers and school rebuilds.

Your comments do not hold up under scrutiny. The mayor has been making the rounds of surrounding communities with little success. He is approaching the problems the right way. After all options have been exhausted, then he can make a strong case to allow the state to take over Hartford. This is inevitable. Does anyone want to bet me? Bring it on just have your money in a neutral so I can take the winnings.

Anonymous said...

What's a CPRB ?

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Citizen Police Review Board

Anonymous said...

Kevin: The CPRB spent more than $100,000--closer to $180,000--on the two investigator firms last year. But they didn't renew one of the contracts. Didn't "like their work."

Anonymous said...

Another homicide in Hartford last night. Anyone counting? Is it homicide number 5 or number 6 so far this year?

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Actually number 7

Anonymous said...

Civilian Police Review Board. Is Torres paid for his "work?"

Anonymous said...

It's all one big scam. A broke city on the verge of bankruptcy can not and should not be paying for these clowns that in the end have no bearing or say in these investigations.

Anonymous said...

at 4:52 PM: The latest homicide was Hartford HOMICIDE NUMBER SIX of 2017, and it ain't summer yet.

Anonymous said...

Kevin I noticed you never mentioned on your blog that the city of hartford had to pay citizen Ty Outlaw 450K for a lawsuit that one of your favorite officers was found guilty for violating his civil rights its public information but I'm sure you won't post this comment

Anonymous said...

That's old "news", like March of 2016. Sorry, but nobody cares dude.

Anonymous said...

Kevin is it true the Shooting Task Force was recently disbanded and its members sent to other units in the department?

Anonymous said...

Good all they did was suck up overtime putting the city in bigger debt costing the taxpayers millions while getting nothing done bring back the state police they were honest

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

9:19PM

I wish people would at least try to educate themselves before they start slamming HPD. If you think the Mounted Unit cost us money, you might want to find out what the State Police cost the City when they came in. Every State Trooper that came into the City had to be paired with a Hartford Officer on overtime. And do you even know what the annual cost of the Mounted Unit is/was annually? I seriously doubt it if you think it was millions.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

6:50PM

I know there have been some changes to what was STF, partially due to a greater Federal presence now. I am told that powers to be at City Hall thought the term "Task Force " was oppressive, and therefore the name change. Now , instead of a Task Force, it is a "Violence Reduction Team". Maybe so we can still say we have a team if the Yard Goats don't actually materialize as a team. I will find out more specifics for you this week if I can

Anonymous said...

Look at the homicide rate since the big change from STF model to Focused Violence Reduction Team model. Your result, the most homicides in over 10 years at this time period. The streets talk, they aren't afraid anymore. I guess money is more important than lives.

Anonymous said...

State Police have no clue how to police an urban environment, exactly what criminals want.

Anonymous said...

Detective Rovella

Kevin the STF name was changed because no one wanted the unit associated with the current investigation involving The assault of a handcuffed prisoner. As far as the shortage of officers - its pretty funny that they police department cancelled the scheduled class that was supposed to start a few weeks ago?

When is Hartford gonna figure out they have a chief who retired early and never rose past the rank of Detective. Good Lord Foley passed more tests and promotion exams than the guy he works for!

I forgot you love Rovella like Chris Mathews loved Obama.

Anonymous said...

Dear Feb 21st...the latest Academy class started on Tuesday, Feb 21. I'm so happy you're so in the know with what goes on in our department. Good job.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

FYI From Chief Foley:

On Tuesday February 21, 2017 the Hartford Police Department began its first police academy recruit class of 2017. This is by far our most diverse class our academy has ever seen.

The following is a racial breakdown of the 2017 Hartford Police Recruit Class:

16 Recruits

10 are Hispanic or Black 62.5%
6 are White 37.5%

4 Hispanic Males
2 Black Males
4 Hispanic Females
1 White Female
5 White Males

5 Women
11 Males

Anonymous said...

If Foley is issuing the race and gender breakdown, why didn't he mention the Mayor Bronin no haircut rule that applies to the new recruits?

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

No haircut rule? This should be good, details?

Anonymous said...

How many qualified candidates were passed over so that the police department may hire minorites in order to make the class "diverse". Look at what happened in New Orleans in the late 80s because of such practices. Hire the best qualified candidates regardless of race.

Anonymous said...

Traditionally, the recruit class would all cut their hair VARY short. It is the “shaved” look, no different than the military. The primary reason for this is to have the recruits look the same, no matter what ethnicity they are. If they look the same then you take away the individuality of each one. This is where they start to learn how working as a team is beneficial as opposed to working as one. Police work is a multifaceted job. Police Officer work and make decisions on their own for the most part. Then there are times when the officer works in conjunction with other police officers in a unified response. At any given moment the officers who are working on their call for service may have to break away if they can and respond to an officer in distress. If you don’t “anchor” this mind set in, you’re going to have dead cops. Minimum staffing for the city, 21 cars. A call for help goes out for an officer fighting for his/her life. All the other cops with the individual mindset, “Hey, I have a report to do, someone else will go.” Now no one goes. That is the individual mind set. It was stated, that the mayor, and city council does not want the “shaved” look. That this is the reason the city cannot get residents to apply. It was also stated that, the residents know this and that’s why they don’t want to apply. It was further stated that the residents if they had to cut their hair, would loose their “ethnic identity”. That’s funny to me. Because when I look at other officers, all is see is BLUE. My family of brothers and sisters who even though I don’t always agree with. I will give my all for each and every one of them to get them home to their families. The City of Hartford is one of the oldest Police Departments in the state. Older than the Connecticut State Police. The city has a lot of tradition. The city had also shown that we can grow and change with the current climate of political correctness, and adapt to the current court rulings. But for the politicians to single out the grooming standard of the basic academy is really none of their business. This administration has much larger issues that need their attention, than how short the recruit’s hair is. The overall climate of frustration from the average patrol officer for feeling abused and unappreciated. The officer told that if they are patrol they are not good cops. Only the good cops are investigators. Ya know, the ones who pay for favors and get elevated to the “gold” badge, (detective) and are put on pedestals. The ones who are hand selected not based on their work, but a check box. A lot of those people are not really good investigators, and were not very good street officers. It is all who you know. There are officers that are lazy in patrol, but there are an over whelming number of officer that are GOOD officers, hardworking officers that make a difference. Those hard working officers all had to cut their hair in the academy, and they know what a “Team” is. Most everything in the academy that is done, is for a reason. There is training and teaching point to it. It is not just to haze, or punish the recruits for a person’s entertainment. There is a training value. Not only a job lesson, but some life lessons as well. The average civilian and politician would not know what intestinal fortitude is. The academy is rewiring the recruits brain in a way, so they will have the confidence to “Run toward the violence” to help save an innocent civilian. Not to run away for their own self-preservation. Not like our mayor who I could draw a comparison to Dicky Blumenthal and his past.

By the way Luke, Nice interview, well prepared I see. Danny boy was also just as entertaining.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

3:44PM

Is the haircut issue true? I asked Chief Foley about it yesterday when I started getting calls, Foley said it wasn't true and he also said he asked Chief Rovella about it and that it wasn't true

Anonymous said...

It is absolutely true, why do they deny it? Are they embarrassed?

Anonymous said...

It is a fact that the Chief instructed the academy Lt. that she can not order the recruit's to shave their heads. SMH
Why doesn't city hall stay out of police academy instruction that it knows nothing about and learn how to get HTFD out of debt. That's what they are supposed to be experts in, not involving themselves in areas they know nothing about. Honestly, it's one thing after another.

Sgt. I Like my Job said...

did you really hear the Chief say that? or is this another one of the Lt Mertes fabrications that she is well known for (and well documented also). I would like to say more but I like where I am at