Last night another community meeting was held to address the number of homicides in Hartford. Once again Mayor Luke Bronin showed he was short on solutions, or even ideas. Except maybe to try to discredit me, but that is another posting later for the details.
Hartford's homicide is skyrocketing this year under the leadership, or lack thereof ,of Mayor Luke Bronin. The Hartford Police Department is drastically understaffed and all we hear from Bronin are excuses as to why they can't hire cops. And the shrinking number of Hartford Officers available to patrol our streets is only going to get worse as more officers retire in June and July.. Mayor Bronin paints the image at all of the community meetings as he approached the head table and rolls up his sleeves, making it look like he is ready to do the heavy lifting required of a leader.
But that's all it is, part of a well scripted play in the Bronin's playbook for future advancement. In the meantime people are dying in our streets. And let me be fair, last nights community meeting wasn't even Bronin's idea, It was Council President TJ Clarke who organized the meeting, Bronin was just there to ride Clarke's coattails. Mayor Luke must have been surprised when he showed up and there were no TV cameras there to record his soundbites for future campaigns. Surprise Luke, they were all at the Board of Education meeting.
I almost fully expect Bronin to go back in history to attempt to solve our homicide problem . Luke will probably take a page out of the Mayor Mike handbook and stage a dog and pony show with Connecticut State Troopers as the backdrop. My gut tells me that Bronin will announce that Troopers will be coming in to Hartford to save the day, at least for the summer
Again, no plan for sustainability, just the quick fix. No solutions from Bronin, just turn to Uncle Dannel for help when it gets tough. Troopers are not the answer, a fully staffed and properly supported Police Department is the solution.
We elected people to be leaders, It is time for Luke to start leading, if he is capable, I'm not convinced he has it in him
FROM HPD:
Hartford patrol units responded to the area of 42 King Street in response to Shot Spotter activation (#105750) that recorded six rounds. On arrival, a unresponsive male victim was located lying in the driveway of 38 King Street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso. The victim was transported to Hartford Hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 0130 hours. A crime scene was located and secured by patrol officers. Crime Scene Detectives and Major Crime Detectives responded and assumed control of the investigation.
The victim was positively identified as Jimmy Gonzalez, 23 year old H/M, DOB 1/25/1993, of 63 Webster Street Apt. C-3 Hartford, CT. Detectives Placzek and May were assigned as the lead investigators. Investigation is on-going at this time.
Luke Bronin mentioned you at the meeting last night? I Missed that
ReplyDeleteAlot of heavy hitters last night
ReplyDelete10:53am
ReplyDeleteThat is good to hear you missed it, it shows me that Luke's personal attacks are about as effective as most of his policies have been
Thought you and luke were friends once what happened
ReplyDeleteDeputy chiefs union presidents retired reporters senators councilman certain citizens im trying to figure out why last night meeting wasnt advertised or televised wasit a secret???
ReplyDeleteKevin want to know what will curb the homicides? Getting rid of James "buckshot" Rovella. The epitome of a clueless, uninspiring leader. Ever since the inception of "black lives matter" and trayvon martin incident HPD has been pandering to the kool aid drinking masses. Officers have been brainwashed by the second floor admin and academy to be "guardians" and not warriors. Admins like buckshot immediately took away proactive units such as the conditions teams and began marching with protesters into the lobby of PSC. Once proactive units were dismantled in patrol and patrolman saw the buckshot pandering to rioters, all control and respect was lost. The rumours that trickel out of the chief's complex in regards to buckshot are entertaining and frightening at the same time. But when you have a so called "leader" who is laughed at by his own asst. and depty. cheifs theres clearly a glaring issue. Once patrolmen saw buckshot getting rid of condition teams all hope was lost.
ReplyDeleteFor those who dont know what purpose condition teams served they were a proactive, go getter, specialized unit. They wernt a slave to the radio and they werent running from call to call trying to put a bandaid on a sucking chest wound. Condition teams would conduct motor vehicle stops, conduct surveillance, serve search warrants and address quality of life issues. Once you dismantle proactive teams as such you give low life street crimimals a pass. Once the street level drug dealer, crack head, dope junkie, los solido gangbanger sees the condition teams are gone they now realize its open season for criminal activity. These regular or "career criminals" are not dumb but infact very street savvy. Once they know that the probability of them being stopped by a over worked patrolman is slim to none they fear nothing and conduct their business in the open air. This in turn is a very slippery and deadly slope as shown by homicide #10.
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As for the fact of the shortage of officers in my opinion that is a mute point. Morale in the department should be the #1 issue in buckshots admin. Morale is at the lowest ever since last weeks announcement of detective promotions. Some on the list deserve the promotions but others are a laughing joke. Ill be nice and wont name names but Officers who arent even competent to push a patrol car or are just family / friends of buckshot shouldnt be made detective. These people in the end will be given the most important cases and the most competent people should be solving them not ones who fit the racial criteria that city hall has put into place. When the 400 or so officer in the dept. see these issues people just sigh and say its status quo. Things like promotions to incompetent officers are frightening yo the rest of the deparment. And its says to the rest of the department it doesnt matter what you do, how hard you work and how much you dedicate your life to this job because in the end buckshot will be buckshot and will make decisions that come out of left field. Morale in the patrol division is a laughing joke. Patrolman just dont care anymore. Theres no incetive any longer to bust your ass. Theres no reason to put your life on the line when they know the admin will hang you just as quickly as they promote to fill the racial quota. Patrolman dont want to loos their paycheck, their houses or their assets. Once the city of hartford and buckshot didnt vocally back up their officers and let them hang in the civil court processes all hope was lost. Its easy to be a slave to the radio. Just hide. And wait for your unit to be called. Clear the call. Then hide and wait for the next call. No more incentive to pull a speeding car over, or to stop a known drug dealer. Why becuase in the end the everyday patrolman only cares about himself. When you take away any opportunities to further yourself then people just give up. Its not shocking to see simple patrol calls holding for upwards of 200 to 300 minutes. Are you kidding me??!! If this was a West Hartford or Avon this crap would not be acceptable. But hey do more will less. Ask your everyday patrolman how many times the dispatcher asks can anyone clear?, can anyone put their papers on hold?, can anyone clear? This is a EVERYDAY occurance. Patrol is beaten down everyday. Day in day out. And in the end knowing buckshot and city hall do not have our backs then why should patrol give their blood sweat and tears for something that no longer matter.
ReplyDeleteIn the end the homicides will keep piling up. The rate will surely pass 2015 record breaking year. And quality of life issues will continue to build and build. Theres no stopping the the criminal elements. That for a fact will allways fester in hartford. But as for the issues of buckshot and morale. Those are reversible. Once changes are made internally and slowly make their way through the ranks changes will be seen in patrol. Patrolman will once again want to make a difference and will once again risk their lives to obtain a better position in the department. But these changes dont happen over night. Many people and just so jaded they have given up all together. This is thanks to buckshot.
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This is without a doubt the lowest I've ever seen morale in 20 years. It's definitely time for a vote of no confidence in Rovella and Bronin (let's see if this is posted).
DeleteCompletely accurate and well written Buckshot. That is pretty much the readers digest version of what is taking place at HPD.
Delete11:40am
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint you, but we were never friends. And even if we were, my friends all know I am not afraid to call them out when they are wrong. As far as Bronin, I am proud to say that I supported judge Killian for Mayor over Bronin, and I think to this day what would have been if someone who I am now proud to call a friend, Bob Killian, had been elected Mayor as opposed to the candidate who bought the office for 1.3 million dollars
ReplyDeleteApril 5th and 10 murders in the City of Hartford. A lot of blame to go around but that blame should be directed at the thugs using guns to kill people on the street.
Blame shouldn't be placed on the Mayor. Even though Mayor Bronin is the elected leader of the city he and other politicians have zero impact on street crime. They can't be blamed for some thug shooting people on the street the same way that blame should not have been cast on the Late Mayor Peters and Mayors Perez, Segurra, Milner or Perry.
Mayor Peters used the State Police to bolster the # of law enforcement in Hartford Streets in the 1990's and during much of that time their inclusion was welcome. CSP didn't solve anything but assisted us in safeguarding the city because of the increase of manpower. Our departments worked well together and solved any inter-agency rivalries to get the job done.
In 1993 the City of Hartford had over 65 murders and seemingly daily shootings. Gang violence was out of control and we in the police department went after the gang members hard. No breaks and no nonsense on the street. Back then we also had support from the community because they wanted the violent crooks off the street as much as we did in HPD at least for a while. It was an all out effort with the great majority of the work done by HPD officers. That's because we had the information on who was responsible for what crimes.
Criminals act the way they do today because they are not afraid of much. Not getting arrested or being incarcerated. Prison is grad school for these crooks. They also know that the public will act up if police use physical force on violent crooks. Some "community activist" will record the end of an arrest on his/her cell phone and that will show only one aspect of the arrest, usually not pretty to look at, as opposed to the beginning where the officer was fighting the same crook.
Time to get tough, clear corners of creeps that hang around all day and do nothing. You can smell marijuana smoke on Albany Avenue from Adams Street to Bedford Street every day and that adds to the lawless sense of that area. Same in many areas in the city.
The police know who the criminals are. They always have. They should be giving the latitude to deal with them by the department and the community. Criminals act they way they do because their stock in trade is fear and knowing that they can keep citizen quiet with terror.
Time to make these criminals feel the same terror. We can't go back to the 1990's.
Chris, father Joe Croughwell had your back 100%. You had your guys backs. You guys crushed crime. Those days are long gone, part of why crime is rampid.
DeleteKevin, let's be honest here what's really taking place;
ReplyDeleteAll conditions units, units that addressed street level criminal activity, have been disbanded. Patrol units are answering call after call. The new federal violence reduction team, has more sergeants than detectives, and is a complete failure and mess resulting in little to no effectiveness. The mayor and chief are not backing the men and woman that put that uniform on every day when something is remotely questionable. Bronin doesn't want arrests, he wants soft on crime and early release programs. Rovella is deathly afraid of proactive street level policing in fear of something going wrong thus creating another Ferguson or Baltimore situation. Zero street level enforcement is taking place, and these murders are taking place on a street level, for many reasons. Add on top of that no contract, and Bronin wanting massive benefit and pay reductions. Now Foley, phe is the chief of detectives in case anyone forgot. He must spend 35 hours a week posting non-sense on social media, playing and ass grabbing with the media daily, doing interviews, taking pictures, etc etc etc. Maybe if Foley put down the Twitter and social media for a day or two out of the week, he just might find some time to develop an investigative plan to solve some murders, shootings, and address the massive spike in violent crime. If things continue in this direction, I only see murders and crime continue to sky rocket. All these town hall meetings and vigils are NOT going to stop the violence.
Its some great commemts on this post HPD is sullied amd ruined thanks to national media social media camera phones no one in inner cities will ever trust american police again with all the stories coming out daily with different pds across the country tge old days of policing are gone and never coming back Chris Lyons your day was different
ReplyDeleteJust a thought ,,How about Reggie Freeman as Chief Of Police????? I can see it now,,,fire trucks securing the scene with apparatus and caution tape,,,,,DPW on the scene removing the loads of garbage in the gutters to help locate shell casings and of course the men in blue trying to figure out what happened to their good intentions between graduating from the academy and standing at a homicide scene where no one ever sees anything.Just a couple questions,what will Reggie's uniform look like? Overalls?Dress blues?Stripes?Bugles?Sh%t Stains? What incident channel on the radio will be utilized ? 1,2,3,4,traffic,snow removal?????
ReplyDelete3:47 PM
ReplyDeleteI know your comment was meant as sarcastic, but how about we leave Reggie where he is and let him continue to improve HFD, and while we are at it, why don't we also leave Chief Rovella where he is, but instead decide we are going to support our Police and the Police Department and provide them the resources they need and deserve. Someone posted earlier about the Condition teams and other resources. Do you know why the Condition teams were disbanded? Because the bodies were needed elsewhere to continue policing the City as the manpower dwindled. The same with the School Resource Officers and some CSO's as well as walkbeats. The staffing crisis is nothing new, Chief Rovella has been warning City Hall for years.
And where is the community? All of this gunfire going off around the City and very rarely is there a citizen phone call reporting it and blatant executions and no one sees anything? Give me a break. Let's put the blame where it belongs, we need to take ownership for our neighborhoods, as Steve Harris said last night at the Forum. Where are the parents? Its not all about the Police being our saviors, we need to start helping ourselves
Agreed Mister Brookman. However, leadership and support are key factors. Also, Hartford cops have been without a contract since last July. How about Bronin taking his suit jacket off and rolling up his sleeves and sitting with the union and chief of need be and giving the officers a contract. There's no reason that can't be done. But Bronin is a left wing liberal, he will never support police and pro-active policing and arrests with stiff penalties. It goes against all his beliefs. Bronin's soft on crime policies has created this felonious criminal environment. This will continue until the urban residents want change in their neighborhoods and welcome the pro-active police enforcement targeting criminals. Even Alyssa referenced pro-active street level police enforcement as "cowboys". So let's continue with the lack of pro-active cowboy policing while all of you count the bodies. Hopefully no innocents or children catch a stray bullet.
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ReplyDeleteBe careful what you wish for. Haven't you realized that when Luke Bronin takes off the jacket and rolls up his sleeves, it means he is following the usual script and a theatrical stunt is about to ensue, usually for the sake of the TV cameras. I also think Alyssa's eyes have been opened somewhat, hopefully, after she attended Comstat and saw what really happens in the City
So if the city is broke and bronin is trying to cut money and postions in many different sectors of this city! Then why is it that bronin is not cutting down the salaries of central office and board members. Come on 250k min for the new superintendent of schools? If people really did care about our kids and education then there should be no reason they cant take a pay cut! Safer neighborhoods mean more kids being properly educated to realize the potential for sucess! How about we start a new initiative called : ABA4YA translation always be accountable for your actions.. how many signatures do you think it would get
ReplyDelete1-Work as many pjs as u can.
ReplyDelete2-No contract, no proactivity.
3-Lift heavy
4-Bare minimum reactive patrol response ( and sometimes just drive by and ignore the madness )
5-Eat well during your 30 minute 10-16 every 8 hrs. (Wink wink)
......these are my self inflicted work orders for the next 10 years
10 years!?!? That's a death sentence! Good luck!
DeleteIm glad chilly retired with his 11 k a month pension. Reckless reathis rides away with a fist full of city cabbage. What did he do here for 28 yrs besides lay on the bush.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day chilly could swing a coca bola with the best of them.
DeleteLittle luke bronin is a mess. His days are numbered. When eddie perez beats his cases he will return like ganom did in bridgeport. The city residents will always elect their own filth. Eddie perez is a reagan compared to little luke. Time is ticking. More bodies will pile up. No cop will so squat until city hall signs a contract. Maybe you can hire some guys. Only down 50-75. And im probably not counting the 30 or so lite duty staff at the pd. Complete reactive response to all calls.
ReplyDeleteEddie perez will rise again.
6:01 pm ,,,Thank You ,,You exposed the continuous loop of misconception that a "safe neighborhood " is the magic bullet for "Hartford kids being properly educated ". A competent,responsible,loving,involved parent or guardian is the only cure for Hartford's poisoned children. PLEASE STOP RELYING ON TEACHERS OR OTHERS TO RAISE YOUR KIDS!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteListen I have raised my children to be upstanding and productive members of society. Stop passing the blame on to the parents. Most try there best. For the ones who dont truly expose the cracks in the system. Listen if you dont live in the city nor have children who attend Hartford schools you will never understand that school is a refuge
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ReplyDeleteKudos to you you are correct. No government can buy safer neighborhoods and buy a reduction in murder rates and drug use. It begins and ends in the home. Babies having babies who in turn, have babies, generation after generation, isn't gonna do it. No way no how. The urban leaders that can have an effect are the reverends if they would only identify the core issues and seek to slowly modify behavior. Mr Lovejoy is the only intelligent voice that I have heard and his comment was a general one pointing at the community that must seek its own solution.
Come on Henry Brown, we know you are good at empathizing when a family member is cut down. Super. Great. You are out there on the street ministering to your community. Now take the next step. Identify the problems and seek solutions. Babies having babies isn't gonna cut it.
Question for anyone to answer: When not if Luke Bronin loses the next election, will he continue to live in that beautiful brownstone facing the park? Or will he sell it and move out of Hartford.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for anyone to answer: Rovella makes sure grant money is paid to Rev. Henry Brown. Brown isn't doing the vigils for free. Brown gets paid HUGE money to preach at vigils. Why do you think he never misses one. I like Brown, good man. But don't think for one minute it's not all part of a bigger picture, in which he's making big money off homicides. Feel free to check into it Kevin.
ReplyDeleteI will ask Rev. Brown about that when I see him Monday. I do recall something I saw about a payment for printing for a march or something. At time, if I recall correctly, it was a small amount, under a few thousand dollars and it seemed legit and didn't raise any red flags for me. but I will ask. I am a supporter of Henry's actions and he does much more for far less than others who have made a great living and even paid for homes in cash off the proceeds thy have made off Hartford's crime and violence. I don't think murders in Hartford would even get the attention they receive without Henry shining the light on them. It is a little too late when Henry knocks on your door, but at least he is doing something. If Hartford's other ministers and clergy did their part, maybe we could confront issues like our lack of civility towards each other, teenage pregnancy and the lack of value for life we see every time there is a homicide
ReplyDeleteAny information yet on what Rev. Brown receives in grant funded financing?
DeleteNot popular with the peeps but if any city needs a stop and frisk policy , Hartford is it.
ReplyDeleteYears back we had a reverend activist touting issues, we later found he was a convicted murderer but I can't remember the name. Anybody remember who that was?
Stop & Frisk will NEVER happen in Hartford. Politicians, police chief and city residents will accept unlimited homicides before they ever would allow stop & frisk.
DeleteAgree 100% with anonymous at 1:15am. Mayor Bronin, Chief Rovella, the entire city council will never agree to a Stop & Frisk. Never.
DeleteYou are probably thinking of Henry Price , he was sent back to prison for running a prostitution ring
ReplyDeleteHenry Price was caught for running a prostitution scheme at the same time he was holding weekly protests at 50 Jennings Road with other "matchbook ministers" who afflict the city. They know who they are. Some are still out there.
ReplyDeleteHe was caught when the father of one of the prostitutes from 217 Wethersfield Avenue spoke up and let the department know of what was going on and because he daughter was missing. When she was located the investigation into him began quickly. After he was arrested a lot of the "local clergy" called for his forgiveness, something they would never afford to the police in Hartford or anywhere else.
Price is resting comfortably in Robinson CCI and is working on his next adventure from prison. He was convicted of Promoting Prostitution 2nd degree. He is out in 2020.
Hope he likes the food.
Using data from https://data.hartford.gov -- there have been 18 fatal accidental drug overdoses in Hartford this year through March 25, 2017 (data of most recent public data). This breaks down to one fatal overdose in Northeast, Clay-Arsenal, Asylum Hill, Sheldon/Charter Oak, South End, Behind the Rocks, and Barry Square neighborhoods. There were two in South Green. Three in Parkville. Another three in Frog Hollow.
ReplyDeleteIn 2016, there were 44 fatal accidental drug overdoses. That breaks down to 10 in Frog Hollow, 7 in Barry Square, and 6 in Asylum Hill. That's 3 each for Northeast, Sheldon/Charter Oak, South Green, and Behind the Rocks. Two each in Clay-Arsenal, South West, and Parkville. One each in West End, South End, and Downtown.
We have significant health problems here -- ones that require coalitions that go far beyond the mayor and police.
Those deceased drug addicts made a conscious decision to inject that venom into their veins, knowing all to well that could be their very last high. Very hard to feel overly bad for them.
DeleteJay Dels, I am glad you brought up your kids to be successful with their lives. So a little about me. I was brought up in Hartford and live here now. I'm not in love with Hartford and in fact, I too will leave soon for two reasons; I can afford to leave and I prefer to life in a quiet area of earth and Hartford is not it.
ReplyDeleteIn Hartford High, I always remember a discussion in my freshman home room in which a girl was discussing issues about her new baby with our teacher, who was also a young mother. But the the student must have only been 16 years old. So to your question of me suggesting that it's not the parents, I'm sorry to say, but it is. You or anyone cannot build a community with teenage mothers and expect the children to lead productive lives. I am not condemning all of course. But the numbers go up when this aberrant behavior proliferates. You may disagree but this is my longtime observation.
Our society has never really addressed the rout causes and until it does, we will have the same discussion in the future, 100 years from now, wondering why urban communities are so economically depressed with such high crime rates and low test scores. But in this respect I will agree, it is not the parents alone who are at fault. Indeed, I would place greater blame of the various institutions and leaders who have yet to grab hold of the problem and address it.
A 16 year old high school freshman should not be walking home with school books in one hand and a baby in the other. Oki Doki smoki?
Bill, it is called Freedom of Speech. I have never censored your comments even though I often disagree with you. What are you complaining about? If something' offensive was missed and made it through, I can remove it
ReplyDeleteYou replied to Bill under wrong post.
DeleteLol you Lilly White folks from the suburbs kill me with this young mother talk that goes on in the inner cities as if its something new hey lets go down memory lane of American history when White Slavemasters would sleep with their underage black female slaves leaving them young mothers so guess who the original deadbeat dad was on top of what was it called Buck Breaking mating the slaves to create baby slaves so this behavior has been going on for generations blacks in america need some seriois therapy for all the BS we went through in this country and still go through not making any excuses im just sick pf people making racist commemts like this a brand new phenomenom
ReplyDeleteGet the help you need bro and stop blaming the white man. Slavery was abolished in 1865, long before your time, your dads time and your dads dad time. Affirmative action, Minority initiatives etc etc etc have more than made up for something you never experienced, but are quick to always use as an excuse.
DeleteWhat year was Jim Crow abolished? When was the civil rights act signed yea ill get help but you go get some brains
Delete8:07am aww topping bringing up stuff that Tariq Nasheed propagandists, idiot. what is next? are you going to start calling white peopke white supremacists?
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