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Friday, September 28, 2018

PUTTING THE "SERVE" IN PROTECT AND SERVE

It has been a difficult few weeks for Chief David Rosado and the Hartford Police Department, but life goes on and the good works of the men and women of the Hartford Police Department continues, unnoticed for the most part.I'm not talking about the numerous volume of guns seized on our streets everyday or the seizure of the deadly drugs, including fentanyl that seem to be rounded up from every corner of our City

No, I'm talking more about the acts of kindness exhibited day in and day out  unselfishly by our Police Officer's. I was the recipient of one of those acts today. I was almost reluctant to post this act because I know I will be accused of "white Privilege" or whatever some people choose to call it when you have a positive interaction with Police, but if I post the bad, I also need to be fair and acknowledge the good.

Last night I received a call from a Hartford Police Officer telling me about an event that was going to be held on October 27 for Hartford youth and kids in the PAL program. It is a "haunted" hayride on a suburban farm and a bonfire and Halloween events for the evening. Then it was off for coffee with Chief Rosado and other community members this morning at Sister's Restaurant.

Everything was going well until I pulled off the street to park.

Chief Rosado and Assistant Chief Medina were also pulling up at the same time. I heard a strange noise as I pulled off  and only after I parked did I realize(after Chief Medina pointed it out) that a piece of metal had sliced the sidewall of my tire and the tire quickly deflated.

I went inside and decided to worry about the tire after the coffee meeting with the Chief. I enjoy the meetings because it is a wide sampling of people that usually attend, and I like to hear first hand what people think of our officers and HPD. For the most part , the meetings are very constructive with a lot of positive interaction. I would encourage anyone interested in attending to either call the Chief''s Office to be put on the invite list or pay attention to HPD's social media announcements and show up. They are held monthly.

So anyway, back to the random acts of kindness.

I decided to get a cup of coffee and then I made a call to my MacGuyver type guy. This guy can fix anything with a coat hanger and a tube of superglue. He also happens to be a HPD Officer and he was off duty at the time, so I called him and explained my dilemma. He immediately volunteered to hit the road to come to my assistance. Sadly, the coat hanger and super glue can't do much to repair a sliced sidewall on a tire.

I was relieved a few minutes later when I received his text that he was on the way with a wrecker to get me repaired. Almost immediately after I read the text I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Hartford's newest Assistant Police Chief Rafael Medina. Chief Medina was asking for my car keys. Usually that is a bad thing when a cop asks for your car keys and many times the next step is standing on one foot and touching your index finger to your nose.

It was too early in the morning for that, but I thin k that Chief Medina was well aware that after my stroke, the last thing I could do is change a flat tire alone.

He wanted the car keys because him and someone else were going to get my spare and take care of the flat. A sense of relief came across immediately, and I told him "MacGuyver"was on the way with a wrecker. Chief Medina told me to put "MacGuyver" on hold, they had it all under control

I'm calling him MacGuyver, but anyone familiar with HPD  probably has already figured out who he is, but he does things like this almost daily for people in a jam and I don't want to embarrass him, but he knows how grateful I am for his friendship

Chief Medina wouldn't take no for an answer, the tire was replaced in no time , and a crisis was averted , courtesy of a couple of great public servants who went way above and beyond to help a Hartford resident out of a jam. I also am pretty confident  that there are many more good officer's in our City, and for that matter working across our Country in law enforcement, who would step up and help someone regardless of whether his name was Kevin Brookman or Joe or Jane Smith

We are fortunate , despite what some at City Hall think or say or try to instigate. . We have a great group of public servants willing to the extra mile because they love our City and love its residents.

Whether that is Jimmy Barrett finding his niche dealing with Hartford's less fortunate population  and making sure they have decent footwear throughout the year or Teddy Sposito cooking hamburgers for the Barry Square Community Day, these acts go unnoticed for the most part.

I'm not saying to ignore the problems, but lets not focus on them exclusively  and forget to reward the good work that is being done also.

I just wish I had a picture of the tire changing, that would be something for a social media post

Thank you to Chief Medina and anyone else involved.

12 comments:

RB said...

We often hear about the bad, rarely about the good.
Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I like Chief Medina. Nice guy and comes to role calls. I wish the “person” that is in charge of building repairs at police headquarters would take a page out of the leadership handbook. The officers and “guests” at police headquarters might take a liking to several important issues being addressed. I will not bore the blog readers with a sad and pathetic laundry list from the actions of this one “ person.” It is sad that the overhead entry door to the booking dept has been broken since April. Many different excuses have been floated, but im willing to bet my pj slip If 550 main or board of ed needed their overhead doors fixed, it would not take over six months to fix. Im hoping Chief Medina / Thody take control of situations like this and give that “person” a box of crayons to play with .

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see good things about the PD, plenty of great people on the job. Unfortunately we only hear the negatives about HPD. Classy move guys, nice job!

Anonymous said...

Morale starts inside. Its the fuel to motivate and instigate the men. Start fixing the little things. Give the new complex guys a chance to clean out the antiquated and irreverent.

City hall employee geting coffee on break said...

When: sep 26
Where: starbacks ( the rear corner booth ) around 9 am ish .
Who: mayor bronin , without any assistant.
Whoelse: Fast Eddie Perez

This has been verified and only knows what was talked about.
This is 100 percent verified intel for you brookman

Anonymous said...

What’s the surprise of two dirty no good politicians having coffee together? Birds of a feather flock together. Democrat party of crime.

Christopher Lyons retired HPD said...

Nice work by Chief Medina.

Good works in the public are done by Hartford Police Officers every day. Most don't get any fanfare but are just as important because they bring the community closer to the police who serve and protect them. I've been out of HPD for a long time but here are a few gems of public service by Officers that went unnoticed except among the people and for some of the officers.

Peter Hopkins as the Park Street Beat Officer routinely assisted neighborhood residents with home repair, buying groceries, changing light bulbs and removing animals from places in homes that they didn't belong. Peter was one of the officers I learned from as a young officer and he treated everyone on the beat the right way even when locking them up when needed.

Barry Pasqurell--Started the Hartford Learn to Skate Program and worked daily to get NHL and then AHL hockey players to teach inner city Hartford Youth how to skate and play hockey. Barry expended countless hours of his own time to make this program a success, never got the acclaim that this program needed and helped hundreds of kids learn that the police officer was not someone to be feared. He was assisted by many officers to include Keith Schmeiske and Brian Foley.

Bobby Russell--did a good deed every day. Helped many victims of crime by making their losses whole often times out of his won pocket.

Peter Getz--Is still active in doing good works throughout the City of Hartford many years after retirement through PAL and other charitable works.

These are just four officers that stood out. There are others that can be detailed as well.

I am glad that Chief Medina did assist you. It was a nice thing to do. He showed that public service is an important thing even from the top.



Anonymous said...

I am glad Assistant Chief Medina is nice to SOME people, because he certainly does not have our backs. The latest is that he wants to demote detectives back to patrol without cause, he ordered an officer working teleserve to his office on a disciplinary matter without offering the officer union representation after an uptight councilperson raised her voice demanding to know why she had to present a photo identification before entering a secure facility, which is protocol. And here is the ultimate proof, alienating one of the most respected and liked deputy police chiefs in modern Hartford Police history, Chief Joe. I think the newbie AC needs to learn we have a union contract, policy, and past practice in play here, this isn't a game of make it up as we go along. He is going to create big problems for Chief Rosado if he continues this behavior and they are quickly working towards a vote of no confidence, this isn't just talk, this is real. Grievances, litigation, law suits are all in the future if they do not learn that this isn't the state police. By the way almost all the state troopers I have talked to regarding these two are elated that they are gone from their organization. I only give this comment a fair chance of being posted because you have a reputation of protecting your friends and those that feed you info.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

you might want to have a conversation with Chief Medina and get the full story, I think you will find him and Chief Rosado very approachable and they might actually appreciate you talking directly to them with your concerns instead of behind their backs. I did after I heard about it , and yes the 2 Councilwomen were definitely out of line If you only listen to what you hear in the hallways, you are only getting half of the story. And I think if you talk to the officer involved, he might now give you a different impression of Chief Medina aside from the negative one you portrayed here.

Anonymous said...

Kev ,, WHY IS IT THAT YOU ONLY HAVE THE BACKS OF THOSE WHO WEAR STRIPES,BARS,STARS AND BUGLES?? Cops and firefighters aren’t the enemy ,, ,who do you think is more apt to MISINFORM YOU,,,,,THE POLITICALLY CONNECTED/APPOINTED UPPER ECHELON OR THE TRUE BACKBONE OF THESE TWO ORGANIZATIONS ????

Anonymous said...

Send all these detective slugs back to patrol. Put some new meat up there. Working pjs and then surfing the internet on b squad is not productive. Wah wah wah i wanna be a buckshot stf goon for life! Those days are over guys. There are plenty of new guys full of piss and vinegar ready to double your workload and productivity. Stop crying about conflict of supervision also. Its a lame excuse to cry about.
In the words of retired deputy chief hightower....” if you are that unhappy then quit..”

Anonymous said...

Sgt. Morrison, why don’t you tell them that to their face? Hopefully you will do what’s right and back up your guys from that toxic work environment up in MCD.