SHOULD WE HAVE ANY CONFIDENCE IN THE OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING INVESTIGATION?

As I prepare to write this post, I can't help but think that it may have serious consequences. It is also making  a couple of quotations to keep running through my head as I put my words together. "Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive" is first, the second is from one of our older Hartford neighbors, Mark Twain "If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember the lies".

You might ask why I am thinking this way on a beautiful  Friday morning. It is because Hartford has the potential of a huge storm brewing on the horizon. I love my City and I don't want to see that storm hit.

The recent Officer involved shooting by the Hartford Police Department hat  the potential to look like a sham and erode the relationships between our Police Department and the community.

That potential loss of confidence has nothing to do with our Police Department, but in the end it will totally be the result of actions by the Tolland County States Attorney and the Office of the Connecticut Chief States Attorney.

By law, the States Attorney takes over any Police Officer Involved Shooting (OIS). It is meant to avoid any appearance of impropriety by removing the investigation from the Department that the officer came from and turning the responsibility over to a States Attorney outside of the district of the Police Department involved and the actual investigation , including evidence gathering and witness interviews are handled by  the Connecticut State Police.

It is a difficult assignment to get all the egos and personalities working together and put their differences aside to gather the facts and get to the truth.  I am being told by sources familiar with the OIS Investigation that is not happening and tempers are flaring with thee old Al Haig mentality and claims that "I'm in charge"

Commissioner James Rovella oversees the Connecticut State Police and is a familiar , trusted name and face to the people  of Hartford. Anyone who knows Commissioner Rovella knows that he is a huge proponent  for transparency and honest and open dialogue with the community he serves.

Tolland County States Attorney Matthew Gedansky appears to be the opposite of Rovella and the perfect storm is being created to potentially strike Hartford unless Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane  begins the storm prep  to head it off.

When I first heard about the issues regarding the release of HPD Body cam footage, and its potential delay, I have to say I was very surprised. From Officer's at the scene that I spoke with and from various media accounts, it seemed like this was clearly a justified shooting.  So why the delay in releasing the footage?

Part of the explanation  from sources familiar with the investigation was that Gedansky was an old school prosecutor and didn't see the need to share anything until his investigation was complete. Gedansky clearly didn't understand the community needs in an urban area like Hartford and he admitted as much to me when I spoke to him by phone on Wednesday.

I am told by sources that the video was released  Tuesday after some intervention by a "higher power" under the gold dome. It is good to see that someone besides Commissioner Rovella understands "community" and the public trust

I had called Gedansky  Wednesday to try to set up a Community meeting to answer questions that I was reading on social media that were becoming more and more inflammatory daily. The main question was regarding whether the full body camera footage was released and had the video been edited in any way.  there were other questions that I thought could be readily explained  and might avoid some problems if explained to community members. Questions such as why didn't they just Taser him instead of shooting him? Why didn't they just shoot and wound him instead of killing him? Why were the audio muted on portions at the beginning of the body cam video?

So when I spoke with SA Gedansky by phone, he readily agreed to attend a community meeting to explain  what he could. I asked him right out if the full body cam footage had been released, I was somewhat surprised when he answered "No". I had been told by another source that Commissioner Rovella was very upset when he found out that Gedansky had taken it upon himself to  edit the video. 

In my phone conversation with him I asked if the video released had been edited. Again I was surprised when Gedansky answered "Yes. the video had been edited". I asked why that was done, and why was no one told up front or at the time it was released that they were getting an edited version and not the full raw video.

Subsequent to that conversation I had a conversation with Commissioner Rovella and he confirmed everything Gedansky told me. Rovella said that the edits were totally at the direction of Gedansky and not in his control. I am also well aware that Commissioner Rovella , Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody and even Mayor Bronin were adamant almost from the  time the crime scene was being secured that is was imperative to release the body cam footage publicly as soon as possible to maintain the public trust and confidence in the process.

This is where I think the choice of Gedansky as the overseer of the investigation is wrong and needs to be reviewed or reassigned by Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane. In my conversations with Gedansky, he readily admitted he didn't understand Hartford or its "inner workings "with the community. He also stated at one point "people in Tolland  trust me"

 Well, Mr. Gedansky, in Hartford, unlike Tolland, that trust needs to be earned and isn't just automatic because you are in a position of authority. I think that is where Commissioner Rovella is critical. Rovella has spent years in Hartford developing those relationships and trust.

I tried to explain to Mr. Gedansky that those relationships that have taken years to build, could be quickly damaged when the community found out that he was being less than truthful in releasing the body cam footage without any disclaimer or explanation that the video had been altered or edited or whatever they want to call it. That is  deceptive and does not exhibit any transpareny and it is a disservice to HPD and the officer's involved if there is a lack of confidence in Gedansky's final report.

In trying to finalize the community meeting with Gedansky, I asked him what the chances were of the community actually being able to see the raw video  of the bodycam footage. His response was "Zero". Gedansky claims he made a promise to "the family". I questioned Gedansky why the "family"  interest carried more weight than the public interest . He just replied he had made a promise to the family when he showed them the video last Saturday and they requested portions be edited out when the video was released.

Apparently there were huge issues this week when Commissioner Rovella was made aware that the video had been edited, SA Gedansky had apparently had State Police technicians edit/alter the video last Sunday. Since I have not seen the raw video, I am not sure what was edited out or how much more it would show, but I doubt very much that community members political leaders or even NAACP members that have had somewhat private viewings would appreciate that they were shown bodycam footage that apparently they were unaware had been edited by Mr. Gedansky and totally at his discretion and at the request of the "family'

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, I received a call , again from a source familiar with the investigation, yesterday afternoon that Mr. Gedansky was instructed to meet with "the family" today to show them the full video. Wait a minute , I thought Gedansky told me that the edits had occurred after the family watched the full video but now I'm being told today will be the first time they see it? Wait a minute here, someone is not telling the truth.

In the meantime, Chief Thody has to maintain calm in the City after an Officer Involved Shooting, Commisioner Rovella has to expend resources to conduct a thorough investigation by CSP and that could all be an impossible task in the end if no one has confidence in the report,

Mr Gedansky , this is Hartford and unlike Tolland, trust in you and your work is not automatic you need to earn it the old fashioned way, by being transparent and truthful. 

Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane, it is within your power to fix this. Please transfer the investigation to someone that understands Hartford such as the SA from Bridgeport, New Haven or even Waterbury. The public's trust in the process for this and future investigations is imperative