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Monday, August 5, 2019

THEY ARE BEING DELIVERED

Stock photo of a Ford Explorer Cruiser

This post won't mean much to most of my readers. Lately one of the biggest questions I get from Hartford Police Officers calling me is "When are we getting new cars?"

The HPD fleet has begun to show its age, and new cars are long overdue. These vehicles sometimes run almost around the clock 24/7 and somedays it seems like there are more cars on the repair line at DPW than actually running on the streets.

The lack of cars presents a real problem, particularly  in the Patrol Division as officer's scramble  and search at the beginning of their shifts to patrol the streets of Hartford.

Well, good news is on the way. Five new Ford police package Explorers have arrived and are being outfitted in Middletown at the company that sets the cruisers up with lights, sirens and al of the wiring for other electronic equipment on board.

It may not seem like much, but more vehicles are on order. Apparently the Connecticut State Police also have 250 vehicles waiting to be outfitted, so it will be a juggling act for vehicles coming in after the first five are outfitted.

New vehicles are typically rotated through the Command Staff vehicles and trickled down to patrol

But at least it appears there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rendock needs a new one anyways. He could care less about the troops

Anonymous said...

Your second to last paragraph is not true. New vehicles are not typically rotated through the Command Staff vehicles and trickled down to patrol. Not one command staff vehicle has ever been “trickled down” to patrol. New vehicles do typically go to traffic division, CSO’s and the former conditions units first then tricked down to patrol. Your either being fed inaccurate information or don’t have accurate information.

Anonymous said...

Trickle down effect doesnt work. Proven time and time again. Once again another slap in the face for all patrol officers. Command staff at HPD do not care about patrol. Their once a year show up at roll calls is a laughing stock. I cant wait to admire Thody, Watson, Ralphie boy and Redndock driving their new Explorers.

Hey Kevin when is the city going to realize the huge liability problem they have created with all these incompetent new hires? Lower the standard to become a Hartford cop comes with serious consequences. Case in point the on duty domestic assault. It's a complete embarrassment as a veteran cop to say I have to work with these morons who cant even write a report non the less assault a significant other while in uniform. I wouldn't worry about the homicide count, I'd worry more about the sinking morale within the entire department

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

I can't say I disagree about taking care of Patrol first and let the command staff drive the aging vehicles, or at least not replace them as frequently. But the reality, as I have explained here before, it is against common sense to put a brand new vehicle in Patrol and have it crashed at 1,000 miles and the City doesn't automatically replace it. I don't have as much trouble with some of the new hires, because I think the process will hopefully weed them out if they aren't cutting, an example is the recent termination of a new Officer with a last name similar to mine (or at least the first half of mine) I am more concerned with the lowering of test scores to accommodate those taking the Sergeant's test ( what is it down to now? 54 I think) that is dangerous if we have front line supervisors to oversee these new hires and the Supervisors are underqualified.

Finally the on -duty domestic incident is being dealt with, I am concerned about that incident and what led up to it, a married Police Officer carrying on with a 17 year old girl, come on, is there any sense of integrity there? And your concern that he committed the assault while in Uniform but you left out going to another Town in a City cruiser while on duty to commit the assault, from what I have been told

Hang in there, and I think the sinking morale and the way some do their job may very well have an impact on the homicide rate

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

12:57

You are incorrect. Take a walk around and look at all those brand new Tahoes in the lot driven by the Command Staff, where do you think those go when new vehicles comein? Either down to Patrol as supervisors vehicle or to Traffic, where for whatever reason the vehicles tend to be maintained better. Only when there are enough new vehicle to go arounbd, like a few years ago when Chief Rovella and sergeants Spell and Bremser were able to leverage the fleet purchasing to replace the majority of the vehicles for Patrol, and even then a brand new vehicle was crashed on Weston Street with less than 2,000 miles on it

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

12:36

I am not even sure why many of the take home cars are even issued. The City Council set a policy several years ago that the only take home cars were supposed to be issued to the Police Chief, Fire Chief and only others mandated by contract. When was the last time a Deputy Chief was called back for anything and maybe only for something like an OIS. Instead take home cars quite often sit at a PJ or overtime job burning our gas while a Deputy Chief, Captain or Lieutenant is probably making $100.00 an hour or close. When was the last time the LT in charge of the Courts came back on a call back, the LT in charge of the Academy, and the list could go on and on. For a City that is broke we do throw around a lot of high priced perks. It needs to be reviewed

Anonymous said...

Patrol always has and always will get the sh*t end of the stick. Nobody upstairs cares. All told and punishment starts and ends with patrol while the other division6 have Mardi Gras.
Nothing new about the test scores. That goes all the way back to DKR when they curved the scores for him and the other remedials. Then again when PW got robbed of his #1 status.
If that officer had a relationship with a minor he has bigger issues than an assault.

Anonymous said...



Guess who is Retiring.?
That's Right GoofBall Rendock.
He finally put his papers in. CONFIRMED.

Anonymous said...

Is this confirmed????!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Who's Mertes gonna run to now???

Anonymous said...

Who's Mertes gonna run to now???

Anonymous said...

Make no mistake about it, the Cavanna steam train is running full steam ahead. Dented can Dusty is the first to jump off tracks!

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

I believe the alleged sexually harassing LT has already bailed, her cubicle and file cabinet have been cleaned out. Her ESP must have told her she was going to suffer a career ending fall in order to clean out her stuff beforehand, and avoid any IAD interviews and attorney depositions

Anonymous said...

Kevin, your dam skippy there really needs to be an audit ASAP! Why is nothing ever done and the cost and waste blindly allowed? For the most part, every Lieutenant that isn’t in patrol has a take home vehicle. Thousands and thousand of dollars in gas, wear and tear is being wasted. They all use their vehicle’s for non stop personal use as if it’s their own vehicle. I’ve personally seen LT’s I won’t name out to dinner far from Hartford having drinks with the city Tahoe in the parking lot. You mean to tell me the commanders in the academy, traffic, SID, IAD planning and accreditation not to name every other LT not in patrol needs a take home car? This is ridiculous and complete incompetence that it’s allowed and overlooked.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

1:19PM

I am really hoping this becomes an issue in the upcoming Mayoral and Council elections, it says a lot about Financial responsibility and a huge waste of taxpayers money. . I would hope that any time there is a serious incident and the Patrol Lieutenant and street supervisors would have the incident was under control and if a higher ranking officer decides to respond they could pick up a fleet vehicle and respond, that might add what, maybe ten minutes more to their arrival time. A couple years ago I saw a Lieutenant pulling into the same restaurant I was at for Mother's Day with several family members loaded into his vehicle headed to brunch.

The City fraud policy says city vehicles are supposed to be used only for City Business, not as a second family vehicle . Not to mention the additional liability of carrying non- City employees and I believe there is also a Zero tolerance policy for drinking alcohol while or before operating a City vehicle. We all know zero tolerance at city hall means nothing, whether applied to sexual harassment or alcohol use or even workplace violence

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

10:50PM

I am not sure where you "confirmed" that , but it is untrue. He is on vacation, but has not put in to retire. False alarm, we can cancel the celebration plans

Anonymous said...

When I had a city vehicle (HFD) I was told to use it as your personal car, as you are ON CALL AROUND THE CLOCK, and I sure did. Just remembered who told me that.

Anonymous said...

Thody and his “team” care about you! They are looking for ways to make operations easier, more streamlined, safer, and more comfortable. To that end, they have purchased five cooling car seat cushions, each equipped with fans to circulate cool air throughout the cushion. The fan is powered by an adapter plugged into the cigarette lighter of Spare Unit 1000. Radio repair has indicated that the car seat cushions will not impact any other functionality within the vehicle. The hope is that the cool air will make life in an aging patrol car with 150,000+ miles with horrible AC more comfortable. They are also open to any suggestions you may have......LoL!

Well your fleet of new admin take home Tahoe’s or Explorers or whatever they are won’t need cooling seats. Did you ever once consider purchasing desperately needed patrol Ford Explorers for the boots on ground first then purchasing replacements for your Tahoe’s that are just a few years old with low mileage. KEVIN, “lightly” used command staff vehicles have never trickled down to patrol and won’t. In patrol only patrol supervisors have marked Tahoe’s. Not one admin vehicle has ever trickled down to patrol. Chief’s vehicles do trickle down to captains and lieutenants and some other non patrol divisions. I completely understand your point of patrol destroying a brand new vehicle, more often than not that is the case. However this is an emergency, and when there’s an emergency sometimes you have to deviate from the norm. My suggestion would be some new vehicles should have been purchased for patrol who is in dire need first. For new vehicles to be purchased and waiting for them to trickle down could take a year or longer. Kevin, how about asking your command staff friends which command staff cars being replaced will actually trickle down to patrol?

Anonymous said...

If HPD leadership put the department and needs of the citizens before their own, each new vehicle would replace the oldest (miles) vehicle in the fleet. PERIOD! It's a waste of tax money to change out all the light packs and options for every vehicle as it gets trickled down to another division. Yes patrol crashes vehicles, but that's part of the job. They drive the most miles and frankly do the most.

Anonymous said...

Those 10 new Tahoes looks nice Kevin. Cant wait till command staff, captains, and the lieutenants can all show em off. But I eagerly await the trickle down effect to affect me and my fellow patrolmen . Ha yea right! We all know the red chits will still pile up in the key board. We all know we will be stuck driving spare cars with 160,000 miles known as death traps. We know the only "new" cars we will get will be the worn in traffic and CSO cars where they already having failing transmissions and brakes. Patrol doesnt matter to anyone. Safety of patrol matters to no one. This is One of the primary reasons why patrol does nothing proactive at all and also enjoy watching the city burn. #patrollivesmatter

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

Aren't most of you Union members? If the cars are as bad as you say, and I'm not denying your claims because I get the calls regularly. Why isn't your Union leadership not pursuing claims of unsafe working conditions? Isn't that what you pay dues for?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Brookman, the union has addressed this issue with Thody already. He doesn't care what patrol has or doesn't have because it does not affect him. You already know this. I hope his new tahoe does not break down on the way to the FBI National Academy in October. I know if I was driving spare 10, I wouldn't make it that far. I wonder how many other Lts or Capts wanted or were interested in attending the FBI National Academy? Who cares? ME ME ME first. Brookman, I can't believe you support Thody and also claim to support the Hartford Police. You can't do both. Let's break up the "inner circle" Obrien, Bowsza, Powell, Laureano...

If Eddie wins, the inner circle will be the outer circle...and these patrol car problems, will be your problems. Post it KB.

Anonymous said...

The point is that our cruisers issues shouldnt be treated lightly. Half of these spares are death traps. I should be worried about being shot or stabbed. Not worry about my 2011 crown vic blowing up or loosing my brakes on the highway. Same thing with the crappy Chevy Caprices that fall apart daily and cant be used a patrol car. Poor management with the feet starting with the chiefs all the way down to the incompetent fleet manager. It sucks to be a patrolman at HPD. I personally cant wait till they hire more incompetent city of Hartford hires based upon their creed and skin color. Keep dropping that standard and exponentially increase that city liability.

Anonymous said...

Is there any oversight of this Kevin? A broke struggling city, patrol suffering for vehicles, and Thody purchases all command staff Tahoe’s? Complete waste of money and mismanagement. For the amount of Tahoe’s purchased he could have purchased 20 Explorers as Tahoe’s are almost twice the cost. Is the mayor aware of this?

Anonymous said...

That inner circle has always been out of touch and known sub-standard failures.

Anonymous said...

Patrol hasn't mattered for the past 20yrs no matter who the chief is. All the new rules apply to patrol and patrol only. Just stay the course and make your money and go home. If u do nothing they can't blame u for anything. Hopefully

Anonymous said...

He doesn't care.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget about company man Coates as part of the inner circle. He was willing to bury legitimate complaints against commanders by officers to further his career when he was wheeling and dealing in IAD. For shame.

Anonymous said...

There’s a long list of inner circle that you did not name... you can start by adding Pia, Jay Lee, William Rea, Vinnie, Shelby

Anonymous said...

Cicero. All have no idea how to lead by example. Has anyone read the Phan civil payout?! WOW! Cicero needs one of them new Tahoe’s, he smashed up and totaled his acting like a street officer rather than a commander chasing a stolen vehicle.

Anonymous said...

How much?

Anonymous said...

Brookman - The worst LT is Cox. But since you are boys with JC, It won’t be posted. LC is incompetent and can only
Take pics with kids while doing art. Go away, u will get a cop hurt. But again, only you will read this Brookman since it won’t be posted.

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

3:44
Since you posted as Anonymous, I can't compare your performance to that of LT. Cox. You apparently ignorant to the concept of Community Policing and sitting with kids doing art. That is the type of things that build stronger relationships between Lt. Cox and the people you also serve, known as the Community. And YOUR attitude is the attitude that will get a cop hurt. Maybe someday you might just need the community to help you, and hopefully they will be there for you. LT Cox is right where she needs to be with attitudes like yours out there

KEVIN BROOKMAN said...

12:24PM

You guys amaze me. Cicero is still a Cop. If he sat in his office all day hiding away you would be on here criticizing him as a house mouse. Instead he is responding to a call and a woman cuts him off , and I think if you gather your facts, I think you will find the woman cut him off, admitted it and apologized to him and was found at fault for the accident and received an infraction. And I would imagine her insurance reimbursed the City for the damage. Maybe if you posted your name I could check your driving record and see if you ever had a cruiser accident. Real cops have cruiser accidents.

Chris Lyons said...

Here is another Lt Cox story.

When I worked at Trinity we had a burglary during commencement. The crook
was seen as he left a fraternity house on Vernon Street and we chased him to
10 Hamilton Street. Since police were working private jobs on campus we
got quick backup. The crook got trapped in the third floor hallway and we caught
him. He fought. Big surprise and on that third floor I had the character on the floor.
But he had used PCP and was bouncing around like a super ball and was tough
to contain. As I was rolling around with this mutt Then Officer Cox ran to the
third floor and assisted me. She fought, got smacked around but never gave
up. Finally the character was cuffed as other officers arrived.

It was nice to see a HPD uniform help me and Now Lt. Cox did a great job.

Anonymous said...

Really?, Lt. Cox is one of the ONLY females that stayed on the street for close to a decade taking calls for service on midnights. While the rest of the females bitched and complained or faked injuries to get moved inside. Then she tested well and climbed the ranks. Sounds like one person is jealous because they never got educated enough to pass the sergeants test.

Anonymous said...

Has she even been on the job a decade yet???

Anonymous said...

For all you new guys talking crap, Lauren earned her rank fair and square! Plus, when she was in the streets in patrol, she did her job and wasn’t scared. Which is more than I can say for most of these male cops. Don’t let her new liberal position fool you.