WHERE TO BEGIN

One thing I have to admit I learned was a very important lesson from Chief, now Commissioner Rovella. When Rovella was Chief , early on we had a conversation and he told me I needed to learn to take a breath and calm down many times before I went to my keyboard for a blog post. He said the "venom" showed when I was upset and it detracted from the "fairness" people appreciated when they read the blog.

It has taken me a few days to let the "venom " subside after the resignation of Chief Rosado earlier this week. People were calling asking why I had not posted anything about the impending departure of Chief Rosado.

Well, maybe I was preparing for the announcement for at least the past month as the situation deteriorated, and I could see that almost daily. Many days I would call Chief Rosado with what I began to call his 'well being" checks, just to make sure he was still coming in to his office.

In the beginning, I was very concerned if I would be able to deal with Chief Rosado. We originally met one night a couple months before he actually took over. We did the basic introductions and I quickly felt that this was a guy I could deal with. I was impressed by his love for his family and the passion in his voice when he spoke about his children. Many nights when we were out, either at a community meeting or at someone's home,  he would make it clear that he was heading out because he had to get home to say good night to his kids.

I also respected the fact that he was always truthful and he also had a terrific memory for details and concern for other people. I remember specifically one such time when I was scheduled for some laser eye surgery. David Rosado was still the Lt Colonel for the Connecticut State Police and we had just come through a pretty severe snow storm that was borderline crippling to the highways and transportation.

 I am pretty sure the State Police had their hands full dealing with the weather and Lt. Colonel Rosado was the man at the top in charge of those operations. Imagine my surprise when the morning of my appointment, first thing early in the morning I received a text message from Rosado wishing me "good luck" on my appointment and telling me his thoughts and prayers were with me for a successful outcome.

He quite frequently remembered my doctor appointments better than I did, and to me it showed that he was actually concerned about people.

I only wish that others in the community had taken the time to get to know Chief Rosado , as I did. And gotten to know him before casting judgement on him.

Chief Rosado had more than his share of issues to deal with right out of the gate at HPD. I am sure that in many ways, it was culture shock for him to come from a regimented organization like the Connecticut State Police into the halls of HPD. He dealt very well with the staffing issues and has been able to see the results of an effort started by Chief Rovella to rebuild the staffing numbers and he has continued that effort.

He had labor issues and community issues, issues like the Barone  eventual termination, and I know how hard he worked to resolve that situation and arrive at a point to keep everyone in agreement on resolving the situation, only to see it fall apart in the final hour. A lot of work went into that behind the scenes, and unfortunately Chief Rosado could never lay out all the steps taken and show the community how much he had tried to resolve that.

The Kiddick situation definitely took a toll, and no Chief wants to have any of their officer's injured. I think he also learned very quickly that people who knew nothing about what actually goes on at HPD would present themselves as experts out in the Community dictating HPD policy.
I don't recall ever seeing Councilpeople at the Public Compstat sessions, except for one person, yet they are willing to control everything from body camera's, to taser's to drone policy. Maybe they might want to educate themselves so their decisions actually have some basis,( I wonder how many Hartford City Council members have actually gone on a ride along program to see what our Patrol Officer's face every day?) instead of letting the ACLU dictate HPD policy.

Sorry Chief Rovella, there goes that venom, time to step away from the keyboard for a minute.

I think one of the final straws that broke the camels back happened recently prior to the LGBTQ Commission meeting at City Hall.

After dealing with the Union and the Baerga complaint, Chief Rosado was at City Hall for a meeting in the Mayor's Office, which happened to precede a press conference by the LGBTQ Commission. From what I have been told by a credible source who was in the Mayor's Office. Chief Rosado was quickly ushered out of the Mayor's Office so that he would not be around during the press conference or the Commission meeting. This was apparently done at the direction of Mayor Bronin.

Once the LGBTQ Commission meeting began, an audience member asked Mayor Bronin why Chief Rosado was not in attendance. Instead of showing some integrity and telling the audience member  that he instructed the Chief not to be there, Bronin was on video saying "I don't know why he is not here". I think Chief Rosado still has tire marks on his back from where Bronin threw him under the bus.

This is not the way you treat a professional, or anyone for that matter. Maybe that is why Luke Bronin has had such a high turnover in his Administration.

I could go on with more examples, but it won't change the outcome. Chief Rosado has made his decision, and as disappointed as I am that we won't be able to see what progress he would make with another year or two, I have to support David's decision for the well being of his family.

 Chief Rosado, you made the right decision. I still support what you have done here in your unfortunately short tenure, but you did make a difference, I hope Chief Thody and Chief Medina can keep that progress moving

Best of luck to you and your family in your new career.

What happened to Home Depot?

THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE, EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE MAY

A lot was made recently after a Hartford Police Officer was transferred out of her assignment as a Community Service Officer (CSO). Immediately the Officer made a claim that her transfer was the result of a sexual harassment claim dating back over ten years byan HPD Captain, Gabe Laureano.

The officer in question , Mirella Gentry, a female officer, only filed her sexual harassment complaint after she was transferred. Apparently the harassment wasn't an issue until she was moved out of her assignment. And the irony is that the decision to move Gentry was made by her immediate supervisor, Lieutenant Lauren Cox, also a female.

Captain Laureano had no involvement in the decision to move Gentry, other than being higher up in the Chain of Command and sitting in on the notification of Gentry when she was informed  of her move.

You can read more about that complaint here;http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-do-we-stop-nonsense-in-age-of-me-too.html

Gentry's move apparently was instituted after her performance was evaluated by Lt. Cox after Lt. Cox  took over as the Lieutenant responsible for Gentry's area. And the numbers don't lie.

I requested Officer Gentry's performance numbers as well as the numbers  for all CSO's through an FOI request, and the numbers show Gentry's performance at the bottom of the list in most categories.

The figures for a 3 month period from September 20, 2018 to December 20, 2018 would tend to show me that Officer Gentry's move had nothing to do with any sexual harassment or vendetta by Captain Laureano or anyone else, but was purely the result of  Officer Gentry's incompetence and lackluster performance in her assigned area..

As an example, the CSO for my area, Asylum Hill,  had 61 Community Court arrests for the period, compared to ZERO (0) for Officer Gentry. Community Court arrests are the offenses that typically make up the "Quality of Life" type offenses, the things CSO's are meant to focus on.

So lets take a look at actual performance and not how well they can write a CHRO complaint to determine the authenticity  of their work performance. False complaints detract from everyone that truly are victims of workplace harassment.

WHAT IS GOING ON AT HPD- PEELING BACK THE LAYERS OF THE ONION

I know many people are asking "What is going on at HPD?"

The answer is that there are many parts to the recent dynamic at HPD , and not everyone is happy with it. To understand the motivation is like putting together the pieces of a very complicated puzzle and then standing back and trying to make sense of it all.

I think much of it started with the arrival of a new Police Chief almost 14 months ago when David Rosado began. He soon brought in another retired State trooper as his Assistant Chief and brought back another HPD veteran officer to fill his second Assistant Chief slot. Jason Thody, a retired HPD Captain was named as Assistant Chief.

The days of the HPD Police Union running the show at HPD quickly came to an end. Rosado took a strong stand on accountability and the prompt resolution of Internal Affairs Investigations. Investigations which had normally taken months to conclude in the past were now being brought to a resolution in weeks. The case of former HPD Stephen Barone was a prime example. 

This new accountability under Rosado could not be allowed to stand and the mechanism was promptly put into play to derail this runaway train of discipline and accountability.

What better way to do this than by baiting the media into becoming an unwitting partner if they would bite. And bite they did as detailed in excerpts from a recent IAD Investigation into Assistant Chief Thody.

An investigation was launched into perjury allegations against Thody, motivated and brought forward by HPD Union President John Szewczyk. 

The perjury allegations arose from Thody's statements during a deposition related to a terminated HPD Officer, Robert Lanza. Lanza was terminated after his off-duty DUI arrest where he was recorded on police video yelling the "N" word numerous times.

Thody was asked during his questioning about a training session he may have taught several years earlier. When he asked to be able to look at his electronic calendar to refresh his memory for the dates in question, the HPD Union Attorney refused to allow that.

At one point in the IAD report, Lt Brian Bowsza, Chief of Staff to HPD Chief David Rosado, stated that the line of questioning used for Thody by the Union attorney was "a perjury trap, underhanded, and not a fair thing to do"

It is also very interesting to read the detailed account of the efforts to get this story into the media.

Eventually, Thody was cleared of any wrongdoing but the issue pointed to a greater issue of record keeping and clerical processes at the HPD Academy. The IAD also clarifies that the record keeping that led to the "perjury " allegations against Thody had gone on for years at the Academy. Upon learning of it, Chief Rosado immediately implemented new procedures to make sure the process was stopped.

The interesting part though is that initially when the HPD Union President pointed the finger at Thody for his alleged wrongdoing, that same finger was eventually pointed back at Union President John Szewczyk for wrong doing that exceeded the allegations he was making against Thody. Ultimately the allegations against Szewczyk were confirmed and documented by IAD Investigators and in the reports.

At one point during an interview with William H. Tanner III, the compliance Officer for POSTC stated that , in his opinion, Chief Thody was "led by the Union's Attorney to answer" and "then his inaccuracy was used to create the perception of an intentional lie" 

It is also interesting to note, at the time this incident occurred , Thody was still at the rank of Captain and a member of the HPD Union. It is also interesting to question under what authority Szewczyk "launched" his own investigation into another officer, Thody, and why was it not referred to IAD, Under what authority did Szewcztk gain access to the office and records in the Fiscal Management Division to remove Thody's time cards and then release those same records to the media without following the proper procedures to request them.

What was the motivation? Was it to discredit Chief Thody? Was it to discredit Chief Rosado? Was it to pave the way for other Union claims of alleged Sexual Harassment and Hostile Work conditions? Did they have to take out and discredit Chief Thody and Chief Rosado to  make their stories seem more credible?

It is ironic that the finger Szewczyk pointed at Thody is now pointing directly back at him twice as hard as POSTC is looking at Szewczyk's certification as an instructor and whether actions will be taken to revoke that certification for various reasons.

Much more will be coming out soon as other layers of the onion in the form of ongoing IAD investigations are completed. I think the last few months of finger pointing at HPD will, become much clearer.                                                                                      

THODYN IAD EXCERPT 1 by  on Scribd

THODY IAD EXCERPT 2 by kevinhfd on Scribd

THODY IAD EXCERPT3 by kevinhfd on Scribd

THODY IAD EXCERPT 4 by kevinhfd on Scribd