TREADING WATER IN THE "DEAD POOL"

"WOULD I DO THAT?"

I want to have confidence in the Hartford Police Department and their Internal Investigations, but under Chief Thody, I am leery. The investigation into his evading accident showed he knows how to manipulate a cover-up. I would probably be taken more seriously saying I believe in Santa Claus.

The coverup began  last Friday about 1:40PM when Major Crimes Lieutenant Paul Cicero was tipped off that I would be posting the Dead Pool scandal shortly. Cicero quickly sent out an email "decrying" the dead pool in an effort to draw attention away from himself. Cicero has allegedly engaged in an effort to place blame on others for disclosing the  existence of the "Dead Pool" but he was probably one of the first to start to send the text message outside the Band of Merry MCD (white) men.

In what appears to be a huge conflict of interest and a lack of ethics, Cicero was then allowed by Chief Thody to  continue on for several days as the spokesperson for HPD, able to spin the story , even though Cicero was neck deep and eventually became a target of the Internal investigation.

On Monday, Chief Jason Thody apparently came to his senses and realized he needed to do something as the scandal began to gain national media attention. Thody finally did what he should have done immediately after the "Dead Pool" came to light. Thody removed Cicero as the Commander of Major crimes and relieved Cicero of his media spokesperson responsibilities.

It is unclear why Thody was so quick to demote Detective Jeff Placzek and issue a 120 day suspension but didn't immediately take any action against Cicero. Thody also seemed to telegraph his expected coverup when he claimed in his "Facebook" posting that Cicero's removal was "temporary". How could he state that unless he had already made up his mind before the Investigation was even completed that Cicero would be cleared,

Do you remember the Kelly Baerga incident? She was disciplined and apparently received a lengthy suspension for talking to the Media after her incident with Sergeant Rodney, but Lieutenant Cicero can talk to the Media and the New York Post regarding an incident that he quite possibly orchestrated.

Now the internal investigation is being  conducted by Captain Jeff Rousseau. Officers that I know and trust their integrity (no, that doesn't include Jason Thody), they tell me that Rousseau is a "by the book" type of guy. Keep in mind he does still answer to Thody, but I have hope in Rousseau's integrity, Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, "garbage in garbage out". From what I am being told, the garbage coming out of the former Major Crimes commander's office  is flowing faster than the Murphy Road trash plant and it probably stinks about as much as the pile there on a July afternoon.

The "thin blue wall of silence" is still is alive and well inside HPD and it will be Rousseau's job to bust through it if he is going to arrive at the truth and maintain the public trust that Thody is so concerned with or so he claims. Good officer's need to stand up and show some backbone if things are going to change for the better

Detective Placzek used poor judgement in sending the "Dead Pool" text. I don't think there is any question about that. But does anyone really think he would have sent that out on his own, including his own Lieutenant, apparently both of the Major Crimes Sergeants , almost two dozen other Detectives as well as a Prosecutor at the Hartford Court and an Inspector from the Court. Highly unlikely unless he felt his Lieutenant approved.

And according to sources, the Lieutenant allegedly  did approve. Prior to the text message being sent by Placzek, a meeting was held in the Major Crimes Division attended by Lieutenant Cicero, Sergeants Rykowski and Morrision as well as Major Crimes detectives. The "Dead Pool" was apparently discussed at that meting and the ground rules were established. Interestingly enough, for some unknown reason, only White detectives were at the meeting. The only African American detective and the three Hispanic detectives assigned to MCD were not in attendance. 

On Monday, I was made aware of a source that was willing to give me further details regarding the meeting. Wednesday that source backed out and apparently threats were made  that if anyone found out about the meeting and verified it happened that they would apparently suffer the same consequences as Detective Placzek  because they had prior knowledge. At least two other sources told me they were told to "lie" if anyone asked about the meeting, but they did claim that LT Cicero was allegedly involved in the planning process.

It was further related that a high ranking HPD source claims that on pressure from Mayor Bronin and Hartford City Council members, that Placzek's termination is coming.

 So much for the hypocritical Chief who skated after his alleged DUI evading accident this summer with no punishment but Placzek is hung out to dry. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.