The link is below for anyone interested in looking at the City of Hartford Budget for 2022 https://www.hartfordct.gov/files/assets/public/mgmt-budget/mgmt-budget-documents/new-folder/21_4_19-at-0912-fy2022-recommended-budget-book-final-web.pdf
Unfortunately, with recent everts in the Hartford Police Department after a Police Sergeant assaulted a female prisoner, I had to attempt to navigate the law to try to obtain body cam footage of the event. The law is pretty specific, the video was required to be released within 96 hours after request by a member of the public. Despite my written request to Detective Denise Mendoza , who handles requests at HPD, to release the video, it was ignored.
It was obvious that Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody and his minions had no problem in breaking the law in their efforts to keep their dirty laundry from public view. As the clock continued to tick ,the 96 hour requirement came and went by days. I eventually called a State Senator and asked him to get involved as well as e-mails to various State Officials and Media people and community partners.
One State official I spoke with understood my frustration and reluctantly advised me the Police Accountability Bill "has no teeth". So what good is it if Police Chiefs or others feel they can break the law without any repercussions or any mechanism for enforcement..
I received all types of guesses from everyone I called asking where to turn to get enforcement for someone breaking the Police Accountability Law. Besides being told the bill had no teeth, no one could answer me. Maybe the Attorney General, maybe the Chief States Attorney, maybe the Freedom of Information Commission, maybe I had to hire my own attorney and bring a legal action through the courts.
Should a private citizen have to hire an attorney to get Chief Thody to obey the law?
And despite the spin Thody and Mayor Bronin put on this matter that they did the "right thing" and the system worked, it did not.
I had originally asked for ALL video of the event, not what they wanted to release to make themselves look good or lessen the impact. (I am not sure that there is anyway to make yourself look good when one of your Officer's punches a female prisoner in the head on video, no matter how you edit it) The arrest warrant affidavit states there were at least four body cams that captured video as well as permanently mounted security cameras recording.
The system might have worked If Thody had honored the letter of the law and released the video in the time frame required. The system might have worked if Thody released ALL of the video as requested.
But corruption only breeds more corruption when it is allowed to happen. If the Legislature and the Law Enforcement profession are serious about cleaning up their act, changes need to be made. Police Chief's and people like Jason Thody need to be sent a real message that business as usual is no longer acceptable and it is time to clean up their acts.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO: HPD SERGEANT GUZIE ASSAULTING FEMALE PRISONER
Now, Thody is skirting the law again, apparently to avoid having to explain for one of his corrupt officers. On March 15, 2021, it was alleged that HPD Police Sergeant James Guzie had assaulted a female prisoner while she was in custody at the HPD Booking facility. Guzie was the supervisor on duty at the time and the booking facility was supervised by LT. Paul Cicero. Cicero had previously been the Major Crimes supervisor and was reassigned to booking after the "Deadpool" betting scandal had been revealed. As a sidenote, Cicero has now been reassigned to Patrol as the daytime Lieutenant.
Sergeant Guzie was arrested today on a charge of Assault 3rd.
Back to above the law Thody. One aspect of the Police Accountability bill passed last year was a section regulating Police Bodycam use. One section stated that "{Police accountability bill, Public Act 20-1 ( page 33) "not later than ninety-six hours following the recorded incident, whichever House Bill No. 6004 July Sp. Sess., Public Act No. 20-1 33 of 72 is earlier, such recording shall be disclosed, upon request, to the public, subject to the provisions of subsection (g) of this section"}.
Essentially, it states that body cam and other video footage of a Police misconduct assault MUST be released within 96 hours after requested by a member of the public. I requested the video in writing to HPD by e-mail dated April15, 2021 at 3:41 PM. As of today the video has not been released , even though Connecticut State Law requires its release and it is well over the 96 hour limit.
Shouldn't a Police Chief uphold the law rather than be above it? Is this Thody's version of transparency?
The section seems pretty clear, as follows: {Police accountability bill, Public Act 20-1 ( page 33) "not later than ninety-six hours following the recorded incident, whichever is earlier, such recording shall be disclosed, upon request, to the public, subject to the provisions of subsection (g) of this section".
Body camera footage as well as internal surveillance video apparently exists of an alleged assault by Hartford Police Sergeant James Guzie against a female prisoner in the HPD booking facility in the beginning of March.
This incident was acknowledged by HPD Chief Thody and Guzie was suspended from duty .
I have requested the video, but as of this time HPD has not complied with my request in accordance with Connecticut State law.
This the hypocrisy of HPD Chief Jason Thody and Mayor Luke Bronin as they claim publicly that they want to change the culture of HPD but they do the opposite and cover for problem officers.
Covering for bad cops does not bring about change, it only empowers bad cops to continue unchecked without any fear of being held accountable.
Has Hartford not learned anything from the Chauvin trial?
The Irish Home in Glastonbury is facing tough times and the building itself is in need of repairs. As with many businesses and organizations, the Covid 19 pandemic has caused some difficult times. The home was established in 1945.
The Irish home has survived over the years with memberships and revenue derived from renting the hall for events such as parties and weddings. Since the bottom fell out of the market over a year ago, the Irish Home has been dealing with a shortage of revenues .
Hopefully that revenue stream will start to rebound once things start getting back to normal, but there is no guarantee of when that will happen.
If you can, please try to make a donation to the "Go Fund me" page to help save the Irish Home and help Irish events such as the Annual Saint Patrick's Day events survive. Click here to donate please, .https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/irishamericanhome
The good men and women doing great work everyday are the actual foundation of the Hartford Police Department. It is not the Chief or Assistant Chiefs or Command Staff . That foundation is crumbling under Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody and his administration. Since Thody took over in April of 2019 , nearly 50 officers have quit, many of them minority and female officers..
It took the Hartford Police Department over a month to comply, but they eventually released a document I had requested detailing the data under the Freedom of Information Act
I had asked for the exit interview information on Hartford Police Officers that have resigned from the Hartford Police Department. I was hoping to see how many officers have left under the tenure of Jason Thody as Chief. The numbers even surprised me.
I knew it was bad, but I didn't think it was quite as bad as the numbers show. It is also very troubling to me the number of African Americans, Hispanics and women that have bailed. Much work had been put into minority recruitment by Thody's two predecessors, James Rovella and David Rosado. Thody has single handedly reversed that entire process faster than a Tahoe evading a guardrail crash.
Hartford needs to have a Police Department that reflects the demographics of the City they serve and at this point Hartford is the employment recruiter for every other Department that understands diversity and gladly welcomes disgruntled Hartford Officers looking for better grounds.
The loss of trained officers is an issue. The loss of losing qualified minority officers after the hiring and training process is a much bigger issue for HPD as well as the taxpayers that have made the investment in these officers. It is e4stimated that it may be upwards of $200,000 per officer to recruit, hire and train a Police Officer for their first year on the job, including salary and benefits
The details of why officers are leaving are also spelled out on the report. The majority seem to be over wages and benefits, but there also are some troubling comments that point to a deeper problem. Comments such as one officer claiming they were "setting him up for failure". Another officer claimed "I was encouraged by senior officers, Sergeants ,Lieutenants and Captains to leave from day one .I was told that things would not get better here and to leave as soon as possible". That must be encouraging to a new employee.
Another employee was quoted as saying they "didn't feel valued" another "didn't learn anything during FTO (Field Training Officer period) another officer "not feeling any support and select sergeants made work toxic instead of helping him", another "poor equipment, low morale" and the list goes on and on.
Now I know not everyone is always going to be happy, but these numbers seem to be extreme losses for a struggling Department tasked with patrolling a very violent City. The bleeding needs to stop , both literally and figuratively if Hartford is going to survive. VIEW THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT HERE https://www.scribd.com/document/503071155/Responsive-Records-3https://www.scribd.com/document/503071155/Responsive-Records-3
Sunday there was an Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota that resulted in the shooting death of a young man.
The Police Chief in that matter released the bodycam footage of the incident within hours.
Isn't that refreshing, a Police Chief who understands the need for transparency to maintain the public trust, if that's possible in these situations.
Now fast forward to Hartford and Chief Jason Thody. A female prisoner in the HPD booking facility was allegedly punched in the head by a Hartford Police Sergeant assigned to the booking facility.
That incident reportedly occurred on March 15, 2021, almost a month ago, and was fully documented on both bodycam footage and Internal Surveillance video. None of that footage has been released and remains in the secretive "Good Old Boy" bunker that we call HPD. There is no need to hide the video from public scrutiny.
Even more suspicious is the fact that Thody never notified the Hartford County States Attorney of the incident until Good Friday, the same day that I broke the story and posted about it. It appears Thody only made his notifications after I made it public and posted it here. Read that post here
That is not transparency, that appears to be a cover-up attempt; The facts will not change if the video is released and there is no reason to keep it secret, other than to allow more time to doctor and cover-up the incident.
At these critical times for Police/Community relations, Thody needs to make very effort to gain the publics support and shed light on the bad apples in his Department. Release the video now, that is what the bodycams are for and what the public needs if they are to trust the actions of their Police Department.
The only real thing that has changed is that nothing has changed.
I understand the debate over guns. Even though I support the second Amendment, I will be the first to admit there are way too many guns out in our society. Not guns owned by legitimate gun owners but by people that have no business having their hands anywhere near a gun, People with mental illness and more importantly criminals that are forbidden from owning or possessing a firearm.
Every time you see an arrest and the charge is "criminal possession of a firearm", that means the person is most likely a convicted felon with a gun. A convicted felon who is forbidden by law from possessing a gun. A convicted felon who has no fear of the consequences of their crime because usually there are no consequences.
For my own education please, can anyone tell me how Senator Murphy's background checks will prevent that Is a convicted felon going to proceed to their local police station or gunstore to be fingerprinted to legally go through their background check before they pick up a firearm? Are the street sellers going to require proof of a background check before selling a gun on the street?
How many shooters go through the cumbersome process to get a firearms permit before carrying a gun to shoot their next victim?
If we are serious about gun reform and ridding our streets of many of these weapons, lets be serious about reform that works, not just the rhetoric to inflame people and get the self promoting sound bytes.
Sandy Hook was December 14, 2012, what has changed since then? We will probably still be having the same debate with the same results ten years from now.
I have tried to be a huge supporter and to recognize and support the great work the men and women of the Hartford Police Department do every day. I can not offer the same support to Hartford's Police Chief Jason Thody.
Thody has done more damage to the Hartford Police Department than I would have ever thought was possible in such a short period of time. Sadly, it is not just measured in the damage done internally to HPD but it has also carried through to damage to the people of Hartford. This weekends murder of a three year old child followed in quick succession of a 16 year old boy are both heartbreaking examples of Jason Thody's failure as a Chief . Those failures promise to continue throughout the summer if Thody remains as Chief.
The blame also needs to extend to Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin for his failure to appoint a properly qualified Police Chief and his refusal to adjust course after Thody's failures became clearly obvious. Thody's reportedly drunken accident in his City vehicle should have been enough to replace the Captain headed toward the iceberg. But no, Bronin has allowed Thody to continue full steam ahead in his doomed voyage. An eyewitness to Thody's crash reported to Connecticut State Police that he believed Thody was operating his police vehicle drunk shortly before he went off the road and hit a guardrail and evaded the scene.
You would think that incident would have been enough to get Bronin to bring a change to someone who could at least show some leadership and set a proper example for the rank and file of the Hartford Police Department. Nope.
The number of current lawsuits filed against Thody and his Command Staff both in Stae and Federal Courts should point to a problem. The number of Officers that have left HPD in the past year should point to a problem. The common denominator for HPD's problems is Jason Thody.
Thody is a policy "wonk" , not a Police Administrator. Can you really blame him for not being in touch with the Community he serves? He has never been in the community so he can't relate or build the relationships like other Chiefs have. Where previous Chief's have been comfortable walking some of Hartford's most troubled neighborhoods, Thody is more comfortable walking the deck of his boat to get to the lounge at the Marina, far away from Hartford.
The number of good officers being driven out and leaving for other jobs are in large part due to Thody's mismanagement. I had a veteran Police Officer call me last week and tell me they "hate" going to work every day now after what Jason Thody has done to HPD. This was not a chronic complainer, but someone who used to always tell me how much they loved HPD and loved their job.
Thody's arrogance has proved to be one of his biggest downfalls. His inability to play nice with others has been a huge detriment. For anyone that doubts that, ask how HPD works with ATF and their other Federal partners to combat guns in Hartford. The answer would probably be "ATF who?" . The relationship is virtually nonexistent now under Thody.
Why wouldn't HPD be tapping into every Federal Resource and State agency possible so another 3 year old is not gunned down?
Under previous Chief's results were driven by communication and coordination to produce results. Thody's "shotgun" approach , without communication and no coordination is producing very little results, other than high overtime spending. The daily shootings and this years murders are showing that. His constant shuffling of Commanders and rewarding those Commanders as payback without concern for expertise or even capabilities is showing. Where is all of the Intel that used to be gathered under previous Chiefs to track guns and shooters. Where is Project Longevity? A program that started under Chief Rovella and brought back huge results in controlling criminals and keeping them on the right path. Project Longevity is dead under Chief Thody. (And the death of Longevity was not due to funding, apparently Commissioner Rovella was able to provide State funding for Longevity to continue so where's the money?)
I have had the pleasure of working with several good Police Chiefs during my years in Hartford. I didn't always agree with them, but I learned and respected their decisions, and they usually respected mine.
With Thody, I often wonder if I could call FEMA because he is such a disaster. He needs to go before Hartford suffers more.
It might be a good time for a quick Hartford history lesson for Governor Lamont.
In 2010 and 2011 Connecticut's Capitol city was experiencing a wave of violent crime, especially gun crimes shootings and homicides. That image apparently was not acceptable to Connecticut's Governor at the time, Dannel Malloy.
In 2011 , Malloy called Connecticut's Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane into his office for a meeting. Malloy's instructions to Kane were simple and concise, "Do something about the crime in Hartford"..
Kane's solution was both simple as well as brilliant. Chief States Attorney Kane had the perfect solution already working in his office. That solution was the Chief Inspector for Kane's Office, James Rovella.. Rovella had previously retired from the Hartford Police Department as a detective. During his tenure with HPD Rovella had developed a reputation as an Investigator and especially for closing "cold" cases. He brought that knowledge over to the States Attorney's Office upon his hiring, and his reputation continued to grow.
After Governor Malloy gave Chief States Attorney Kane his marching orders, Rovella was tasked with getting it done. Rovella quickly formulated his plan. It wasn't rocket science but more common sense and a good understanding of how Hartford worked.
Rovella knew that egos and turf wars were a large problem in Police work. Rovella knew that there often was no coordinated efforts to get the best results , but more of a "shotgun" approach with everyone doing their own thing and very little communication. Rovella referred to these as "silos" and everyone wanted to stay confined in their own silos, usually producing limited results . At the time Hartford had more "silos" than a Kansas farm, and very limited results.
Rovella's plan would take some work to accomplish. The Law Enforcement community is very set in their ways and typically not open to change and sharing.
Under Rovella's creation, Hartford's Shooting Task Force was developed. Logistically , it was a huge undertaking, but it began to produce immediate results for Hartford's crime problem.
In a nutshell, Rovella's plan was to knock down all of those individual "silo's" and bring the agencies that had been filling those silos to the table to coordinate and work for the common good. Hartford Police, State Police, Corrections, Parole, Probation , Federal Agencies, and even several suburban municipalities joined forces and began communicating. There was even a Prosecutor assigned to the group to ensure cases that would lead to successful prosecutions..
The operation, known to most as "STF", also quickly developed a reputation with Hartford's criminal element . And the results were quickly realized as crime and shootings declined..
Shortly after STF was organized is when I first met Jim Rovella. It was Good Friday in 2011 and Rovella was giving me a tour of the STF headquarters in the old school they were using on Edwards Street and the STF operation. Rovella was like a proud father unveiling his newborn child as he guided me through the building.
I remember one hallway loaded with pictures of suspects and criminal offenders taped to the wall and how they were all connected. Rovella also made a great choice in the selection of his Lieutenant to keep the whole group in order and productive. That isn't easy when you have so many different personalities from so many different agencies needing to work together for a common goal. The common goal could be a matter of life or death for Hartford residents. Rovella chose HPD Lieutenant Lance Sigersmith, a veteran officer who was well respected and knew what he was doing and was overall a great cop respected by the men and women he worked with and supervised.
What impressed me the most was the coordination and communication that made STF productive. Instead of everyone working on their own, it was all being funneled together for one common goal with Rovella as the quarterback scoring every chance he had.
Sigersmith has since retired , but Rovella is now a Commissioner for Governor Lamont overseeing the Connecticut State Police. A simpel phone call by Lamont could get it done and get it started before a long , hot potentially violent summer kicks off under "business as usual" in Hartford.
What is going on now in Hartford is clearly not working. Most pof what Rovella had put in place during his tenure as Hartford's Police Chief has been disbanded, project Longevity is dead and all of those silos have been rebuilt under Chief Hartford's current Police Chief with little results. Shootings are out of control, last year was a terrible year for homicides and gun violence. It is time to dust off the Rovella playbook and look at what worked in 2011. Rovella got it done then and I am pretty sure he can do it for Hartford now.
It is time to put the egos aside and once again knock down the silos to benefit and protect the people of Hartford and the region from an increasingly violent criminal element. Rovella is the man that can coordinate that effort and produce results, I am not sure anyone else in Hartford at the present time can do the same It needs to be a coordinated effort to produce maximum results without wasted ego-time. Rovella did it before, he can do it again for the City I know he loves.
Apparently at least three officers were in the area also and did seem to intervene on the black female prisoners behalf. The entire incident was captured on surveillance video from what I am told.
The Sergeant in question came to Hartford after apparently resigning from a previous position with the Baltimore Maryland Police Department.
No comment from Chief Thody as of this point.
There is an interesting twist to this. The same Lieutenant who was the commander of the Major Crimes Division at the time of the "Deadpool" scandal when he was removed from that position is now the Commander of the Booking Division. It is unclear if Lieutenant Paul Cicero used his take home Tahoe to respond back to the City after the incident. I am told he DID NOT.
Under the new Police Accountability law enacted recently, Police Officers are mandated to intervene and report such incidents.
