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.
