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Monday, April 26, 2021

HPD CHIEF THODY CONTINUES TO SHOW HE THINKS HE IS ABOVE THE LAW


Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody continues to show that he thinks he is above the law.  He showed it last summer when he evaded a potentially alcohol related accident in his Police vehicle. Thody drove off after hitting a guardrail causing several thousand dollars in damage to the vehicle.

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?

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

WHO DO YOU CALL WHEN THE POLICE BREAK THE LAW?


 One section of the 2020 Police Accountability Bill relates directly to the release of body cam video, especially as it relates to police misconduct and police assaults.    

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?


IT'S TIME TO SHOW YOUR IRISH PRIDE


 As the saying goes, everyone is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day. Now is your chance to be a part of the Irish heritage and pride all year long..

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

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

LUKE, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.. HPD'S VERSION OF THE CRUMBLING FOUNDATION PROBLEM

 

                             PAGE 1 OF HPD'S ATTRITION/ EXIT INTERVIEW DOCUMENT

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

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

WHERE IS THE BODY CAM FOOTAGE JASON?

 

                                               JASON THODY WORKING THE CROWD


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.

Monday, April 12, 2021

MORE LIP SERVICE FROM WASHINGTON


Why is it that every time there is gun violence or a tragedy, the Washington talking heads run to the microphones to spout their nonsense. After a senseless murder of a three year old in Hartford this weekend, US Senator Chris Murphy wasted no time in rattling off  tired his lines about background checks ,from the same old script that hasn't changed  at least since Newtown.

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.