Just about eveey comment submitted gets posted on the blog with veery few exceptions. Sometimes comments are made that I don't agree with, but I guess it would be somewhat hypocritical to censor comments on a blog named "We the People". As the saying goes, I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.
But with that being said, sometimes I feel the need to address comments.
Anyone watching Hartford the last few weeks must realize that Hartford's crime problem is a mess, And before you start, I will be addressing Deputy Chief Foley's comments in the Courant shortly.
The comments I want to address are regarding Hartford's Shooting Task Force. Is it perfect, no. Do I agree with everything, especiaslly their staffing and budget issues, no
The truth is that prior to their creation, there was nothing around like the Shooting Task Force. There were attemps, but such an effective group of law enforcement professionals had never been assembled to achieve the long term results of STF. The project was the brainchild of States Attorney's Office Chief Inspector James Rovella.The way it has been explained to me previously,during a spike in violent crime, not unlike what we are experiencing right now, Governor Malloy called a meeting with Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane . Malloy's instructions to Kane were simple, "Do something about the crime in Hartford". The similarities continue on at that point. Pedro Segarra was the Mayor at the time and then, as now, there was no plan to deal with the rash of violence.
I guess Segarra's plan was, as it appears now, if he didn't acknowledge the violence then it probably wasn't happening. Chief States Attorney Kevin Kane hand picked his solution. He directed his Chief Inspector at the time, James Rovella to devise a solution. Rovella's plan was a multi agency task force devised of various State and local agencies to launch a mutli pronged approach to getting guns and violent offenders off Hartford's streets .
The Hartford Shooting Task Force was born under Rovella's guidance. It was comprised of a large contingent of HPD officers and detectives, Connecticut State Police, Connecticut Depertment of Corrections, Connecticut Probation and Parole, FBI, ATF, Connecticut States Attorney's Inspectors and I think a State prosecutor was thrown in also for good luck in working the cases through the courts. A couple of local municipalities also sent officers, I think West Hartford, East Hartford, Werhersfield and probably a couple other towns were involved also.
The plan came together like clockwork. The results were almost instantaneous. The media were all begging to ride along and try to see how they did what they did. Nationwide, Hartford's Shooting Task Force was getting recognition, shootings were down and some very dangerous felons were taken not only off Hartford's Streets but streets throughout the region.
Since the inception of STF over 300 weapons of various sizes and numerous felons have been arrested and most likely many lives saved. Unfortunately, all good things must come to and end, or at least fade away. Since its inception , STF has been decimated over the years as the problem decreases I guess Mayor Segarra doesn't see the need or understand the word "sustainability".
A true leader after having several homicides and high profile shootings would probably be calling the Governor asking him to recommit his resources to Hartford. That is , if he had that type of relationship with Governor Malloy where they could actually communicate and respectfully ask for assistance. It is not about egos or budgets, it is about Public Safety and saving lives.
Oh and most of those agencies I originally mentioned as being part of STF, most are gone except for a few from HPD a Sergeant from the Ct State Police, a very limited presence from CT Department of Corrections and possibly limited resources from Probation and Parole. Two more Hartford Detectives were pulled back last Sunday to fill vacancies in the HPD Major Crimes Division, one of them the only Spanish speaking detective assigned to STF from what I am told.
I understand the comments regarding large amounts of overtime for STF. I also understand that those officers and detectives assigned to STF are hand picked and go through a rigorous interview process to get there. Their work ethic is also reviewed. You have to be producing results and be hard working to gain an assignment in STF. I understand that a lot of the comments probably come from Officers that might have been passed over for an STF assignment.
As we read and see in the media everyday, we owe a sincere debt of gratitude to every Hartford Police Officer that protects our city day in and day out. With the danger that STF faces everyday dealing with these weapons, it is money well spent and with the training involved and the specialty of the information involved, I don't really think the OT money would be productive opened up to everyone. It is not like there isn't enough OT to go around with 15 patrol cars being filled with overtime officers last Friday night alone.
The OT comments seem like sour grapes and I would welcome our Mayor acting like a leader and getting the commitment to beef up STF more to what Chief Rovella originally intended. All lives matter and the people of Hartford deserve that from our "so called" leaders, Governor Malloy included
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13 comments:
mayor Caviar has put all our lives in danger by under staffing and under funding the police. Rosella and Foley are not blameless in this by not speaking out. Any reasonable citizen now needs a firearm for protection...go buy a gun and register it.
Chief Rovella can only hire after the Council and Mayor approve hiring. You started by putting the blame where it should lay, with Mayor Pedro E Segarra. Could Chief Rovella be more vocal in his staffing needs, definitely. He needs to start involving residents more as well as neighborhood groups in the fight to properly staff HPD . If Chief Rovella is not a fighter on the issue, the residents and neighborhoods losing their Police coverage will be, especially in an election year when we have the power of the vote
City leaders should have known the retirement dates of 3 large recruit classes from 1994 through 1995. Their 20 years are up. Not hiring sooner or anticipating the large number of vacancies is an issue that was never addressed. O/T is not the problem. People are not jealous of the STF despite your attempts to breed that discontent.Patrol officers contact them and feed information on a regular basis. The information flow does not always go back to patrol in a real time manner. Rovella's failure to even acknowledge patrol officers is a much larger issue. The men and woman pushing a cruiser day in and out never see their commander.
In normal times we can go along with the gag, forgive the Left some of its goofier policies. Of course, it would be better if we were to have a vigorous anti-crime and anti-criminal policy at all times, but when things are spinning our of control it is absolutely essential that common sense rather than Open Society ideology prevail. To my knowledge the issue of policing, its funding, strategies, and execution has not come up in the mayoral debates. Is Pedro doing a poor job? Very likely, but not because of insufficient attention to crime's "root" causes.
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“ It’s a very delicate balancing act because while we try to make sure that they (protestors) were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well,” Rawlings-Blake said.
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"The criminals are taking advantage of the situation in Baltimore since the unrest," said Gene Ryan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3. "Criminals feel empowered now. There is no respect. Police are under siege in every quarter. They are more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty."
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"My administration has a clear record of doing all the things that we can do with the resources that we have available to promote opportunities for our young people," Segarra said. "We need to address this spike in a very tactful, strategic way, and I don't want to politicize the issue."
Bronin called Thursday for more youth programs and proposed the creation of a Youth Services Corps that would put young people to work on community projects.
8:17am
I am not trying to "breed discontent". go back and read the comments, there are numerous comments regarding STF overtime, quite possibly all written by the same person with an agenda
"With the danger that STF faces everyday dealing with these weapons, it is money well spent and with the training involved and the specialty of the information involved, I don't really think the OT money would be productive opened up to everyone. It is not like there isn't enough OT to go around with 15 patrol cars being filled with overtime officers last Friday night alone"
Who is typically out first at the daily carnage in the city? Patrol officers, not STF. Yes they do a good job, they do respond (racing about the city in their unmarked cars) but when that 911 call comes in it a PATROL officer dispatched. The weekend O/T is just to fill the current car plan. They are not extra officers on the street.
So Kevin where's the Kamil Stachowiz report? I'm actually reading it as I type this weren't you going to post it on your blog? Don't worry I'll be releasing it myself to the media outlets just to show exactly why the community doesn't trust Hartford police , an this won't be good for chief Rovella on top of everything else that's going on. Homocide Hartford is what our city is known as thanks to an inept chief an city hall
9:59am
Good Job selecting a sentence that suits your agenda. Start with the first sentence in that paragraph "As we read and see in the media everyday, we owe a sincere debt of gratitude to every Hartford Police Officer that protects our city day in and day out." . Your welcome
Marcus, or should I say William. Only after I filed an FOI complaint , Foxwoods reconsidered and notified me they would give me the report. They also told me you were aggressively trying to get it. when they asked me who I was and why I wanted the report, Which legally I didn't have to answer, I truthfully answered them. Did you? I doubt you informed them that you had been terminated by HPD and gave them the real story.
Myself and others figured all along Marcus Garvey was actually you, now you confirmed it , Thanks. Oh and by the way, Good Luck in trying to get your job back, our homicide rate needs to be brought down, maybe your help will come in handy not being able to find the corpses lying out in the open
Will smith will never be a cop again. Maybe a sheriff at chucky cheese, but not in Hartford....now you have to change you blog name from marcus to malcolm ..
Foley should know the kind of incompetents he is dealing with in the Mayor's office.Foley was asked to do a very bad thing,but had the common sense not to do what they asked.
Anonymous 11:43. I have to disagree with you, the OT should be opened up to everyone. You would get more bang for your buck if it was. The 15 patrol cars you talk about, as far as OT, that's calls for service, not pro active. So yes I think the city of hartford would benefit more if the pro active OT was divided among all units that can do pro active work. I agree with you as far as patrol being the first 1st at a scene . Patrol is the backbone to the department. But I don't agree on the specialty of information stf deals with. Majority of information they get is from patrol and other divisions. You have patrol officers that are far better investigators than stf has. Its all made to seem as they are the answer to all the problems in the city. They are not! Let's ask patrol how many cases have been solved in the streets and they come along and take it. Yes it's happened and many of us know it's happened.
Anonymous at 9:24 AM.......
I really don't think so. I just recently had a gun case and I was asked politely if I wanted to do the case. I said yes and all STF went above and beyond to help me out. I've never seen them once come along and take any gun arrest, I doubt you can name one case. Usually it's a lazy patrolman that doesn't want to write the case. You are obviously out of touch with reality.
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