We have seen it nationwide, Baltimore, St. Louis and now New haven.
In Connecticut, we have seen first hand the reluctance of State's Attorneys to be transparent. It is not the Chief State's Attorney, it is the States Attorney's for the individual Counties. The County State's Attorneys do not actually answer to the Chief State's Attorney, it is a peculiar system , but that is the way it works.
A couple years ago when Hartford Police Officers were involved in a chase that ended on Flatbush Avenue in West Hartford, allegations of excessive force were made against Hartford Police Officers. The ensuing investigation was turned over to the Connecticut State Police and the Litchfield County States Attorney.
At the time, I was able to see first hand the messed up nature of the system. Chief James Rovella was HPD's Chief at the time and he understood the importance of being transparent and sharing details with his community partners. It was a matter of trust built on relationships with the community.
Despite numerous requests by Rovella to the investigators and the Litchfield States Attorney to release all video of the incident, they refused for almost a year.This did not help to build trust or confidence by the community in their Police Department.
Now let's look at the OIS by the Hamden Police on the streets of New Haven this past week It should be a training lesson by the Hamden Police Department and the State's Attorney in how NOT to handle a Police Shooting.
Recently when HPD had an Officer Involved Shooting, within hours the radio recordings were released. Hamden could insist on doing the same thing
Although there is substantial video and radio recordings of the incident, none of that has been released, even a tensions continue to build in the Community. There are more questions than answers coming out of this shooting and every day that goes by without answers it erodes the needed trust more. There is no reason not to release video or radio recordings, other than to show it was a mess.
Anyone that watched the video that was widely circulated from the business in front of the shooting scene should realize it was a terrible situation. The tactics used by the Hamden Officer should require a trip back to the Academy for retraining at the very least. Now none of us were there and it is easy to second guess the actions not knowing what was going on. The first thing is the way the Hamden Officer parked and ran up to the suspects car without any cover. Now his backup may have been coming in from the opposite direction, out of camera view. He didn't take cover and order the occupants out of the car along with backup officers, he appears to charge at the car firing.
Now if there were backup officers arriving to the right, out of the camera view, the Hamden Officer would have put them in the crossfire of an rounds he fired. Which apparently he did, and from what sources familiar with the investigation are telling me, the Yale Officer who was injured was grazed by a bullet from the Hamden Officer. We are very fortunate that LEO's are not planning a funeral this weekend and we are also fortunate that CSP are not preparing a homicide arrest warrant against a Hamden Police Officer and the passenger in the car is recovering.
Apparently no weapon has been found in the vehicle as of this time.
Hamden and the New Haven States Attorney need to come out and release their initial findings immediately. When did Hamden advise New Haven they were coming into their town? How did Yale PD find out what was going on to arrive before New Haven PD? All of that will probably be revealed in radio recordings and the video will be the same today tomorrow as well as a year from now and it will not change the facts one bit if it is released now. It will not change the facts one bit or taint a potential jury pool, but it will show the community, many of who already mistrust the Police, that they are being transparent. It also appears that the way that the call was dispatched was very flawed and indicated an armed robbery with a gun , but that appears to not be the case
The fact that Hamden has an "interim" Police Chief probably isn't helpful, especially if he is hoping to obtain the permanent Chief position.
But on the other hand, he should know the importance of being honest with the community he serves. If it was bad or if poor techniques were used or if training for his officers is less than adequate, he needs to be willing to say that and commit to making changes to fix it and work to begin rebuilding any community trust and good will that has been lost by this incident.
The New Haven States Attorney also need to see that tensions flaring serves no purpose and steps should be taken immediately to diffuse that. As for the involvement of the Connecticut State Police, former Hartford Police Chief , now the Commissioner of Public Safety, oversees CSP. Anyone concerned about handling this matter properly should call him and ask for some advice. Rovella has been through it before and I am pretty confident he understands the value of maintaining the public's trust and transparency and could provide some excellent guidance
25 comments:
Are you saying the Hamden cop also shot the Yale cop?
So now you’re a police shooting expert that’s going to Monday morning quarter back an officer involved shooting like Foley and come to any conclusion before knowing all the facts and circumstances and seeing ALL video? Good to know.
yes, and I think you will se criminal charges against the Hamden Officer in the coming days. His actions were reckless and I am sure he will be held accountable
11;12 PM I support our Police when they act properly 110%, I wouldn't go out on a limb if I wasn't confident in what I was talking about, I think it will become clear this coming week. If I were you, I wouldn't place any bets on what you think I don't know
Got it. I forgot your connections run deep. You obviously know more than the average person not in the “know.” I can only base on the video the news has released.
and does that first video clip from the business look like proper Police techniques were used. What officer in their right mind goes charging up to a vehicle and then fires with his backup in his crossfire? And where was the threat to start firing? If it looked even a little bit acceptable, I would say that, but this looks terrible
Incidents like this are brutally eye opening. For years I’ve come to work every day, none of us over think it, but we all know in the back of our mind we may not go home one day. I have a family, I must provide for them and I want to make sure I go home every night as well as my brothers and sisters.
I’ve responded to countless armed robberies, burglaries, larcenies, shootings, you name it. I’ve always tried to catch the bad guy by canvassing the area knowing at any second something could go from zero to 100. I pray I make the right decision in the heat of the moment. I can unequivocally say that none of us want to shoot anyone. None of us go to work and in our head say I want to shoot someone today. I’m positive the same goes for the Yale and Hamden officers. They were doing the right thing, canvassing for a robbery suspect, trying to catch a bad guy.
When a suspect car is coming at you head on like that I’m sure they made a split decision to block it in to avoid a chase. The officer that shot first was obviously spooked by something that led to him firing. The other officer it appears started shooting when he heard the shots. A mistake was possibly made, these things can sadly happen.
This would probably be the only profession where you will pay with extreme public scrutiny, losing your job and arrest. The same community that I’ve protected and served for years and years will immediately turn their back on me with one accident/mistake. Politicians will use me to grandstand and advance their political agenda and re-election. The administration will likely do the same and turn on me.
I often ask myself, why the F would anyone in their right mind do this job? Why do we even bother? If I didn’t have as many years on as I do I would surely find another career. Can’t wait to retire and get out of this once rewarding job.
This reckless wild animal does not belong in anyones community with a gun and badge
Black Cops Matter!
The "job" stopped being rewarding years ago. The pay in the grand scheme of things sucks. The hours suck(unless u got a hook). The benefits get worse with every contact and the scrutiny only intensifies and like u said any(every) mistake u make is used by politicians and admin to advance their careers and agendas.
Civil Service jobs ain't all they're cracked up to be... especially nowadays.
Stay safe and get that pension.
Take a page from Thody’s book and make a career of staying inside protected by the brick and mortar. He was recently at a community meeting and told them he brings 22 years of experience. A community member told him they’ve never seen him!
WHITE COPS MATTER !
ALL COPS MATTER
Wethersfield gonna be a hot mess with the police murdering Hollyhood Ant!!
No sir it’s not, Wethersfield likes their community “safe” if the cops have to put a few in a thug that’s acting like an animal to insure it stays that way.... so be it.
Good sir, do you really think the BLM and Moral Monday characters care? I really don’t think so!
Thanks 9:03 A.M , I thought I was the only one taking in the fact that the two officers involved in the New Haven shooting were black! Why does the media continually leave out in the IMEDIATE aftermath of a police vs shitbag shooting this important piece of information? Maybe those destructive “Men Of The Cloth” wouldn’t get any face time or sound bites crying racism if the media stopped manipulating the mostly uneducated occupants of our inner citie and purposely stirring the pot..Kev, you frequently bring up that Hartford’s “COMMUNITY” distrusts the police,,, so here’s my question for you ,,IF THIS IS TRUE WHY DO THE BLACKS AND HISPANICS IN HARTFORD AND FOR THIS FACT ALL OF CT’s INNER CITIES ACCOUNT FOR ALMOST ALL THE 911 CALLS REACHING OUT TO THE POLICE FOR HELP????? Personally , I DISTANCE MYSELF FROM PEOPLE I DONT TRUST!!!! Kev, I do agree with you about the importance of training ,but not related to police ,,I would like to one day see the males and females “breeding” in our inner cities TRAIN THEIR OFFSPRING TO ACT CIVILIZED SO OUR POLICE ARENT FORCED INTO THESE SITUATIONS!!!!
Well since you brought up nationwide I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Clive Bundy situation Kevin Brookman because you never made a post about that. Let's remind the masses Bundy was illegally using federal land (which is a theft) and when law enforcement the FBI came to make the arrest his fellow man armed themselves and had armed standoff with law enforcement. And after the whole fiasco was finished Agent Orange pardoned all those criminals that pulled guns out on law enforcement. And lastly how bout that Biker gang standoff down in Texas where numerous people were killed even some police officers were shot and to top it off the prosecutor dropped all charges against most of the bikers involved. Where was the outcry from you or white america on that disgusting fiasco but you claim White Privilege doesn't exist. I'm sure you won't have a logical explanation or answer to these questions Kevin bottom line in America RACE MATTERS!!!!
No post on the Wethersfield PD officer involved fatal shooting yet Kevin? We are awaiting your post...
7:23 AM, Would you like to compare factual numbers of whites vs people of color who commit crimes but receive no consequences? I don’t think you want to go there. Kim Fox ,the prosecutor in charge of the Jussie Smollett case opened up the true “can of worms” that exists all across this country related to inner city crime and the CORRUPT judicial system. WHITE PEOPLE AIN’T GOT SHIT ON PEOPLE OF COLOR WHEN IT COMES TO “GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARDS”
Do forget that the Hamden officer was originally hired and trained by New Haven. Hamden hired them to improve the diversity of their police force.
Given what has been reported, I wonder if Hamden will have saved any money by hiring this “already trained” police officer.
Incorrect.
April 24, 3:17 PM.....
1000% CORRECT. Who are you kidding? 7:23 PM is spot on!
Correction....... 5:51 PM is spot on and couldn’t be more accurate.
He actually believes the BS coming out his mouth thats the scary part 317pm to say these entitled privileged white boys are delusional and crazy is an understatement smh
Post a Comment