Search This Blog

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

HOW CAN THIS BE?

Channel 30 just reported at 11:00PM that Hartford is the 14th most violent City in America based on recently released FBI crime statistics. New Haven is listed as the 4th most violent.

Haven't we been told repeatedly that crime is down in Hartford? Good thing, otherwise we might have been number 1.

Hartford had 1,293 violent crimes per 100,000 people. There were 21 murders per 100,000 people, more than double the national average.

UP IN SMOKE


It seems that HPD is starting their spring cleaning prior to a possible larger scale housecleaning, depending on the "independent investigation" that is about to commence.

Boxes and boxes of payroll time cards were incinerated yesterday, just days before investigators are scheduled to begin looking into possible irregularities at the Hartford Police Department. The payroll cards may have also shed light on activities similar to those that led to the arrest of former Hartford Police Officer Hector Robles.

Robles, through his attorneys, has a rather extensive Freedom of Information request with the HPD and the City of Hartford currently pending.

The City had requested permission from the State of Connecticut to destroy the records, as required by state law. That request was granted on May 10, 2011.

The records were transported to an incinerator in Wallingford and the entire operation was overseen by a Hartford Police Captain who also followed the trash truck containing the records and watched as they were burned.

I'm not sure if this is the normal procedure, but it all seems interesting in light of the current state of affairs at Jennings Road.

MAYOR SEGARRA , PLEASE SHARE THE TRUTH WITH US



As you can see from the above video, Mayor Pedro Segarra speaks quite often about transparency.The clip is edited, but during a three minute speech at the Legislative Office Building recently, he used the word transparency quite a few times. But is "transparency" really the case?

Last Thursday my phone started ringing early in the day about the breakfast get-together of Mayor Segarra and former Hartford Police Officer Hector Robles who is also the State Representative from the 6th District. Robles, in the true style of Hartford politics, is also currently under arrest on larceny charges where the States Attorney's Office alleges that he stole over $10,000 from the City of Hartford.

The calls were mostly from the "political" types questioning whether it was proper for Segarra to be be meeting privately with someone who was terminated from the City, was facing a possible trial and in turn could be contemplating legal action against the City. All valid points, and I would think it would have been wise for the Mayor to bring a third party along to, as they say, "have his back" if any questions of impropriety arose.

The original parties that called me could only confirm the meeting though, they didn't hear any of the conversation. Then I received another call Friday night from someone who is not political and was upset over a conversation they had claimed that they heard that morning between Robles and Segarra while this person was having breakfast at Ashlee's on Main Street.

UPDATE 9:00pm

I just received a call back from Mayor Segarra regarding this meeting and I am doing something that I don't think I have ever done since I started this blog.

Although I am 100% confident with the information provided to me by the sources that called, there was something that bothered me about the post. I have to feel comfortable with what I write here and after speaking to Mayor Segarra, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and edit the details of the conversation.

I still think the meeting was inappropriate, and the Mayor should have shown better judgement. Eventually the truth comes to the surface and if nothing else all of the candidates should realize to stay above the fray because you never know who is watching, and in this case listening

Sunday, May 22, 2011

IN CASE YOU DON'T READ THE COMMENTS

In response to the posting regarding the upcoming Hartford Police Internal Affairs Investigation, I received the following e-mail from Frank Rudewicz whose firm will be conducting the investigation.

I think it is important that I post the e-mail address Frank has set up for anyone that wants to provide information. In addition, I will be more than willing to forward information that is provided to me to the investigators if you prefer to not have any link back to you or your e-mail or IP address.

I have also been told that some of the investigators are expected to be either current or former Investigators from the Boston Police Department Internal Affairs Division and that Rudewicz will essentially be playing a supervisory role.

Here is Frank's e-mail:

Kevin, this is Frank Rudewicz. While I appreciate that individuals have their own opinions on the upcoming review of HPD, I will be ensuring the integrity of the process by seeking all relevant information from any sources.

In that regard, I have set up a confidential email address at HPDIADinquiry@gmail.com. I request that all relevant information be forwarded to me, either anonymously or otherwise.

This email will only be opened by me or my assistant, Kati Allison in Boston. Content will be shared with my investigative team as required. I will respond to all emails.

Friday, May 20, 2011

THERE ARE STILL GOOD THINGS HAPPENING AT HPD

Even though it seems like a lot of questionable activities are taking place at Jennings Road, there is still some good police work going on.

One such incident happened today.

Thefts of copper piping from both occupied and unoccupied buildings are becoming a huge problem as the scrap price for copper continues to rise. These thefts are negatively impacting the city's crime figures as part 1 crimes. Even the new Public Safety Complex is not immune as much of the newly installed copper pipe was stolen from the building this week.

An observant HPD officer was working a construction job today when he observed a vehicle pass him with lengths of copper pipe sticking out of the trunk of the car. A description of the car was broadcast and the vehicle was followed to a scrap yard in the North Meadows. The pipe was identified as having just been stolen from a Hartford Housing Authority apartment complex.

The copper thief and his car were taken off the street, at least for the day.

I GUESS I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF "INDEPENDENT"

Let me start this post off by saying I know Frank Rudewicz and I have known him for many years. Rudewicz is a retired Hartford Police officer. Rudewicz and his firm were apparently hired today by Mayor Pedro Segarra to investigate the problems at HPD. I don't have any doubt that Rudewicz is qualified and has a good track record, but the appearance stinks.

Why don't we just save the money and ask Chief Roberts and his command staff to investigate themselves, that would appear almost as legit to the public as a retired HPD officer investigating his former co-workers. We have seen how forthcoming Chief McKoy is when he has accidents with city vehicles so I'm sure we could count on him to get to the truth.

We also know that we could count on Assistant Chief Horvath to properly conduct the sensitive interviews without opening the City and its taxpayers to any liability. Assistant Chief Heavren could be asked to catalog and record all of the evidence collected, hopefully he won't have the same "loss of memory" that occurred with the photos from the lederhosen incident.

And so that everyone has a role and feels wanted in the Chief's complex, maybe the Deputy Chiefs could be called on to handle any video evidence.

And just in case anything goes wrong or the investigation takes a bad turn, blame it on Lieutenant Brooks, he already has lawyers on retainer so that shouldn't be a problem. Well, there is one problem, since Lt. Brooks answered directly to Chief Roberts, it might be hard to insulate the Chief from any responsibility like "failure to supervise".

This decision makes no sense and really makes me question the decision making of Mayor Segarra. This is a critical decision that needs to show the public that they can trust their police department and the truth will eventually come through. This should have truly been an "independent" entity that has no allegiance to anyone and will follow the evidence where ever it goes.

Anything short of criminal charges being lodged against the individuals involved will smack of a whitewash. This decision just makes the "Blue wall of silence" appear even stronger to those people outside the police department, i.e. also known as the general public.

The Mayor should know better and from the phone calls I am receiving from several members of the public and HPD officers as well, they agree the appointment of someone with ties to HPD already smacks of a coverup. I am in no way casting any doubt on Rudewicz, but Segarra has automatically done that by his selection.

And while I'm questioning Mayor Segarra's decision making, I would like to ask him if he thinks it is appropriate to be meeting privately with someone fired from HPD and subsequently arrested by the States Attorney. It seems that Segarra had a "private" session with former HPD Officer Hector Robles at a Main Street breakfast joint yesterday. At the very least it should be raising some issues as to what was discussed, what potential deals might be getting cut in a tough election year by a police officer under arrest and a Mayor scrambling for votes.

It just seems crazy to open the doors to criticism by poor decision making.

But then again, this is the hometown of Mark Twain who through his boy Tom Sawyer made the "whitewash" famous in his writings. Maybe the final report can be released from the steps of the Twain House. The only question is whether the public sees it as a work of fact or fiction