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Monday, September 26, 2011

THE RUDEWICZ REPORT, SOME THOUGHTS

The awaited report is in , and I'm not really sure how many questions it has answered. What it does seem to depict though is an almost "junior-high school" type of mentality that seems to permeate the department driven by personality conflicts and gossip.

The report did seem to accomplish one of ,what I believe, was its main goals. Chief Roberts has submitted his resignation/retirement as of December 31, 2011. It also seems to point out what most likely is a need for a complete housecleaning at the top. Highly paid administrators are paid those salaries to avoid, or at least deal with, the issues outlined in the report before they rise to the level of attorney battles.

As I have mentioned here before, Neville Brooks and myself have been friends since grammar school. Although much of the blame in the report seems to be placed on him in the narrow scope that was addressed, there is a much greater problem that needs to be addressed. A couple details were left out of the report that may have clarified a few things.

First off was the issue of the "5 month absence" and his sporadic attendance during that period. I am not defending Neville Brooks here, but what's fair is fair, just don't cast a cloud of doubt and then not explain it. During that period, Lt. Brooks suffered a bout with cancer and underwent surgery, chemo therapy and a difficult recovery process. It wasn't that he was hanging out at the casino or just didn't feel like coming to work.

This was common knowledge among the Command Staff and the responsibility to fill Brooks' void during that period was squarely with Chief Roberts, the direct supervisor of the IAD Commander. That wasn't done, and the responsibility for a division running without any direction, or very little, belongs with the Chief.

It was also interesting to note the issue of the missing reports. Although the report did not mention "the former officer", sources have told me that two individuals had IAD reports in their possession after they left HPD. Former Assistant Chief Neil Dryfe and his wife, former IAD Sergeant Cindy Dryfe both had taken reports with them.

It seems interesting that Dryfe expresses his concern over Brooks' leadership in the memo listed as an exhibit to Chief Roberts, but he may have also contributed to the problem by removing reports, for whatever reason.

The issue of the security and access into the IAD complex was actually addressed in the early 1990's when a security system was installed in the IAD Complex. This was done after the IAD office area was allegedly broken into by a police officer climbing over a wall from an adjoining bathroom. The system was eventually cancelled because under Mayor Perez the City didn't want to pay for its maintenance and monitoring.

Another interesting part is how the complaints apparently were started. The complaint from Sergeant Laureano to Assistant Chief Horvath details claims of a hostile work environment and allegations that Brooks was seeking retaliation against the Chief's. Even though no one else seemed to have issues, Horvath moved forward.

As a side note, Sergeant Laureano claims he was unable to sleep because of the stress Brooks' behavior put him under. That might explain a lot since many wonder when Laureano does sleep. He is one of HPD's highest money earners as of this time because of his private job and overtime schedule, working in excess of 18 or 20 hours many days.

Sergeant Laureano has recently landed a position as Commander of the Northeast Condition's Unit.

The report does seem to point out many management issues, but this report only hits the tip of the iceberg. It claims morale is poor because of inconsistent discipline and the potential intimidation of officers fearing underhanded or uneven handling of discipline.

It is up to Mayor Segarra now as to whether this report will sit on a shelf like so many others, or will it actually be implemented. It reminds me of words Mayor Segarra spoke this past Saturday at the funeral of John O'Connell. "To remain silent is cowardly" Segarra said. So far the silence has been deafening from City Hall, much of this was known before any report was ever commissioned

THE RUDEWICZ REPORT

The Rudewicz Report is in and here it is below. I haven't read the entire report yet, but I will comment more as I read it.

Rudewicz Report

Sunday, September 25, 2011

KENNEDY REJECTS McGARRY ENDORSEMENT

Hartford City Council candidate Ken Kennedy has become the first to reject the "cross" endorsement supposedly struck between the Hartford Republicans and the Hartford Democrats. The deal has struck up controversy on both sides and has left many voters unhappy, from those I have spoke with.

Even among Republicans most have questioned McGarry's choice to endorse the Democrats. It raises some interesting issues for Republicans who typically believe in smaller government, reduced spending , lower taxes and small business support. The endorsements were given to individuals that have shown the extreme opposite in the way Hartford has been run for the last decade. Hartford's mill rate has doubled, city spending has increased over $150 million dollars and Hartford's small businesses are being taxed out of existence.

To read more about my thoughts on the McGarry endorsements, read this previous posting.

Here is Kennedy's e-mail rejecting the McGarry endorsement:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: FW: Republican Endorsement
From: "Kenneth Kennedy, Jr." >
To: Ramon Arroyo >,Adam Cloud >,"
Hon. Pedro E. Segarra" >," Hon. Alexander Aponte"
>, Kyle Anderson >
CC:

I have informed the republican party that I will not accept their endorsement in
the interest of Democratic Party unity. I hope this settles the issue as the
Council seems to be the real problem as we have 6 candidates and are not running
by ourseleves as the other offices.

Friday, September 23, 2011

MORE PIECES TO THE LIEUTENANT DAILEY PUZZLE

I know many of you are loving the use of the "alternative means" to bring you documents here.

The document below is another such case. It involves the Lt. Ed Dailey investigation by Captain James Bernier. The whole matter has the potential to be another legal mess costing the City substantial amounts to settle.

Last week I posted some of the documents I obtained through "alternative means" and many of you were surprised by the "one-sidedness" of Bernier's report. Dailey's rebuttal to IAD Commander Lt. Rob Davis seemed to raise more questions than provide answers as to how Bernier chose to leave much of the information that would have helped Dailey out of his "investigation".

Dailey's rebuttal memo was submitted to Davis after the previous IAD Commander Lt. Neville Brooks was removed under another questionable decision that also has the potential to cost city taxpayers substantially to settle.

Now another document has been given to me by "alternative means". In April, I made an FOI request to the city for "any and all documents" related to the Lt. Dailey investigation to an incident that happened on Rockville Street. No document, not even one piece of paper was given to me responsive to my request.

Hearing's were finished today before the FOI Commission, and the more documents I receive through "alternative means" that are relative to my request, it becomes much clearer how wrong this whole matter is and it seems to make the Rudewicz report pale in comparison. It also seems to make it clear why the City and HPD did not want the documents anywhere near my hands to be able to read.

I doesn't take a lawyer or a Judge to read Lt. Tedeschi's memo and realize that the Dailey investigation conducted by Captain Bernier was the furthest thing from fair and unbiased. It could be characterized as a witch hunt. I think the big question for me is that if Bernier was willing to leave out much of the information that would have cleared Dailey, a fellow police officer, to what length would he go if he wanted to slant a case against an average citizen..

The major fact in Tedeschi's memo is that even though Bernier kept referring to the crime scene and the assault, witness statements led to a different conclusion. There was no assault according to two witnesses, Tillie and John Pittman. A report by Officer Caron stated that the Pittman's witnessed the alleged "assault" victim fall down their rear stairs after he was pounding on their rear door.

Tedeschi also interviewed John Pittman and was told the same version, yet the Caron report was not included in Captain Berniers report, which would have seemed to show that no crime had even taken place to start with. Tedeschi, as Department Advocate, further states in his memo that Dailey's actions do no rise to the level of the charges lodged against Dailey.

It really makes me question the integrity of some at HPD and to the extent that some will go to carry out personality conflicts and vendettas. It also raises the issue of how a document such as Tedeschi's memo can be in existence, with apparently no action being taken against the original author of what now seem, most likely, to be false allegations against Lt. Dailey.

A call to Captain Bernier earlier this evening for comment was not returned.

Tedeschi Advocate Memo Dailey

"IT'S NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL IT IS ON THE BLOG"

Apparently that was the word on Facebook today regarding the sudden retirement of Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts. And now for all of my blog readers, it is official , Chief Roberts is retiring effective December 31st 2011.

I think we all knew it was coming, one way or another. The Rudewicz Report was apparently submitted to the City on Monday and word is that Tuesday was not a pleasant day for the Chief at City Hall. Thursday was a little bit better, Chief Roberts won a set of golf clubs at the HPD Union Golf outing. That may have been an omen that it was time for retirement for DKR.

And now today Chief Roberts submitted his letter of retirement. We won't know what was in the Rudewicz Report until Mayor Segarra releases it under that policy of transparency we keep hearing about. I think it is safe to say though that the report had a lot to do with this retirement.

It really is unfortunate that we are at this point now. DKR came in at a time when we needed a strong Chief(not that there ever is a time you don't need a strong Chief). He was well accepted by just about every corner of the City. He had a personality that people could relate to, myself included. Even when we weren't on the best of terms, the Chief still took my calls and responded when needed.

He had a lot of potential, but that old management saying that "you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with" should have been painted on his office wall in 2 foot high letters to remind him everyday. Daryl surrounded himself with some that were clearly incompetent, some that were set on undermining him to get his job and some that just had no business being anywhere near the second floor.

The really sad part is that Chief Roberts knew it. We had a discussion a few months ago he readily acknowledged that he knew that some of those around him were undermining him regularly, yet he still kept them there.

There probably isn't enough space to list all of the poor decisions made by those around him, yet the Chief condoned them and allowed them to snowball. The Secore case, the Murtha case, the Brooks case, the Condon case, the Dailey case, the Foley case, the Pawtucket Street shooting matter and the list goes on. Several of these matters have already cost the City huge amounts and the potential is there for a lot more liability.

I recently had a somewhat heated, although respectable, discussion about things that were happening at HPD and I asked him to look at the facts in several of them. At one point Mayor Segarra looked at me and asked me "do you know why Chief Roberts still has a job?" , I said "no" and his response was "because of you". That was a shot, but he was right.

Shortly after Mayor Segarra took office last year, there was talk that he was going in a different direction for the leadership at HPD. I asked to meet with the Mayor and we set up a time to meet in his office. One of the things we discussed was the tenure of Chief Roberts. I asked the Mayor to give Chief Roberts a chance to prove himself without being under the control of our former felon Mayor Eddie Perez.

Eddie Perez kept Chief Roberts on a very short leash and in my opinion that kept DKR from being able to function and have a real impact on crime. Mayor Segarra made the decision to keep Chief Roberts on and I want to thank him for that, but I will admit now that it probably wasn't the best choice.

Myself, like many others, had high hopes for the Chief. Unfortunately we saw the opportunities squandered over the last year. Just the fact that the Governor and our Chief State's Attorney had to step in to create what will probably go down as one of the most effective crime fighting initiative in HPD history, the Shooting Task force, is troubling.

If Chief Roberts had surrounded himself with the right people, he would have had that initiative presented to him months ago. Instead vindictiveness and petty differences kept gun fighting ideas from moving forward when they were suggested, and I( know for a fact that they were suggested and funding was denied by the second floor brain trust

It is just sad to see an organization implode as we watch. I spoke with someone earlier today who expected the media to ask for a comment regarding the Chief's retirement. They didn't want to use that "canned" response we saw from the Mayor's press person with the usual accolades which any casual observer knows weren't true.

My advice was to say that in any organization there comes a time for change, new leadership and new direction. For HPD that time is now to begin building a once proud and admired organization.

Best of luck in your retirement Chief, I am still proud to say you are a friend. For the good of the organization the time is right, but if HPD is going to move forward, DKR's retirement is not the only one that needs to be submitted, And if they aren't submitted, I think Mayor Segarra knows what needs to be done.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS SET FOR JOHN O'CONNELL


John and his grandaughter Brigid on August 12, 2011


The funeral arrangements for John O'Connell have been set. The wake will be Friday from 4:00PM to 8:00PM at Sheehan Hillborn Breen Funeral Home located at 1084 New Britain Avenue, West Hartford. The funeral will be Saturday at 10 am from Saint Bridgett Church, directly across from the funeral home on New Britain Ave in the Elmwood section of West Hartford