Let me start this posting by saying we have a great Police Department in Hartford led by a great Chief who is going to take the Hartford Police Department to new heights .A few hundred very professional men and women make up that department and serve our City well every day. But as in any organization, there are a few people that you just have to shake your head and say "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
The latest is the story of Sergeant Troy Gordon, a street supervisor of Patrol Officers on the midnight shift. Recently Sgt. Gordon apparently felt the need to discipline a female officer on his shift after she called in that she was signing off at an area to conduct a "directed patrol" or what HPD calls a 10-59 in their radio codes. From what I am told Gordon went to the location she called in and the Officer wasn't there. Now whether she had already left and forgot to clear the call with the dispatcher or signed off at the wrong location is not clear.
But regardless, when Gordon didn't find her where she signed off, he called her by radio to meet him in another parking lot. Gordon also called other patrol units to meet him in the lot. When the female officer arrived he instructed her to get out of her cruiser and he ordered her to run circles around her car in front of her fellow officers. From what I am told he made her run circles for the next twenty three minutes during which she fell a few times , to her embarrassment in front of her peers.
To further compound his actions, from what sources are telling me, Gordon was questioned over the radio on a recorded channel by his Lieutenant as to why he was calling for the patrol cars to meet him at the lot. Gordon apparently lied to his immediate supervisor and told the Lieutenant that he was getting officers together to go search for a shotgun used in a robbery rather than tell him he was amassing the units that should be out patrolling the north end of Hartford to witness his alleged abuse of another officer.
This one should call into question Sergeant Gordon's fitness to supervise officer's as well as his common sense and judgement. This sounds more like a fraternity house hazing than it does the actions of a highly paid supervisor of the Hartford Police Department.
These are the tests of Chief Rovella that he will need to act fairly, but quickly on. The tone for Rovella's Administration need to be made quickly and let his supervisors know what he expects from them and what is acceptable. I am pretty confident that others will make different choices and fall in line with Rovellas expectations if they know that they will be held accountable for their actions and judgement.
It might come down to some tough love, but that has been lacking for far too long at HPD. Much of the similar behaviors has resulted in large legal settlements or pending lawsuits for the taxpayers of Hartford, and in the end there are several issues in this matter that will most likely lead to large payouts once again, which I won't go into here.
The cardio workout probably isn't a bad thing, but the HPD gym is the place for that ,not a parking lot off Main Street