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Thursday, June 25, 2020

HPD CHIEF THODY CRASHES CITY VEHICLE



I today obtained a Hartford Police incident report for HPD case number 20-16619. Although I had requested the report through an FOI request to HPD, they did not provide it. The report was obtained through "alternative means".

The report details a crash by Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody on May 31, 2020 while he was driving his City of Hartford vehicle, a 2019 Chevy Tahoe.

The report, written by Thody's Chief of Staff at the time, Lieutenant Brian Bowsza, The report states  "on the above date and time", but no time is noted. The narrative states that  Thody was on Route 154 in Chester , Connecticut when "the vehicle"  momentarily crossed the right lane boundary marker and made contact with the guardrail.

There is no mention of damage estimates in Bowsza's report, but sources familiar with the crash estimated that repairs would be in excess of $5,000.

The report further states that the "Connecticut State Police was immediately notified, but declined to respond or provide a case number". That sounds a little odd, but it is easy enough to verify with the Connecticut State Police as far as incident reports, Dispatch entries and actual phone recordings. Much more on that in a future post.

In the meantime, this incident raises more questions than answers. Why did it take almost 13 days for a report to be generated by Bowsza. Hartford's 911 Dispatch Center's records apparently show that the case number wasn't requested until June 12, 2020.

Is the Chief allowed to override policy and procedure and Connecticut State law on reporting an accident? Why is there no mention of the Headquarters Lieutenant being notified as required if there was any interaction with another Police Agency such as CSP? Why was the Crime Scene Division not requested to take photographs of the damage as is normally done with a police vehicle accident?

Who else was in the vehicle with Thody and what City business was being conducted in Chester Connecticut at approximately 6:00PM on a Sunday evening. Was alcohol potentially involved or what "distracted" Thody to veer and hit the guardrail?

Much more to come on this I am sure. Another case of leadership by example at HPD.

FROM HPD: ANOTHER FATAL ACCIDENT

HARTFORD, CONN. - (June 25, 2020) On Thursday, June 25, 2020 at approximately 3:21a.m., patrol officers responded to a serious motorcycle collision in the area of 500 Hudson Street.

Officers located a seriously injured 28-year-old male and seriously injured 22-year-old female on the roadway alongside a motorcycle. The male and female were transported to the Hartford Hospital Emergency Room by Aetna ambulance.

 The male was later pronounced deceased at Hartford Hospital. The female was listed in serious, but stable condition.

The crashed motorcycle, a blue 1999 Yamaha, was the only vehicle involved. Detectives from the Crime Scene Division responded to the scene and assumed control of the investigation. Preliminary investigation of the crash indicates that the motorcycle was traveling northbound in the area of 500 Hudson Street.

Video footage appears to indicate that the motorcycle operator lost control and struck a light pole located on the east side of Hudson Street. Both the male operator and female passenger were ejected from the motorcycle.

 Further reconstruction and investigation of the incident is being conducted. The deceased motorcycle operator has been identified as Carlos Alexis Rivera, of South Windsor, CT. Anyone who may have witnessed or have footage of the incident is asked to call CSD Detective Eric Lemke at 860-757-4125, or the HPD anonymous tip line at 860-722-TIPS (8477)

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

THE WAKE-UP CALL FOR POLICE ADMINISTRATORS

Anyone whos has seen or heard of the George Floyd video should be rightfully appalled. There are most likely many such incidents that don't result in deaths or are not  recorded, that occur many times each day.

As long as we hire human beings as Police Officers, we will see some bad behavior. We probably don't hear very often about the things great Police Officers do every day, but that's the nature of the beast.

Sadly, I think any Police Chief or Police supervisor worth their salary, knows immediately who their problem Officer's are. The real question is what have they done to curtail their problems and address bad behavior before it escalates.

 The problem is many Chief's and supervisors are unwilling to deal with the consequences of taking bad Police Officer's head on before the next George Floyd.

Police Union's have become more about protecting bad officer's and winning their job's back than in actually looking out for the good officers and protecting them

The "no snitching" mentality is alive and well in just about every Police Department. Good cops, for whatever resaon tend to cover for "bad " cops. Its just the nature of the culture and good Officers who do go beyond and report bad behavior, usually find themselves as the outcasts because they reported a bad cop.

Last summer I received calls from Officer's about an incident on a Northend street. When I asked to see the body cam footage of the incident, I was told by two high level HPD officers that the officer's in question "left the office and forgot their body cameras" Now isn't that convenient, and what discipline or corrective action was eventually taken to make sure it doesn't happen in the future? None is the most likely answer.

I have had conversations with many Police Chief's and high level supervisors regarding bad behavior by Officer's and there seems to be a common theme when dealing with problem Officers...Police Union's and bad Labor Board decisions.

One Police Chief told me he didn't want to terminate a bad Officer, with well documented racist behavior, because he didn't want to face the officer in the hallway in 2 years when the Labor Board would order him to hire the officer back.

Recently HPD was ordered to hire a detective back after he was terminated as the result of his DUI arrest and his well documented racist tirade, repeatedly using the "N" word during his arrest, all caught on dashcam and bodycam in real time.

Where is it acceptable to now assign a documented racist Officer? Is he only a racist whwn he is drunk?

 What about the racist Sergeant who was recently returned to the streets as a supervisor  after he was documented previously referring to Hartford's African American men as "Gorilla's in the mist". Did he serve enough time in  the bowels of HPD in the booking Department that he relinquished his racist viewpoints? Did assigning him to the Southend  ensure he can't exercise his racist behavior. I sure hope so because that is the last thing we need right now and no one can come back and say "geez, what a surprise, we never knew"

Or do we just wait until the next time he has a bad day and boils over in a racist rant? There is too much riding on the Public's trust of Police Officers to allow, or even risk,  continued bad behavior.

It doesn't serve anyone's best interest and it may require Legislative change to address the options.Again, Police Officers are human, but maybe the Legislature should require a Labor decision that keeps them employed, but maybe not in a Police capacity. Somerwhere in a Office is the basement of City Hall might work, with limited public contact.

We also need to do a lot more for mental health support for Officers who see things everyday that no human being should have to see or deal with. It is no wonder some officer's eventually "snap", or worse. Supervisors need to be much more in tune with identifying problems and risk factors and not be afraid or intimidated to address these issues.

More on this in the future. This can't be the dirty little secret that no Police Chief wants to address. It is out in the open now, deal with it and work to fix it. Denial now is futile.

Friday, May 29, 2020

IS THIS A "LEADER"?


The screenshot above is a posting apparently from the personal Facebook page of Connecticut's Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz posted earlier this week. I don't think I need to comment much on this except to say it shows a total disregard for the Constitutional and First Amendment rights of his constituents to express themselves. 

 As the saying goes,"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it"

 Apparently the Speaker doesn't agree with that and wished harm , and possibly death, on Connecticut residents that expressed their displeasure with the States handling of the Covid 19 Pandemic.

Whether meant as serious or off the cuff remarks, Aresimowicz should be disgusted with himself for such a lack of any display of leadership and showing a total disregard for human life.

Even though some Democrats take every opportunity to tear down President Trump and discredit him, some of them sound more and more like Trump every day , Aresimowicz included.

Isn't it about time we demand leaders that actually lead by example?

 The comment was eventually removed from Aresimowicz's Facebook page and replaced with a half hearted apology.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP, WHAT'S THE TRUTH?

I was a little surprised yesterday to read media reports that Connecticut Senator Len Fasano was being stonewalled by Governor Lamont in his request for the Boston Consulting Group's recent contract with the State of Connecticut.

I wonder why?

I also wonder why Governor Lamont thinks that he can operate in secrecy when spending millions of dollars in taxpayer money under the guise that we are in an emergency.

Corrupt activities are corrupt whether during normal times or during a pandemic emergency. Regardless, they should be open to public scrutiny either way.

 Through a source at the Capitol, I was able to obtain the contract that apparently the Governor's Office was afraid to or unwilling to share with Senator Fasano.

My source also told me that people should be looking into how the contract was issued and which person on the Governor's reopening committee has ties to Boston Consulting and apparently worked for them at one point.



Friday, May 15, 2020

A GREAT RETURN ON THEIR INVESTMENT

Earlier this week, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont seemed to reluctantly answer a question from a NBC Connecticut reporter when he acknowledged the contract to Boston Consulting Group. The contract was for $2 million dollars for Boston Consulting to guide the State of Connecticut through "re-opening" the State.

Didn't the Governor put together a panel of so-called "experts" to guide the re-opening goals. To the best of my knowledge, these experts all volunteered their time to spearhead these efforts and didn't cost us anything, let alone $2 million dollars.

I have to ask what expertise Boston Consulting has in this area since the pandemic is unprecedented and no one has expertise in uncharted territory. It seems to me as though Boston Consulting will be receiving on the job training from taxpayers of the State of Connecticut. It also makes me ask why none of the high priced State of Connecticut staff members couldn't manage this, since they most likely have as much experience as Boston Consulting in pandemic response.

I guess the answers may lie in the website opensecrets.org, a website that follows campaign donations. Open secrets lists  the Boston Consulting as a major donor to Democratic campaign operations. Here is their report on Boston Consulting and their donations, https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals?id=D000032055.

Apparently Boston Consulting is willing to hedge their bets. The report lists their donations to Democrat's campaign at roughly 80.58% ($244,279 for 2020) of their dollars, they were willing to also donate to Republican candidates totaling 19.42% ($58,874) for 2020.

It doesn't seem like a bad investment, sprinkle around some campaign contributions and get a $2 million dollar contract in the process. It's just too bad Lamont couldn't find a Connecticut company to help.