Many of our members have reached out to us over the last few days asking about the Anti-Police bill that was approved by the State House of Representatives the other day. People have asked what we're doing related to it, what they can do, and how or if, they should be doing their jobs, so we'll briefly try to respond here directly and honestly.
First and foremost, this bill is not yet law. It has only been approved by the House, it must still go to the Senate where they can approve or reject it as is, or they can pass it with provisions added or removed and then send their version back to the House for approval. Once a final version is passed it goes to the Governor for approval or veto. While I assume some version of this bill will pass, we're not going to offer any guidance or make any decisions until we see what the actual final language that gets passed is and what it means for us. Unfortunately the Legislature seems to be fast walking this bill without giving it the debate it deserves so they can go on vacation sooner. You can click this link to read the text of the bill and see how each Legislator voted.
As for what we've been doing, our attorney has been in contact with the Legislature on behalf of us and other Police Unions he represents, check your work email for more information. Additionally our Union Vice President wrote letters to several State Representatives on our behalf. Unfortunately there's not much more that we can do. As a labor Union, the only thing of value we have to offer to politicians are endorsements and campaign contributions, and right now the Democrats who are pushing this bill see us as the enemy and want nothing to do with our endorsements or our money. In fact they'd probably prefer we endorsed their opponents so they can show the mob driving them how anti-Police they are. So we just don't have much, if any political sway in this situation.
As for what you can do, you can click this link to find your State Legislators for your home district and East Hartford and write them an email or call their office to express your feelings on this bill. My only advice is if you're contacting a Democrat, it's probably best not to identify yourself as a Police Officer and rather present yourself as a concerned citizen, otherwise they may write you off immediately.
We don't have a crystal ball to look into to tell you what effect of the final bill will be until it's passed and we have time to analyze it. But if it goes through in it's current form it's highly destructive to our profession and we'll probably never be able to hire a qualified person again unless our salary is doubled. But for the time being, keep your cool, go to work, and let's see what happens. But just to be safe if you have 15 or more years on and you're still on the street you should probably take a look at your numbers and start thinking about heading for the exit IF we get the worst case scenario. Similarly if you have less than 5-7 years on you may want to start seriously looking at what your out-of-state options are if you wish to continue in Law Enforcement. We're not sounding the alarm just yet, and I'm hopeful the Senate will fix this mess of a bill before it passes, but I think people should start having these discussions with your families now so you have a plan if you need to go that route.
We'll post further updates on this as needed.
11 comments:
Let’s just hope that the town, Chief, and Union, can “ROUND TABLE” this issue protecting our SAFTEY and FINANCES with the upmost importance. Something tells me we are going to “let this ride” and “see what happens” without an actually plan. If this goes through many things need to change when it comes to police involvement, calls of service, and interaction with the public. There are many calls we should not be responding to and several calls that can be handled over the phone. COVID has proven this. In all honesty the only calls we should be physically responding to is violent crimes, domestics, and car accidents with injuries etc. Hopefully this is being discussed before one of us are used as an example. The State of CT as shit on us and we are now considered security guards. We need to lesson our liability tenfold. Just my opinion. Also I would like the Union to see if a 20 year golden handshake is feasible. Maybe take a lesser percentage but still allow the buyout to be factored in. Thanks.
Give the East Hartford politicians who voted for this the police services they deserve. Enough of the “citizen” complaint crap of loud music and fireworks complaints. If you don’t leave your name and phone number than we will not respond. Most police shootings lately that have turned bad were started over bullshit complaints. A fake $20 bill, sleeping in the drive thru of Wendy’s so the chief needs to protect the officers here by limiting the exposure to unnecessary contacts which have the potential of going bad.
A large part of society feels empowered now more than ever to fight and resist the police. Shootings and violent crimes have skyrocketed and this town is no exception and it is only going to get worse. These criminals know we can not chase unless it meets the threshold of a violent crime so they sit there and flip us the middle finger in the rear view mirror as we are told to let them go after they just stole or vandalized property that doesn’t belong to them. When you tell the victims that it is just property and we had to let the suspects go, they shake their heads. Please tell all of them the politicians they voted into office came up with these ridiculous laws.
Maybe the administration and/or the union can invite Currey, Rojas and Genga to ride along with the cops and let THEM deal with the violence we have to deal with and let them try and de escalate the suspect who resists and fights. Unfortunately none of them will have the balls to do it. Cops are being attacked and killed and none of the politicians give a shit but will show up to a funeral to tell us how much they love us. It’s time to protect ourselves and the administration and union need to see it happens. No more catering to customer service complaints and do the bare minimum to cover your ass. Get good at doing EVERYTHING by warrant and just give out case numbers and let the citizens know this is the new norm for policing.
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Agreed
Agreed let’s use our union money to get something in writing to cover us and to change policing as we know
It. It’s time to change how we respond to calls. Let’s fight back and
Use our union money to protect the entire union body. No more bullshit, no more using us
As pawns, no more being shit on by the citizens. Let’s take a stand and let’s demand changes. I’m
Tired of being treated like a piece of shit. Do something now.
Now more than ever we need to come together as a union and put all of our petty shit aside. Let’s stick together and protect ourselves by limiting how we respond to our calls for service. Give out case numbers, tell the people who call there is not much more we can do. Let the social workers, victim advocate groups and counselors go in and deal with it. DCF can handle their own shit and when you get called to an assist other for another pd just meet them on the border and follow them there and let them handle their own investigation. When South Windsor and Manchester hit the panic button for mutual aid, respond and do nothing. This is what they want so give it to them.
I believe if not all, most of the department is on the same page when it comes to doing this job. When this bill is signed, and it will be, we need a plan. I am really hoping that the admin and Mayor are thinking of us. Honestly, we can not police this town unless we are protected. We need something official and in writing. Big changes will need to happen moving forward. Also, the supervisors monitoring the radio will play a big role in our Exposure to complete nonsense. Dispatch will send us to anything, like a 3 year old refusing to drink from their bottle. We have this DMS crap so let’s start writing up a G.O. that will have clear and precise orders on how we are going to move forward. I also believe that we should not be CPR certified any longer. We were not for many many years because we have a full-time fire department who are. That is also opening us up for lawsuits in the future. We have enough responsibly and we are already not compensated for what we do. If we have to sue the town to get the proper coverage we need, so be it. Some people might think that this is premature but you know just as well as I do we are going to be the guinea pigs.
The bill passed so it’s time to protect yourselves from the frivolous lawsuits. The politicians can’t have it both ways and are punishing the masses in an attempt to weed out the very few. No more proactive work as it has been proven it’ll end you up in a jack pot. Property thefts, home invasions, shootings and violent crimes are going to sky rocket and it will all implode. We all took this job to serve and protect our communities and some have given their lives for that belief. The community and their elected officials have turned their backs on us and have no idea what the job entails or the risk we take every single day to protect them. A lot of us will leave and a lot will no longer apply for the job now. This is what they want so this is what they will get. All of the cities and states that are imploding are run by the same type of politicians. Yes, the ones you stop and look for a free pass because of who they are or the ones we do special cib cases for. They get to keep their immunity but take away ours.
Now the town has to make this right. We are hired to enforce the law of the land and to protect the citizens of EH. We have general orders to follow and if we are sued for doing our job then we must be covered. This job sucks.
What are the cib cases
Covid-19 has a second wave coming in the fall identified as Covid-223. Symptoms are pure GREED, AMNESIA when you get caught and use the excuse that you didn’t know better and lack of INTEGRITY when you stick others with your JOB when you work overtime on your shift instead of doing the job you were hired to do.
Time for his supervisors to throw his ass out and put someone else in there who actually deserves the job and doesn’t cause drama!
100% agreed. The pj guy has to cover his job for him while he works days ot which is total bullshit. He needs to be watched like a hawk because he constantly bends the rules and manipulates his position to take more than everyone else. Everyone knows the pj guy should have gotten that spot to begin with and now look what happens. COVID-223 that’s hilarious 😆
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