The End Is In Sight - Sergeant's Test Update

 Last night the Personnel Appeals Board held the final hearing with witness testimony in the matter of the Sergeant's test appeal. They scheduled two more hearings, one on June 14th where closing arguments will be given, this hearing will probably still be subject to the gag order and therefore closed to the public. And a final hearing on June 23rd where the panel is expected to issue it's decision. This final hearing should be open to the public if anyone wants to attend. There is also the possibility with the State opening things back up that the final two hearings may be held in person at Town Hall rather than online.

We're coming up on the two year anniversary of the date this test was given and everyone is eager to get this resolved. We can only hope that the PAB will take this opportunity to fix this process and institute reforms in the testing process going forward such as hiring an independent firm to conduct the testing, and/or video recording the interviews to create a clear and indisputable record of the process so these lengthy and arduous hearings can hopefully be avoided in the future. 

May Meeting

 Our regular monthly meeting will be held on May 28th at 0830 at our outdoor location. This will be our last monthly meeting before the summer break and we have a few important issues to discuss.

Not Even Pretending Anymore

 Early Thursday morning an armed car burglary suspect opened fire on two East Hartford Officers and a citizen complainant while fleeing from the scene of the crime with his accomplice. Fortunately by sheer luck nobody was struck by the bullet, however the suspects managed to escape (Click here for the full story). This incident seems to be part of an escalation that's occurred over the last few years and has really ticked up over the past 12 months. We've seen things like car break-ins, thefts, and shootings increase in frequency, as well as more suspects fleeing from Officers trying to stop them, both in cars and on foot. Now we're seeing suspects responding to Officers with deadly force for daring to try and stop them from stealing a few bucks out of someone's cup holder.

This escalation is most likely related to the current anti-Police attitudes embraced by our State politicians who emboldened criminals with their Anti-Police "reform" bill that they forced through along party lines last summer. Our hands have been tied and our members have been demonized by rhetoric pushed for political gain, and the bad guys know it. 

But we've written about this problem before, and we warned of it along with numerous other Unions and Police groups before the law's passage. Now those ominous predictions are coming to fruition. But I think we all hoped that even with the national media and the politicians turning on us and using the Police as scapegoats for their failed policies, that we'd at least have support from our Administrators who used to be cops themselves way back when. But that hasn't been the case. 

When that shooting occurred Thursday morning Chief Sansom was out of State on vacation, so he had left his number two man Deputy Chief Hawkins as Acting Chief in his absence. When DC Hawkins was called in the early morning hours and informed about two of his employees being shot at, he never came in to work to see the scene for himself or check on his guys, or even just show his support. Instead he made a few phone calls and then presumably went back to bed. As if that wasn't bad enough, when the members on scene requested he send the Detective Bureau out on overtime to help collect and process evidence so we could try to identify the suspects before they catch another Officer off guard, DC Hawkins actually pushed back and questioned why we needed Detectives to come out before eventually relenting and allowing only one Detective and an Investigator to come in. This behavior just further shows that this Administration is beyond maintaining even the mere appearance of giving a damn about their employees' wellbeing. 

Their sole concern these days seems to be cutting the budget and pinching every penny they can. That is unless of course we're talking about raises for themselves where Chief Sansom just took a $30,000 raise (sorry, "market adjustment") for himself and Hawkins is proposed to get an $11,000 bump with the new, unnecessary Assistant Chief position that's being created for him. Meanwhile their employees continue to be some of the lowest paid in the region and that shows no signs of changing.

This Administration's policy of slashing costs with no regard has helped put us in this hole we're in today. Our pro-active unit has been completely dissolved, our Detective Bureau is rarely ever allowed to come in and do details to target crime hot spots and other issues, and even several members of our Traffic Unit are being required to do double duty by also performing Patrol functions. And on top of that any Officer who tries to do pro-active work has to worry about having IA come after them even if something completely out of their control goes wrong. 

A Police Department isn't a business, we don't sell anything and we don't make money. Our job is to stop and prevent crime, but we don't control the criminals, or when or where the crime happens. When crime goes up you need to put guys on it, and that costs money, but that's just the price of having a good Police Department.

April Meeting

We will be holding our regular April meeting On Tuesday the 27th at 0830 at our outdoor location. See the postings for more info.

Fourth Times a Charm?

This week yet another EHPOA member filed suit against Chief Scott Sansom for civil rights violations, this time Federal Court (Click here for story). This case involves a member who was improperly terminated back in 2013 after being arrested in a criminal case where the charges were later dismissed. Our Union filed a grievance on the employee's behalf due to disparate treatment compared to other employees who committed similar acts and were merely suspended, and eventually won his reinstatement at the SBMA (State Board of Mediation and Arbitration) in 2015.

Immediately after being reinstated, Chief Sansom terminated the employee a second time based on the same allegations that had already been argued before the SBMA and thrown out in his previous case. This second termination was clearly retaliatory and the Administration was admonished by the Arbitration Panel to "cease and desist from refusing to comply with their prior order" to reinstate the employee, and characterized their actions as an "unlawful circumvention" of their prior decision. 

The Administration then appealed the overturning of this second termination to State Superior Court which upheld the decision of the SBMA and also ordered the Town to reinstate the employee. The Town appealed the decision again to the State Appellate Court. Prior to a hearing at the Appellate Court the Administration and the Union negotiated a settlement agreement to reinstate the member with back pay and agreed that the Chief would take "all necessary steps to assist" the member in regaining both his POST and COLLECT certifications so he could resume his career as a Police Officer. 

The employee was reinstated in November 2016 and began working as a "Service Aid" while he completed his POST recertification process which he finished in 2017. POST subsequently recommended the member be reinstated as Police Officer pending his recertification with COLLECT.

At a COLLECT hearing in 2017 attended by our member and the Police Administration to rule on his eligibility for recertification, it is alleged that members of the Administration deliberately sabotaged the Officer's chances by instead of endorsing his recertification, they discussed the previously dismissed allegations against him and effectively argued against his reinstatement.

In 2019 the member had another opportunity to regain his COLLECT certification pending a written recommendation to COLLECT from the Chief of Police. It is alleged that Chief Sansom refused to submit said letter or provide supporting testimony which resulted in the member's COLLECT recertification again being denied. These actions are an obvious and deliberate violation of the Settlement agreed to by the Town, the Union, and the Member.

In the time since his reinstatement the member has been subject to retaliatory behavior from the Administration such as denying him the right to leave the building for his lunch break, something that every other in-house employee is allowed to do without question. He's also been assigned to the front desk doing menial duties traditionally reserved for injured employees, and he has not been allowed to do any meaningful or fulfilling work.

This pattern of behavior by Chief Sansom and his subordinates such as Deputy Chief Mack Hawkins, has clearly been retaliatory and meant to punish and humiliate the employee with the intention of getting to him to resign so as to accomplish the Chief's original goal of ending the member's employment with the Town.

This pending litigation is now the fourth time in his short tenure as Chief of Police that Scott Sansom has been sued by one of his employees for violations of their civil rights. Two of these cases have already resulted in substantial settlements being paid out by the Town, and another one is still pending before the CHRO. How much longer is the Mayor and Town Council going to continue tolerating this pattern of behavior by Chief Sansom that keeps costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement and attorney's fees? 

No other Department head in East Hartford has faced the sheer quantity of allegations and lawsuits from their own employees that Chief Sansom has. If this was any other regular member of the Department receiving consistent complaints such as these they'd be pulled from duty and thoroughly investigated by Internal Affairs. But instead in this case the Town just pays out the settlements and further enables his behavior. It's long past time for Town Council to send him on his way bring in someone more competent and capable to fill the role who isn't  consistently creating these issues with their employees and exposing the Town to liability and bad press.

Union Election

 Reminder, the Union Election for Officers is scheduled for April 15th in the Patrol Break Room. If you need an absentee ballot please contact the Union Secretary. Even though most of the Officers are running unopposed there is still going to be a competitive election for our three Trustee positions so please make sure you get your votes in. 

Too Much To Ask?

 You may have seen the recent article in Courant found here, that reported an incident last week where a man was stopped by one of our Officers walking through the restricted back lot of our Police Department while illegally in possession of a loaded firearm with a destroyed serial number and multiple knives. It's unknown what the man's intentions were. Unfortunately this is just the latest example of a long running problem since our Public Safety Complex opened in 2004. Our Officers regularly stop pedestrians wandering through our restricted back lot, drivers using it as a shortcut between Tolland St and Burnside to avoid the stop lights, and residents who were trying to find the public lot out front accidentally pulling in. We've also had more nefarious trespassers who've broken into both Police vehicles and employee's personal vehicles.

Ever since 2004 there have been on and off discussions about a fence and gates being installed to secure the back lot, it's even gotten so far as having bids put in, but for one reason or another the project has never actually happened. However with the increase in attacks and ambushes on Police Officers, especially at Police Stations around the country (Find recent examples here, here, here, here, here, and here.), we think now is the time to get this basic security measure built. We've even seen more local examples of arsons and attempts in Police lots over the last few years (Click here, and here.).

Our Officers are under enough pressure out on the street under the current anti-Police climate. They deserve to be able to let down their guard, even just a little, when they're on Police property. Now is the time for Town Council to approve the funding and get this fence built.

March Meeting

 We will be holding our regular March meeting on the 30th at 0830 at our outdoor location. See the postings in the building for more details.

No February Meeting

 Once again unfortunately this month's regular meeting will be cancelled. We do intend to hold a meeting next month since the weather should have (fingers crossed) warmed up enough by then that we can resume doing them outdoors.

Personnel Appeals Board Update

 We were scheduled to resume the PAB hearings virtually last night after nearly a year's delay due to COVID concerns, with another hearing scheduled for tonight. Unfortunately one of the panel members didn't show or wasn't aware of the hearing and it was cancelled. Tonight's hearing was also cancelled due to some miscommunication about scheduling that we thought had been ironed out. It's very disappointing and ridiculous that this process has been unnecessarily dragged out this long while our members have patiently waited. 

Even the Mayor chimed in during the hearing to voice her displeasure with all of the delays. But we'd like to point out that this process could have and should have been wrapped up over a year ago had the Town not insisted on pursuing their gag orders to block the people involved from publicly speaking about what actually happened with the test scores. Or they could've just not done what they did that caused our members to file appeals in the first place. Of course we can't disclose what happened here due to said order, but needless to say people don't usually pursue gag orders to cover up totally legitimate behavior, so read into that what you will.

So this process drags on further, we have new dates scheduled though the end of next month now. Remember this test was initially given back in the Spring of 2019. The Town has been unable to fill these Sergeant vacancies since then, and in fact more vacancies have opened as more Sergeants have since retired. I can't imagine how many tens of thousands of dollars (or more) the Town has spent paying overtime to existing Sergeants to fill in for the vacancies that should have been filled by these candidates over the last 2 years. Nor can I calculate how much income the candidates have lost out on due to the actions of the Town in this matter. Hopefully someone can do that math and find a way to make these members whole.

So What Did All That Cost?

 It was brought to my attention the the Chief took offense to one of our previous posts ( click here ) where we discussed how he was having our Officers do constant "security checks" on the personal property of local Politicians who have routinely demonized Police Officers, on the taxpayer's dime. Apparently at the root of the Chief's frustration is that he felt I incorrectly implied that he was giving favorable treatment to these individuals because of their status as Politicians. So I did a little research to see if I was wrong to characterize it as I did, here's what we found;

From January 16th through January 20th (5 days) EHPD dispatched 289 "Security Checks" to the homes of 4 local Politicians including John Larson, Jeff Currey, Henry Genga, and Jason Rojas. Yes you read that right, two hundred and eighty nine. That's about 58 times each day that an Officer was pulled from their regular duties and dispatched to check on these politician's homes. 113 of those checks were just for John Larson, that's about 23 times per day. Mind you that during that entire time, Mr. Larson was actually in Washington DC, so we were sending Officers to check on an empty house 23 times a day.

Based on my experience while these checks were going on, each one took roughly 15 to 20 minutes for the Officers to travel, check on the home, and clear. When you add that all up, it equals up to about 96.33 man hours spent over those 5 days conducting these 289 security checks. Multiply that by the hourly top step wage of an East Hartford Officer and it comes out to approximately $3,690 spent over the 5 days. That's not an Earth shattering amount of money, but it seems like quite the expenditure for an Administration that has made a habit of not even sending Detectives out to shooting calls, or put together details to target the epidemic of car break in's and thefts because they supposedly can't afford to pay the overtime to do these necessary Police functions.

To validate further however, I wanted to see if these security checks are something that the Department routinely does for all citizens regardless of their status as Political figures. So we checked to see how many security checks the Department has dispatched over the course of the last five years prior to January 16th 2021. Unfortunately, we found zero, not a single one. Based on these pure and simple facts, I don't see how Chief Sansom can deny that these Politicians received treatment not afforded to the run of the mill East Hartford resident.

Now we all understand, we're Cops, and we routinely have to do things we don't like and put our personal feelings aside and just do our jobs. But to strip on duty Officers from their regular duties patrolling the Town to act as security guards for Political figure's private property just seems wrong. We have private businesses in Town who request Officers to provide extra security for them on a regular basis. In those cases the Department doesn't pull on duty Patrol Officers, instead they have the business hire an Off Duty Officer at their own expense and pay them overtime to provide the business with the security they need. Even the Town has done this in the past to have Officers watch over the site of fairs and events (i.e. Riverfest, Dragon Boats etc...) the night before. Isn't that what should've happened in this case?

 I'm not even going to get into how the Administration never shared with the membership why we were doing these checks or what we were supposed to be checking for, or if there was any threat to us in doing them. But I'd just like to point out the fact that the way that they did this whole thing just shows how completely out of touch Chief Sansom is with the people who work for him, and he doesn't seem to care.

Personnel Appeals Board Hearings Starting Back Up

 We just got word that the Personnel Appeals Board Hearings regarding the Sergeant's test from 2019 will finally resume next week after being on hold since last March when COVID meeting restrictions were put into place. We have several dates scheduled and hope to have this matter resolved one way or the other by the end of February. It's unfortunate that this process has gotten dragged out so long but it's been due to factors that are out of anyone's control and we're looking forward to getting some much needed resolution.

No January Meeting

 As expected, there will be no regular monthly meeting for January due to ongoing gathering restrictions.

The Height of Hypocrisy?

So now our esteemed local East Hartford politicians including Democrats Jason Rojas, Henry Genga, Jeff Currey, and John Larson are demanding constant drive by's and checks on their homes by East Hartford Police Officers because they fear for their safety. 

These are the same politicians who routinely tout the idea that Police Officers are violent, racist, dangerous animals who must be defunded and constantly monitored, and who just a few months ago at the State level voted to pass the so called "Accountability Act," that neutered the ability of the Police to do our jobs properly and keep everyone safe. 

Now they're using their political connections to get us terrible Police Officers to act as their private security force for the next week, on the taxpayer's dime of course... Of course they don't mind passing laws that compromise everyone's safety when they can just call on their political friends to send a personal contingent of Officers whenever they feel threatened.

What utter hypocrisy from our so called "Representatives."

EHPOA Begins Labor Contract Negotiations

 Our Contract Committee has officially opened negotiations with the Town for a successor agreement to our current contract that expires on June 30th of this year. As usual there are rules in place that restrict anyone from speaking publicly about the details of the negotiations as they are ongoing so we will not be able to use this site to update our members on the status. Normally we would use our monthly Union meetings to inform our membership about what's going on with the negotiations, but it's unknown at this time when we will be able to resume holding regular monthly meetings. We'll try to put out information as best we can, as always feel free to approach any member of the committee and ask questions. The Committee members this time around are 261, 288, 320, 329, and 348.