It’s been a tough few weeks for the police, perhaps tougher for those who have made questionable moves.
Budget cuts have eliminated the Mounted Police, effective at the beginning of July. A few mounted police made an appearance at the Zunner Building opening ceremony on Wednesday, where the governor, mayor, and other elected City and State politicians were present. Though well attended, the need for crowd control at this event was not apparent.
The Animal Control Unit has been significantly reduced; ACO Sherry DeGenova, who has earned the reputation of being valuable for her non-stop passion and commitment to her work, was among those cut. Responding to this decision, the community — including many people from beyond Hartford’s borders who adopted dogs that would have otherwise been killed — has marched, petitioned, filled City Hall during a Council meeting, and gone very public with its discontent over a budget cut that some are claiming will actually cost the City of Hartford more money in the long run.
A few days ago, Councilwoman Winch left a backhanded compliment on her Facebook page:
As of publication, this post remains on the councilwoman’s page (more than once, actually) along with additional comments from her, none of which add any nuance to her original claim.
Hartford Police Department’s Deputy Chief Brian J. Foley responded to the councilwoman’s claim with a series of tweets yesterday, primarily photos showing members of the HPD interacting with the community:
Dave R
To all those upset over comments by rJo Winch re: cops and good deeds. Maybe it hasn’t been your experience, but she expressed a sentiment clearly shared by many folx in this and many cities around the country.
If the police are unhappy, it’s on them to change the way they do things.
Stop defending the “bad apples”. Stop spying on people’s social media. Stop harassing kids at the local skatepark and elsewhere. Stop racially profiling. Stop assaulting, electrocuting, and shooting citizens.
Some cute pics from photo-ops won’t magically erase all the harm that police often bring to communities in this country every.single.day. Communities they are not from nor do they live in. Communities they don’t understand and are apparently afraid of.
Until any of that changes, the councilwoman’s comments are completely valid.
Kerri Provost
She did not wage a critique of the police, which would have been one thing. She painted the HPD with a broad brush. It was hyperbolic and divisive.
She could have given credit where it is due, and maintained integrity, while making actual valid criticisms. Did she call out the stats from the CCSU report released last week? Did she name a specific case where there were accusations of misconduct (or worse)?
No. What she did was the equivalent of saying “Hey, look at this teacher, caring for a student more than her paycheck. How uncommon!” We know why this is offensive when we simply change it to another vocation.
Anne Brodsky
Awful about Sherry DeGenova. We got acquainted when I called in howling newborn puppies on Sargent & she also helped me with a cat stuck in a tree on Ward for 3 days.
What will happen to the mounted police horses now? Marcel Washington was the officer I knew best & I enjoyed talking to him & his horse.
Hartford feels like it’s going backwards again.
Kerri Provost
What’s interesting is that the parts of the Hartford Police Department that have been very positive in their interactions with the community (Mounted Police and Animal Control) seem to have been the most impacted by cuts. Having not yet received a response from my inquiry about exactly how the layoff choices are made, I hesitate to resort to conspiracy theories, but there are questions as to why these sections of the HPD were affected more than others.
Richard
Strange. Last Thursday when I was walking to Billingsforge Market a friend on his bike riding in the bike lane, while stopping to pull over to me, his knapsack fell off in the street. I went into the street to stop the traffic so he could retrieve the sack. There was a police officer one lane away on the road minding traffic due to construction. He came over and picked up the bag and handed to my friend saying, “Here we don’t want it to get run over.” My first reaction was, “My goodness they can be helpful sometime.”
I do think it is all a matter of where one is coming from and many times no matter how well intended the good is like a simple form of bread and circuses of course with a good stretch. One could not make up this story happening to two anarchists who politely said “Thank you,” to the policeman and quickly went on our way. But did this small act confuse us into moving from our positions. No.
Kerri Provost
I have trouble with accepting false dichotomies and exaggerations.
If a child does something bad, we tell that child that his action was unacceptable. We explain the particular behavior, why it was wrong, and how to fix it in the future. We don’t paint him as evil or without possibility of redemption. At the same time, we praise the child when he makes positive choices. The idea here is that he adjusts his behavior to do more good than bad.
The other side of that is this: if the child only hears that he is bad and wrong, what incentive does he ever have to do the right thing?
How hard is it to praise the HPD when they do something well? Conceding that they *do* help is not ignoring that there are plenty of spaces for improvement. It’s just not erasing the reality that the police are not 100% harmful. It’s actually possible for people — and organizations — to help and hurt. This isn’t a matter of where someone is coming from. It’s about waging thoughtful critiques versus nonsense.
The defense of the councilwoman is interesting to see, given that essentially campaigned on her military experience.
Dave R
Lol, talk about false dichotomies…In one reply you equate cops to teachers and that they’re just like any other vocation. In this one you equate them to a misbehaving child.
I’m sorry, but that is just historically and intellectually inaccurate. Teachers and children don’t have anywhere near the power and unchecked authority that cops have.
And c’mon, what’s with the attempt at “gotchya” at the end there? The defense is of the councilwoman’s comment, not a defense of her as a whole.
In a related way, even though you clearly have an overall positive opinion of the cops, I won’t hold that against you entirely 🙂
Probably time to agree to disagree.
Kerri Provost
It wasn’t meant as a “gotcha” but that I would hesitate to take seriously rJo’s remarks when her own background is coming from a not dissimilar field, in that military and police have strict codes and so forth.
Education and law enforcement are not the same, but the point was the individuals in both fields do some messed up things, and individuals in both fields do some good. I know that a number of teachers fail to manage classrooms well, resulting in students being disciplined well beyond what is necessary.
I’m at a loss here. Cops are human beings. Nobody is arguing that they are angels. But treating an entire line of work as if there is nothing of redemptive value to come out of it only feeds into the persecution complex that some in that line of work have. It helps nobody. Really. Think about that. What good does that possibly do society at large? Realistically, are most people in are community in favor of removing the HPD entirely? No. Even if we did not let the West End or Downtown vote on this, the answer would still be “no.” So, given that, wouldn’t it make more sense to find ways to improve the situation?
I’m more interested in finding solutions than just being all “fuck the police.”
Richard
Sure we can pat them on their heads and pet them. Let them purr and be nice. Better have them that way than all up in a person’s face. But I will tell you one thing. If one of those purring peace officers suddenly started to growl and hit me up side the head, peppered sprayed my face, threw me to the ground, harassed me because I was black or a youth, killed my brother or sister, all the sneakers in a cruiser, all the turkeys and used coats wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans. It would take a cold day in hell before I would go about praising them as I would know where I was coming from. I know of a very few people who don’t cringe and get nervous when a cop approaches, its all about power, nice one second and off the next. No telling what they will do. We are not dealing here with children but grown men and women trained to be peace officers. Providing a good service to the community at large is what they should do, it’s a part of their job. These small acts of kindness as displayed in the photo release perhaps do help to build the image of the police as a benevolent force on one hand but ask the women and men who have been terrorized by them to raise the other.
As far as what the council woman has done with her life I couldn’t care less. In fact I was surprised that she was even on the democratic slate as I thought we had gotten rid of her once. But I am sure many folks living in Hartford agree with the sediment behind what she said. I can honestly say that was my first reaction when the officer retrieved the sack and I knew nothing about the flap at the time.
Anne Brodsky
Not too fond of the bicycle cop we’ve had for a couple of years now, but IMO there are some real nice police officers in Hartford. Our house has been the victim of crime several times & the police could not have been more helpful. Police officers I have found to be so pleasant & helpful & who are always ready for a chat include Nazario Figueroa, James Newell, Marcel Washington, Tim Francis, Chris Chanaca, Officers Elba, Fish, & others whose names escape me just now. Personally, I give a lot of credit to officers who have to deal with the knuckleheads here in Asylum Hill year after year, generation after generation.