Last week the City of Hartford asked residents to snitch on those who were having social/recreational gatherings of five or more people, and to tattle on non-essential businesses still operating, along with other businesses that might not be enforcing physical distancing.

But who polices the police?

Over the last few weeks I have personally observed members of the Hartford Police Department, while in uniform:

  • walking alongside other officers at a physical distance of less than one meter  — no masks worn, and no obvious emergency situation (seen in Frog Hollow)
  • having conversations with other officers while both sat in separate cruisers, but with windows down and at a physical distance of about one meter — no masks worn. (seen this a handful of times in Downtown, West End, and Frog Hollow)
  • and most recently, I watched multiple officers respond to a domestic dispute outdoors during which every cop involved came within 1 meter of another person and no masks were worn. An officer put on protective gloves when escorting an individual into the back of a cruiser. While they otherwise handled the matter with sensitivity (i.e. nobody got tased) it feels like a huge oversight to not be wearing face masks when coming into close contact with a minimum of three civilians. The police were recalled to the scene twice that day, with other officers responding later: again, not a single police officer wore a mask while in close proximity with civilians or other officers. (Frog Hollow)

The WHO and CDC are not, at the moment, in total agreement with each other on the mask issue, but Gov. Lamont has decided it is a “rule” for residents to wear masks when they are in public and unable to create physical distance between themselves and others. Mayor Bronin just echoed this.

Why, then, are those tasked with enforcing rules not modeling them? Is it that our police force has not been provided with masks? Are many officers simply opting not to use them? Does the HPD have invisible protective cloaks keeping the germs at bay?

Regardless of how we feel about the cops or perpetrators or bystanders or victims, what we have been repeatedly told about Covid-19 is that it is not about us, it’s about who we might pass the virus along to next.