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| NEWS > 07 December 2007 |
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Hartford Courant - United Stat
07 December 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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City Held In Contempt Over Cou
A federal judge has held the city of Hartford in contempt of court, despite objections from its attorneys, who argued that continued enforcement of a decades-old settlement mandating how police should handle citizen complaints was unnecessary and expensive.
In a ruling filed Nov. 29, U.S. District Judge Ellen Burns agreed with three of five civil contempt recommendations filed in July by Special Master Richard A. Bieder against the leadership of the city and its police department.
Bieder was appointed by Burns seven years ago to monitor the Hartford police. Part of Bieder's job has been to monitor the city's compliance with a 2004 court order to improve the department's investigation of citizen complaints and to eliminate an existing backlog.
City attorneys had attempted to have Bieder removed and exempt Mayor Eddie Perez from the contempt order, saying he was neither a party to the original 1973 consent decree nor the subsequent 2004 order in which the police department was found in violation for the haphazard way citizen complaints were being handled.
"Mayor Perez was properly held in contempt for violations of the 2004 order," said Burns, who also said Perez holds the same level of responsibility as any chief executive officer of Hartford since the original court order and consent decree were reached.
Burns agreed to accept Bieder's sanctions, which require that the parties meet to find ways to prevent further violations of the order. Burns also extended Bieder's appointment, which would have expired in October 2007, until October 2008.
The litigation dates to the 1960s, when community groups filed suit against the city's police department claiming that complaints against officers were not taken seriously. An agreement between the parties reached in 1973 was largely ignored by the city and the community groups until 1999, when 14-year-old Aquan Salmon was shot and killed by police officer Robert Allan. Allan was cleared of any wrongdoing, but community and religious leaders were able to get the court to resurrect the order in the case from the 1960s, known as Cintron v. Vaughn.
In 2004, the community groups claimed the city was in violation of the order because it did not eliminate a backlog of citizen's complaints by hiring more internal affairs investigators; install a computer system to track complaints filed against officers; train community groups to take complaints for the police department; and notify the public when the complaints were resolved and officers had been disciplined.
Bieder investigated those claims and held a series of more than 25 hearings at the federal building in Hartford. He concluded that the complaints had merit, and earlier this year he recommended a finding of contempt.
Nearly 20 community groups had sought the ruling.
"I'm happy. The judge has affirmed what we have been saying all along. We are ready to sit down and to negotiate," said Carmen Rodriguez of the Cintron Negotiating Committee, one of the groups involved.
In her decision, Burns determined:
•The police department failed to appoint at least eight investigators to internal affairs to clear the backlog of citizen complaints, which three years ago numbered more than 100. Rather than transfer officers to the division to handle the cases, the police department passed on those duties to officers in the field.
•The department failed to notify complainants within 15 days after an officer was disciplined, as required.
•The department failed to comply with an order to complete internal affairs investigations within 30 days.
•The commander of internal affairs failed to notify complainants in writing when a complaint was not sustained and mail them a summary of the investigative report, along with a brochure explaining the civilian police review board procedures and an application for appeal.
Although the city was slow to train community organizations how to take complaints against police officers, that conduct did not rise to the level of contempt, the court ruled. "The court agrees that this lengthy and unnecessary delay was clear and convincing evidence of defendants' initial noncompliance with the 2004 order. However, defendants initiated action to correct their failure shortly after the contempt motion was filed," Burns wrote.
The city had a training session earlier this year for community organizations to take police misconduct complaints. City officials have said that not one of those organizations has returned a complaint.
Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts declined to answer questions Thursday about the contempt ruling because he said he had not been given a copy. Corporation Counsel John Rose did not return telephone messages.
In an e-mail response, Perez spokeswoman Sarah Barr said: "The City's position is that most of the issues identified in the court order by the Special Master have been resolved as of this date.
"We have made multiple attempts through Corporation Counsel to sit down and resolve the outstanding issues and we haven't heard back from the plaintiffs. As for today's decision, Corporation Counsel is filing the appropriate post hearing documents."
Asked for clarification, Barr responded by e-mail: "Nothing has been filed yet. All options are being explored by Corporation Counsel."
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