Federal oversight of police in Hartford will continue
Hartford - Hartford officials and plaintiffs in a 1969 civil rights lawsuit against city police have agreed to extend federal oversight of the police department for another two years, in what may be one of the longest-running cases of its kind in the country.
The lawsuit in federal court filed by several black and Hispanic residents accused police of inflicting numerous acts of violence, intimidation and humiliation upon Hartford citizens based on their race and ethnicity. It was settled with a 1973 consent decree requiring police to improve how they treat the public and how they investigate citizen complaints against officers.
The decree, which is overseen by a federal judge, was set to expire Oct. 31 under a 2010 agreement to resolve remaining disputes between the plaintiffs and the city.
But the plaintiffs said the police department - despite having made many improvements - still is not meeting all the requirements of the decree and the 2010 agreement, including not hiring enough minority officers and not following protocol for internal affairs investigations. Lawyers for the city disagree.
"A lot of the things that were present 41 years ago have not changed," City Councilman Kenneth Kennedy Jr. said. "Having a police department that is more in tune with the community, you have to hire more people from it. ... We have just not done this."
The city council weighed in in August, passing a resolution asking a federal judge to continue the decree indefinitely until the racial makeup of the police department "substantially" mirrors that of the city and until the department is nationally accredited.
Police department records show nearly two-thirds of the 430-member force is white, while U.S. Census figures show that about 43 percent of city residents are Hispanic and nearly 39 percent are black.
Hartford officials have agreed to continue working with the plaintiffs to resolve remaining issues, and both sides asked a federal judge last month to extend the decree until Oct. 31, 2016. The judge has not yet ruled on the request.
Police departments around the country, including Los Angeles and New Orleans, have been ordered to make improvements as a result of investigations by the U.S. Justice Department, which was granted that investigation authority in 1994. Before 1994, federal judges settled allegations of federal civil rights and employment law violations. Justice Department officials couldn't immediately say whether Hartford's consent decree is among the oldest still in effect.
Sydney Schulman, the lawyer for the Hartford plaintiffs, suspects the Hartford police oversight is one of the longest-running in the country.
"Certainly after 40 years it's about time," Schulman said about resolving the case. "The problem is there wasn't a significant number of years when the city was fully compliant. ... One of the critical things ... is the recruiting and hiring of minorities. It just has not been done."
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, who took office in 2010, said he is working to increase diversity in both police academy classes and panels that interview prospective officers, as well as recruit more city residents to serve on the force.
"Given what's going on around the country, having a diverse force is very, very, very important," Segarra said, referring to tensions between citizens and police in Ferguson, Missouri, after a fatal, officer-involved shooting.
Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said recruiting more minority officers is a top priority under Chief James Rovella. He said the agency is reaching out to young black and Hispanic residents with improved police cadet, explorer and athletic-league programs.
"These are long-term efforts that we'll see benefits from down the road," Foley said.
Foley said it has been a challenge to recruit and hire minority officers over the years, partly because other police departments pay more.
Russell Williams, a member of the local NAACP, became involved with the consent decree after the 1999 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Aquan Salmon by Officer Robert Allan. Allan, who is white and now a lieutenant on the force, was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting of Salmon, who was black and unarmed.
Community members protested the shooting and several other officer-involved shootings in the following years.
"You had 40 years to work on this," Williams said. "I think the community is outraged. They're looking for tools to deal with ... a police force that seemingly doesn't understand the plight or the issues facing the community."
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