http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-troopers0903.artsep03,1,1720186.story

State Police Back For Two Weeks

Mayor, City Police Apologize For Premature End Of Patrols

By MARK PAZNIOKAS
And TRACY GORDON FOX Courant Staff Writers

September 3 2003

It took a series of frantic phone calls and one mayoral apology, but state troopers returned Tuesday night to Hartford to bolster the city's police patrols for two more weeks.

The troopers ended their summer patrols Friday, stunning elected officials sensitive to a recent spike in violent crime and the fast approach of next week's Democratic primary for city council.

The administration of Mayor Eddie A. Perez publicly questioned Monday why the state police had suddenly left town. The awkward, if slightly annoyed response from the state: Um, Mr. Mayor, we left because your cops told us.

Not true, replied one assistant Hartford police chief.

But before serious finger-pointing could commence, another assistant Hartford police chief said he did, indeed, tell the state police that their deployment of uniformed troopers should end Aug. 31 to save the city money.

The troopers are free to Hartford, but the local police are guaranteed one overtime shift to accompany each of the 23 troopers who patrol the city.

Whether this information was passed on to city hall is not entirely clear, but the mayor apologized Tuesday to the state police for any suggestion Monday that their departure Friday was unplanned or untoward.

"Mayor Perez and the commissioner talked. The mayor accepted responsibility for the miscommunication and expressed his regret to the commissioner," said Col. Timothy Barry, the state police commander. "The commissioner agreed to send troopers back through Sept. 15."

Matt Hennessy, the mayor's chief of staff, said the mayor offered his regrets as soon as he learned that Hartford police had asked that the patrols be stopped.

As Hennessy dryly described the source of the mistake: "The city manager asked one of the assistant chiefs. He didn't ask all the assistant chiefs."

Kevin Jones, the assistant chief in charge of operations, said Tuesday he notified the state police in early August, after consultation with Chief Bruce P. Marquis, they would end the state police patrols on the 31st.

But Marquis was on vacation, so City Manager Lee C. Erdmann called Assistant Chief Lester McKoy on Monday and asked if HPD ended the state police patrols. McKoy said he was unaware of any such request.

"I called the wrong guy. It kind of went downhill from there," Erdmann said. "We got it all clarified today."

Jones and Marquis said they were pleased with the outcome. The state police, they said, have been a welcome presence and the only reason to suspend the relationship was monetary.

"It was a budgetary issue with us," Jones said. "We didn't have enough money to pay the overtime to our officers."

Continuing the joint patrols for two weeks could cost about $60,000 in overtime, officials said. The mayor and city council budgeted only $1.5 million for police overtime this year, about $3.5 million less than police actually spent in each of the past two years.

Erdmann said Jones insists he mentioned the impending departure of the state police Wednesday, during a meeting with the city manager, mayor and Hennessy to review a foot-patrol initiative announced Thursday by Perez.

"Neither Matt, nor the mayor, nor I understood that. Hence, the mayor's expression of surprise," Erdmann said. He added, "We definitely had an internal communication fiasco."

Crime has been the only issue of the campaign - as brought into sharp focus by the recent mugging of Councilman John B. Kennelly, a member of the slate challenging the council candidates affiliated with Perez.

"No matter who made this mistake, it should be immediately rectified with the return of the state police," Kennelly said. "And such mistakes are unacceptable."

The troopers began patrolling when the city was far below its authorized strength of 420 officers. With the recent addition of 48 officers, who cannot patrol on their own until completing a field training period this fall, city officials say Hartford has 420 officers once again.

Some city officials hoped the troopers might be available for Hartford's use until the completion of the field training, but the state has its own fiscal pressures. The troopers' deployment to Hartford has cost about $400,000, officials said.

Public Safety Commissioner Arthur L. Spada said the deployment stretches state resources.

"We get thinned out and we would not like to be at such low manpower levels," Spada said.

Troopers were back on patrol Tuesday night after the state police scrambled to rearrange schedules and Erdmann told local police he could find $60,000 to cover the overtime.

Barry said the state police are comfortable with that arrangement, since they thought they were going to patrol through Sept. 15 anyway. He said the program had gone well this summer.

"For the third year running, Hartford and state police have worked hand and glove to make Hartford a better community," Barry said. "I think it worked out well. It was a shared partnership. I think it's a good thing."

Courant Staff Writer Matt Burgard contributed to this story.