NO ENDORSEMENT AND POSSIBLY NO CONFIDENCE

As the election season heats up, it seems as though the Hartford Police Union is not ready to endorse any Mayoral candidate.It might be even worse for at least one candidate.

Hartford Police Union members have contacted me advising me that several members of the union are pushing for a vote of no confidence in both Chief Daryl Roberts and Mayor Pedro Segarra. The "no confidence" apparently results from the lack of manpower, low morale and lack of a contract with the City for over a year.

Recent cuts to the new HPD academy class will result in even lower numbers of sworn officers available. Last years graduating class brought the level of sworn officers to 460. Through attrition, officers leaving for other agencies as well as terminations now has the current level of sworn personnel at about 428, a number that will go even lower before the current class is available for deployment.

Those numbers come at the same time that Hartford's homicide rate is taking a steady rise and gun violence is increasing.