Not to belittle the one officer joining the HPD ranks, here is a little more info on Hartford's latest Police Officer
Officer Jose Cortes Jr. was born in Hartford and raised in
the south end in the Charter Oak neighborhood. on February 14, 2011 at the age
of 19 and shortly after graduating from Bulkeley High School, Officer Cortes
joined the Hartford Police Department as a Cadet. As a police cadet, he gained
valuable experience working in many different divisions of the police department
to include: Major Crimes Division, Fiscal Division, Teleserve, Records
Division, and Training Division.
On April 5, 2013, he was promoted to police recruit where he
attended the 23 week Basic Training Program the POSTC Academy in Meriden. On
September 11, 2013, he graduated as a member of the 341st recruit class at
POSTC. Officer Cortes Jr. is proud to serve the City of Hartford. He has an
ambition to become a Vice and Narcotics Detective as his career
progresses.
10 comments:
Wishing Officer Cortes a long and successful career with the HPD.
I have had the pleasure of dealing with Officer Cortes, he is going to be a real asset to the HPD!
The cadet program is a fantastic program instituted by the city decades ago-certainly not anything that would be thought of today.
You are right though, the cadet program CAN give invaluable experience. But what the cadets do these days is nothing but supplement the civilian establishment. Sorting time cards, filing overtime and comp cards, putting case reports in a cabinet, sorting cruiser logs, etc....
There was a time that the cadets would be assigned to divisions on 30 day rotations, and the division head was required to complete an analysis report of their performance. Karen Boisvert was the last person who truly saw the importance and influence of the cadet program. She had them shadow officers and Detectives in whatever bureau they were assigned- be it Traffic, MCD, CSD, JID, etc. The cadets still have a residency requirement, and they have potential to truly become "Hartford's Finest." The experience that they have the ability to acquire is astounding.
"The cadets still have a residency requirement, and they have potential to truly become "Hartford's Finest."
Hartford natives and officers who are raised in "Urban neighborhoods" are black balled in this department. There is a stigma that they are stupid, lazy, incompetent, and have very little value. These officers have extensive knowledge of the streets. They are familiar with the vices and violence in the city, not because they have received special training, but because some of them were raised here. They were raised on Garden Street, Martin Street, Main Street, Park Street, Broad Street, Wethersfield Avenue etc. I don’t think anyone can grow up in Dutch Point, Nelton Court, Stowe Village and so forth without witnessing drugs, guns, and violence. Maybe we should do something with this resource. Look at how many guys in the condition units are actually from urban areas… think about it. END OF RANT.
Last year at budget time the Council apparently had the Cadet program scheduled for the chopping block. I believe Chief Rovella fought that, realizing that the Cadet program was the best minority recruiting program for HPD. It survived and this new Officer is a product of that program
HPD has a hiring Issue that is no secret to CT cops. Other agencies of similar size has a recruitment unit/division who's sole job is hiring. I do not understand why HPD doesn't devote a few people to this job. The process would be more streamlined and efficient. I hear of candidates with excellent credentials waiting 2 years+ for a written test only to be picked up by a suburb. Leaving HPD to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Explains the many apathetic police officers at HPD. I think you should do a story in this Kevin.
@ anonymous 11:54
HPD had a background unit which was in charge of selecting qualified candidates and then passing their recommendations to the Chief of Police. Unfortunately the background unit was supervised by a sergeant who lacked any investigative and supervisory skills. The unit was staffed with two detectives and one of them couldn't investigate squat. Finally Chief Rovella came in and dismantled the backgrounds unit and now backgrounds are assigned to the internal affairs division. Unfortunately the same supervisor who was booted from backgrounds continues to be taken care of by HPD and everyone knows that it's not because she a good cop.
Chief Rovella has done well in trying to keep the Cadet Program alive as it indeed provides a great opportunity for recruiting minority officers. But keeping RACIST SERGEANT KESSLER as a supervisor among the HPD ranks was not wise and does our city and HPD no good. It only helps breed the attitude among officers that its OK to openly be a RACIST IN UNIFORM because nothing will happen to you, nobody cares.A DEMOTION WOULD HAVE SENT THE TRUE MESSAGE OF THE ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY WE ALL HERE ABOUT from the mayor.
I agree with anonymous post 9/16 at 1:33. If the chief allow racist type behavior by members of the department and allow them to stay in the leadership position their in that sends a negative message to those good cops. The chief didn't show leadership with Sergeant Kessler. He should have been demoted!!! How could the city department cut the cadet program?? That doesn't make sense. The council gives the money to the department and the department choice what to keep and cut.Everyone knows that police abuse overtime especially three years before they retire!!! Kevin be real you know it is true!!! The police department budget was higher this year than last year. Better management Guys!!!
My apologies. I did not explained myself correctly in the post regarding city natives not being used to their strengths. I may be mistaken, but I do not believe anyone in the north or central conditions units are natives of the city of Hartford. Why is that? How could a specialised unit used to go after drugs/guns in HARTFORD's hot spots not have any Hartford natives?
The units are full of suburbanites. Not to take anything away from out of town officers, however, many of them are out of touch with resident's. They can't nor want to grasped the culture, lingo, and social habbits of Hartford locals.
It's great that the Chief fought to keep the cadet program online, but we all know they are going to get stuck on relief. End of rant.
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