Firm to aid with sexual harassment complaints

Mayor: Hartford changing policies on outside help

HARTFORD – The city has hired a labor relations firm to speed up an investigation into a sexual harassment complaint brought by a female Hartford police officer and is changing the way it reviews such complaints going forward, Mayor Luke Bronin said Thursday.

Hartford leaders have retained the firm Kainen, Escalera & McHale to look into new and pending harassment complaints. The city is also changing a policy to include the mayor’s chief of staff in the review process. All complaints will now be examined by Chief of Staff Thea Montanez, Bronin said.

Additionally, complainants will be provided with monthly updates on the status of their cases, he said.

Officer Kelly Baerga, who is assigned as the police department’s LGBTQ liaison, said last week that her sexual harassment complaint against a fellow officer has been largely ignored and called into question the treatment of women in the department amid a perceived “Good Ol’ Boys” mentality.

In the roughly nine months since her complaint, Baerga said she has not learned of any disposition, has not been interviewed by internal affairs investigators, and the department has not kept the officer accused of sexually harassing her from contacting her.

In a memo to Hartford’s human resources director, Baerga detailed incidents involving inappropriate sexual comments made by a fellow officer at work events that the two attended and during a lunch at a Hartford restaurant attended by a recruiter from the Connecticut state police.

The officer’s comments and behavior got worse over the time they worked together, Baerga wrote. She also referenced inappropriate comments he made about her during the lunch with the state police trooper that she believed were made in an effort to “out” her.

Baerga, who has been a Hartford police officer for more than eight years, was named the LGBTQ liaison in 2017. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Kainen, Escalera & McHale will work

with the city’s human resources office and the police department to expedite a resolution, Bronin said. The firm will help correct issues in the way cases are handled, including communications between the human resources and police departments. He did not elaborate.

The firm will issue findings, but any disciplinary action would fall to the police chief, Bronin said.

“There is no reason that it should have taken this long,” he said. “One of the issues is that there has been for a while a two-step process … part of the investigation done by HR and part of it by the police department. This case has demonstrated a very clear need to streamline.”

Gannon Long, a city resident who challenged state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez for her seat last year, said at a public meeting Thursday that the mayor and other city officials should have been aware of the Baerga’s complaint “from day one.”

“One of the most fundamental responsibilities you have as a leader is to say this is an environment – at work – where you can feel comfortable and safe,” she told Bronin at the meeting, held in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood. “It’s not only about creating a process where people can finally report it through some proper structure, it’s also about minimizing the opportunity for it to happen in the first place.”

Bronin on Thursday also addressed the recent spike in city violence. Seven people were shot, three fatally, over four days. The most recent shooting occurred early Wednesday.

The mayor said in some cases, the violence stemmed from “longstanding feuds between groups,” or was related to a narcotics trade. Police are being proactive, he said, knocking on the doors of “people who are known” to detectives and who may be associated with the shooters.

“They’re saying, ‘ We know what’s happening, we know why and we’re going to be watching,’” Bronin said.