Hartford CPRB gets new member

Police review process in transiton to new inspector general

Though Hartford’s inspector general has resigned his position, the work of the city’s Civilian Police Review Board is continuing, with a new member joining this week.

Amilcar Hernandez was appointed to the board at the city council meeting Monday just a week after Inspector General Liam Brennan gave notice of his resignation.

“The work doesn’t stop, it will continue,” said Eric Crawford, board chair. “We will continue to do our jobs during this transition period.”

The CPRB hears complaints against Hartford police officers in order to provide independent oversight of the department. The inspector general conducts and oversees investigations into any allegations of misconduct by the police and reports those findings to the board, which turns over its findings to the police chief for any appropriate discipline.

Liam Brennan, who cited his intent to run for mayor of New Haven, will continue to serve on a part-time, interim basis during the period of transition to a new inspector general who has not yet been announced.

Brennan faced mounting criticism from the police union, which accused him of unfairly pressing misconduct investigations against police personnel. Brennan continued to have the support of city leaders and members of the board.

“Liam is not anti-police, he’s just anti-bad policy,” Crawford said. “So when you start drilling down on policies that haven’t been updated in years, people get a little upset and they try to run you out. I have never seen any personal bias in his work because I check everything he does before he even puts it out.”

Lots of work to do

Crawford, a former longtime member of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, said that when he took over as chair, the CPRB had over 170 backlogged cases with many dating back to over a decade ago.

“Now we have basically no backlogged cases,” Crawford said. “The only cases we retained were the real serious violations that we wanted to look closer into. But for the smaller cases, mostly for disorderly conduct, we sent the applicant a letter asking if they wanted to continue the process even though it was year’s ago and most responded back no. We gave a deadline for folks to answer and a lot never responded so we administratively closed those cases.”

Crawford said the board used to take on over 15 backlogged cases per hearing but now can mostly focus on new cases, ensuring they are investigated in a timely fashion.

“I’m not looking to drag this stuff out, I’m looking for timeline and repeating patterns,” Crawford said. “I’m looking to make sure the police chief is giving officers fair consequences. That is what I’m focused on.”

On average the board hears around five cases per meeting.

Meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of the month.

“We get a couple cases in every month,” Crawford said. “People are starting to hear their cases earlier now and my goal is to get them before the board in 60 days. People want to know we take their complaints seriously and these things really matter. It’s important for everyone involved, including the officer, because while we’re doing our job that officer is still on the street.”

At the end of January, the board unanimously voted to sustain the departmental charges against Sgt. James Guzie, who was accused of punching a Black woman in the face in the Hartford Police Department’s booking facility in 2021.

The most common complaints the board hears are for disorderly conduct or for applicants who believe their rights were violated.

“It’s the customer service piece that is most common, people who feel disrespected,” Crawford said. “People don’t often understand their rights and a lot of people get scared or feel they have been violated. So that’s a big part of it.”

The search for a new IG

“We conducted an extensive and competitive search to select Liam Brennan as the first inspector general, and we certainly did not expect to have to fill the position again so soon,” Mayor Luke Bronin said. “In the months ahead, I expect that we’ll undertake a similar search to identify a permanent successor.”

Crawford said he expects the search to take several months as each candidate is screened and interviewed.

“It took us around five months last time to get Liam,” Crawford said. “You don’t want to rush that process, you want to take your time and find the right person in that role to continue the momentum.”

All resumes for the position first must go through the city’s corporation counsel for screening to ensure applicants are qualified for the position.

“Once the city deems the applicants are qualified, they send the resumes to us,” Crawford said. “We then invite those applicants we want to move forward with for an interview.”

Crawford, Bronin and City Council President Maly Rosado ultimately decide the new inspector general.

“I think we will get quite a few applicants,” Crawford said. “Because we’re pioneering, not many other board’s in the country have an inspector general full time. It’s a very attractive job.”

A new member is sworn in

“I’m excited to start working on behalf of the community,” Hernandez said. “I’m ready to get started.”

Hartford’s Civilian Police Review Board has nine regular and two alternate members.

The board’s rules state that two board members may be residents of other towns while the remainder of the board members must be Hartford residents.

A new board member is appointed following a recommendation by the mayor and members of the Quality of Life and Public Safety Commission. The city council as a whole appoints the candidate.

Hernandez, who has a finance background and serves as a controller for the youth nonprofit Our Piece of the Pie, said he has served the city in different capacities.

“I have been involved in the community for a long time, but I wanted to serve the city as a whole and the board seemed like a great way to do so,” Hernandez said. “It’s really about me trying to give back.”

Hernandez must undergo about 10 hours of training before he starts to review cases.

“It’s really about how to read a file, the legal side of it, and how to keep your emotion and bias out of your judgment and sticking to the facts and evidence,” Crawford said. “You also need to learn how to vote independently and not based on someone else’s vote.”

Michael Lawlor, University of New Haven criminal justice professor and the state’s former undersecretary for criminal justice policy, conducted an initial training for all board members in 2021 over Zoom.

“The IG is more in the role of the prosecutor and board members are more in the role of a grand jury,” Lawlor said. “So a big part of it is understanding what the Constitution actually says and what the policies are in the department. I think there can be a lot of misunderstanding on what is deemed legal and not legal.”

One example Lawlor gave is of a police officer who is disrespectful or abusive verbally.

“This is usually the most common complaint, it’s technically not illegal but often is a violation of policies in the department,” Lawlor said. “That’s the kind of thing that creates distrust in the community which can lead to more crime. It’s about understanding those differences.”

Most of the training is now led internally through the inspector general.

“We thought Lawlor gave a very good training session, but we didn’t have the resources or ability to keep bringing in experts,” Crawford said. “We continue to develop that training based on what we’re seeing through the IG. It’s about getting everyone on the same page as soon as possible.”