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Resident urges Hartford City to publish full police general orders
Summary
At the Aug. 11 virtual public comment session, Peter Little urged the Hartford City Council to require publication of the Hartford Police Departmentgeneral orders, saying only 29 of roughly 200 are online and calling publication "a matter of accountability and public trust."
Peter Little, co-founder of the nonprofit American Justice Project, told the Hartford City Council during the virtual public comment session on Aug. 11 that the city should publish the Hartford Police Departmentgeneral orders on the departmentwebsite.
"Transparency here builds trust, and withholding this information undermines it," Little said. He told the council the city revised its Civilian Police Review Board ordinance five years ago in November and suggested this anniversary is an appropriate time to review the boardand related policies.
Little said he attended a recent Civilian Police Review Board meeting and praised Joe Lopez, the new inspector general. "I was so impressed with Joe Lopez," Little said, and said the boardbacklog has largely been worked through and membership stands at nine with two alternate positions still to fill.
Little also told the council there are "about 200 of these general orders that the police govern themselves by. Only 29 of them are online," and asked why the department has made only a partial set of its policies public. He said residents need access to the rule book that governs use of force, vehicle pursuits, internal investigations and community engagement in order to judge whether officer conduct aligns with departmental standards.
His remarks were made during the public comment period that precedes the council's regular meeting; no formal action was taken at that time. The council's virtual public comment session was broadcast on HBA TV and rebroadcast on the HBA TV YouTube channel.
The public comment period is scheduled before the council's regular meeting, which the council noted would begin at 7 p.m. Little urged the council to "support public access and to compel or urge at least these policies to be published as a matter of accountability and public trust building."
