HARTFORD, Conn. — Residents of a troubled Hartford neighborhood have lodged formal complaints against the police department.
They claim the police are driving a wedge between those who commit crime and those asking to be protected from it.
Neighbors who live on Irving Street claim their quality of life has gone downhill in the last three years due to an increase in drug activity. Police have told residents not to interact with loiterers and instead to call them, but a recent interaction caught on camera is forcing them to question whose side the police are on.
“I’m not driving by to harass you. I’m driving by because they sent me over here,” said the Hartford police officer during the interaction.
The incident happened over the summer. The police officer responded to a resident concern of loitering on Irving Street.
“Someone around here is a snitch and complaining you guys are just hanging out,” said the officer to the assembled group.
“How do you say there are snitches on the street?” reacted Irving Street resident Hortense Ross. “In fact you told them you didn’t really want to be there."
Ross said not only is the term "snitch" unprofessional, but it's irresponsible and dangerous.
"Who are you protecting? You put a target on my back,” said Ross.
Irving Street residents say loitering is just one of the neighborhood’s many problems. Illicit activities range from littering to indecent exposure and even deadly stabbings and shootings.
But it wasn’t always that way.
“We took pride in that neighborhood,” explained Irving Street resident Precious Rosselis.
Rosselis and her family moved to Hartford from Jamaica in the 70’s. Back then, Irving Street was a thriving community with an active police substation and place for kids to play.
“It’s just the violence. It takes over,” said Rosselis. “Too many people have dropped dead at the corner right there, and people would come and say, 'Precious, is that your street again?'”
Pastor AJ Johnson of the Center for Leadership & Justice says requests for mediation have not been productive.
“That isn’t what we expect out of our police department. We just want that simple level of accountability,” said Johnson.
Both Precious and Hortense say they feel vilified and abandoned, but are hopeful.
“I am trusting that there can be a change,” said Ross.
They are refusing to give up on the city they call home.
“My friends moved out of Hartford. They say, 'Precious, when are you going to move out of Hartford?' I said I’m not leaving Hartford. I love Hartford. I see the opportunity,” said Rosselis.
FOX61 reached out to the Hartford Police Department, which declined to comment. An internal affairs investigation and police civilian review board complaint are underway into the incident with the officer in the video.
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Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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