Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody is disciplining three Major Crimes Division supervisors for their response to a now-former detective's text proposing a "dead pool." The contest was to accept predictions on where 2021's first homicide in the city would occur.
While an internal investigation released New Year's Eve found that plan was never finalized, the concept has caused considerable anger among the intended subjects of the bet: the citizens of Hartford.
Thody previously demoted and suspended (for 120 days) now-former Detective Jeffrey Placzek, who sent the text to 20 others on Dec. 2nd. The text invited recipients to make a $20 wager. It read, in part, "Closest location wins." Most recipients told investigators they took the text to be a joke.
The Hartford City Council has called for Placzek's firing.
The new sanctions target the actions of Lt. Paul Cicero, Sgt. Anthony Rykowski and Sgt. Jeffrey Morrison. Cicero and Rykowski will be suspended without pay for five days each. They're accused of taking delayed action and failure to inform their supervisors after the text spread around Major Crimes.
A press release issued by Chef Thody reads, "Neither Sgt. Rykowski nor Sgt. Jeffrey Morrison, the two sergeants in Major Crimes, discussed the text with their supervisor, Lt. Paul Cicero, before Friday, December 4, 2020, and Lt. Cicero did not take action prior to that Friday."
Lt. Cicero was among the original recipients. The former head of Major Crimes, Cicero was previously removed from his post as the department's chief media relations officer. Sgt. Morris will receive what Thody calls "documented counseling" for being "inattentive" to his duty.
Thody writes, "The bottom line is that this conduct crossed the line by a big margin, and every member of the Department, myself included, now has the responsibility to help fix the damage this caused." He says he'll send results of the internal investigation "to an independent, outside reviewer."
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin issued this statement: “This incident was extremely damaging to the relationship that our police and our community have worked hard to build. Chief Thody imposed swift and strong discipline for the officer who sent the text, and this decision to discipline all three supervisors in Major Crimes underscores the standard our department expects from its leaders. It was good to learn through the investigation that the officer’s direct supervisor reprimanded the officer soon after the text message was sent and before this incident became public, but I agree with Chief Thody that more should have been done and more formal measures taken by all of the officer’s supervisors. Chief Thody has agreed to send the investigation for an independent, outside review at the request of several City Council members, and I think that will help residents have further confidence in the investigation.”
