Hartford council votes in favor of hiring an assistant police chief amid discussion of how many officers are needed; we ‘want more protection’

The issue of the impact of police staffing cropped up again this week as the Hartford City Council passed a resolution in favor of filling the vacant assistant police chief position.

The position has been open since Rafael Medina was hired by the town of Wethersfield to become its police chief in November 2021.

Councilman John Gale introduced a resolution at the meeting requesting that Chief Jason Thody engage in a search for a new assistant chief. The resolution passed 5 to 2.

But Councilor Josh Michtom, who in the past has called for reducing the police department’s budget and the number of police officers employed by the city in favor of other public safety measures, did not support the hiring of an assistant police chief.

“I have said many times before: The city spends way too much on police,” Michtom said. “It keeps us from spending money on all the other things we need to spend money on, because we don’t have money left over. So I’m not going to be on board for urging the hiring of one more police officer.”

Councilor James Sanchez, who seconded Gale’s motion, disagreed with Michtom, saying his constituents supported hiring more police to tackle increased violent crime in the city.

“I think it’s important that we make sure that the police department is fully staffed, especially with the higher staff leadership,” Sanchez said. “We are in dire straits. … Everyone that I’ve spoken to, my neighbors, my family, discussed this before. They want more protection. There is no way they will say no to having more officers in the city.”

Councilor Shirley Surgeon joined Michtom in opposing the measure, but for a different reason. She said the hiring of an assistant chief was something that the council shouldn’t be involved with, but instead should be left with the chief.

“I always believe it’s up to the administration that we hire to do the best they can with the running of the department,” she said. “I don’t believe as a councilperson in setting policy and I don’t want to tell the police chief how to run his department.”

Sanchez responded that the council wasn’t telling Chief Thody how to run the department, but merely authorizing the hiring of an assistant chief, which would alleviate added burdens on staff so that they could do their jobs.

“This resolution does not take away [any] authority of the police chief,” Sanchez said. “This is just requesting he start the process of hiring an assistant position that Assistant Chief Medina vacated. I think it’s important that Chief Thody has all the support possible to run the department and the situation right now where the homicides are up, the shootings are out of control, and I believe it would be advisable he does seek out this next assistant chief.”

Michtom responded that Thody, during the council’s Quality of Life and Public Safety Committee meeting on June 21, told councilors who were present that there isn’t a significant increase in violent crime in the city.

“Based on what the chief told us at … homicides are up one year-to-date over last year, dramatically down from say 10 or 20 years ago, and essentially statistically even,” Michtom said. “Nonfatal shootings are down compared to … last year.

“That doesn’t mean things are rosy in our city in terms of crime, but let’s say the thing as it is and make our decision accordingly.”

Sanchez essentially dismissed the data cited by Michtom, reiterating that more police were needed for the safety of the city.

“My constituents are screaming [and] tired and are demanding more enforcement,” he said. “We have to have a plan right now before it gets out of control. Summer just started. The data that’s always fed to us may not be the realistic way of what’s going on in today’s daily life. In my opinion, we need every single possible officer without stressing them, without putting them in danger to the extreme and getting them tired to serve our community — to be the guardians of our community. There’s just way too many shootings, way too many homicides.

“We need every support we can get regardless of the data so we can have some kind of control in our city.”

Ted Glanzer can be reached at tglanzer@courant.com.