Hartford PD CNT Team Profile June 2006 - Hartford Police Department

June - August 2006V O L . 6 / N O. 3T H E O F F I C I A L J O U R N A L O F T H E N TO A C R I S I S N E G OT I AT I O N S E C T I O NTeam ProfileHartford, Conn. PD’s CNTBy Jose L. Lopez. Sr.(l-r) Lt. John Horvath, Officer Guisseppe Uccello, Sgt. Robert Allan, Det. Luldes Ortiz, Deputy Chief Jose L. Lopez, Sr., Sgt. Norman Godard, Det. FrancesDubose-Watson, Det. Mark Manson, Lt. Brian Foley. Team members missing from photo: Det. Dan Mui, Sgt. Robert Klin, Officer Harry Garcia.Once a fort called “The Houseof Hope,” Hartford is now adiverse city with all of the painand challenges of the average urban environment.It is managed under a strongmayor form of government with a boardof Common Council. Hartford now hasa population of 150,000, a number thatswells considerably during the workday.The city is being revitalized with theopening of a new convention center,multiple hotels, shops and restaurants.The downtown area is beingreconstructed through the addition ofcondominiums and rental apartments.The Hartford Civic Center is also beingremodeled with the addition of a highriseapartment complex being built abovethe existing structure. Hartford is therising star of New England.The Hartford PD has an authorizedstrength of 440 sworn officers and isstriving to meet this manpower level.For the past several years the departmenthas been actively recruiting and graduatingacademy classes to make up forattrition and to bring the department tofull strength.Under the direction of Chief PatrickJ. Harnett, the department has instituteda neighborhood policing planthat breaks the city into four separatedistricts, assigns an individual districtcommander to each one and makes themresponsible for addressing the problemsthat arise in their districts. Through the

Team ProfileSgt. Robert Allan in the mobile command vehiclewith equipment.the primary, another as the coach, withthe other two negotiators gatheringintelligence and conducting interviews.The supervisor will assist with updatingthe board and the commander willmake resources available while keepingthe command staff posted. Normally amember of the emergency response teamis assigned to the crisis negotiation teamas a liaison.use of Comstat, district commandersare held accountable for the activities intheir districts. This has led to doubledigitreductions in Part One crimethroughout the city.The teamThe Hartford Police Crisis NegotiationTeam has been in existence sincethe late 1970s, in line with the creationof New York City’s Hostage NegotiationTeam. In 2003, the name was changedto the Crisis Negotiation Team to reflectthe fact that the team’s response goes beyondthe relatively rare hostage situation.Like most other police departments,the CNT was understaffed, underequippedand minimally trained with theleast amount of resources allotted amongall of the specialized units. For years theteam consisted of one sergeant and threenegotiators lacking in equipment.In 2002, then-Lieutenant Jose L.Lopez, Sr. was selected to commandthe team. Lt. Lopez expanded theteam through a competitive process. Inrecruiting members, consideration wasgiven to their linguistic abilities. Thisprocess produced a team capable ofnegotiating in many languages includingSpanish, Italian, Polish, Russian andvarious dialects of Chinese and MiddleEastern languages. Each member has attendeda 40-hour negotiations course aswell as continual seminars and updates asthey become available.The team has monthly training andhas also trained collaboratively with thebomb squad and emergency responseteam. Training has been conducted withthe Connecticut State Police and otherarea departments as well. As a team,members have joined with various teamsin Connecticut along with the Departmentof Corrections for training seminars.The team has also traveled to NewYork City and participated in varioustraining events with NYPD’s HostageNegotiation Team.The team currently consists of twelvemembers. After his promotion, DeputyChief Lopez appointed Lt. John Horvathas the team commander with Lt. BrianFoley and Sgt. Robert Allan as teamsupervisors. The remaining nine negotiatorsconsist of patrol officers, detectivesand sergeants. All of the negotiatorswork at the same level regardless of theirrank or assignment. Deputy Chief Lopezcontinues to oversee the team and participatein the monthly trainings.The commander and both supervisors,except in emergency situations,do not negotiate. During a call out,the commander will respond with onesupervisor and a minimum of fournegotiators. One negotiator serves asEquipmentPrior to the purchase of the CNT’scurrent throw phone system, the teamused a system featured in a previousissue of the Crisis Negotiator 1 which waspurchased from Radio Shack.As the team expanded and respondedto various incidents, lessons werelearned, causing the team to enhancetheir response and use of equipment.During a call out it became apparent thatthat the team had to monitor all televisionmedia reports when involved in anegotiation. The call involved a subjectwho had barricaded himself in his homewith several rifles. At one point duringthe negotiations it was learned that thesubject was monitoring the local newsand would be angry if the media referredto him as crazy. All television media werecoached, and although he was safelynegotiated out, subsequent investigationrevealed that among the items that thesubject was stockpiling was a portabletelevision set with batteries.After this incident three A/C-D/C9-inch black and white television setswere purchased from Radio Shack. BothD/C and auto accessories were purchasedso that the televisions could be operatedfrom an electrical outlet or car lighteroutlet. Batteries were also purchased inthe event that electricity is not available.All three television sets were connectedtogether with a metal strip onthe top of the sets. All of the accessorieswere also connected together so that thesets can be run from one electrical orcar lighter outlet. The cost of this mediaCrisis Negotiator June - August 2006