Armed citizen patrols are continuing in Hartford, which now includes a South End neighborhood. Organizers say the patrols have been working, but city officials don’t approve of them.
In a South End neighborhood along Wethersfield Avenue, armed citizens patrolled the streets Saturday morning after neighbors there made a request. Archbishop Dexter Burke with Walk In The Light Church of God says the group saw issues such as open drug use and prostitution.
“When the criminal elements feel so empowered, that it can do this in clear daylight, you know, we were in a bad state,” he said.
Burke says the people here were fed up with how Hartford leadership was handling crime and violence and asked for the armed patrols. He says the patrols, which have now gone for three months mostly in the Garden Street area in the North End, have provided protection and discouraged criminal behavior.
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“Trying to speak to those that are involved in crime to look at alternative measures in living,” he said.
Burke says the patrols have made the neighbors who requested them feel safer.
“They’re no longer afraid to say something or speak upon what we’ve done,” he said.
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However, the armed citizen patrols are opposed by Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam. Last month, he announced the establishment of the Office of Violence Prevention which the mayor says identifying people at risk of committing crimes and trying to prevent it. He previously said he did not believe the armed patrols would work.
“Community policing has to happen with the police involved. Those are rogued actors that don’t involve the police,” he said.
Burke pushes back on the criticism.
“We’re not vigilantes. We are law-abiding citizens who have a deep concern for our community, for the lives of every community member,” he said.
He says the group would like to see Hartford police be more responsive and to work with the mayor. It’s even encouraged neighbors to report crime to them so police can investigate and make arrests. Burke says the armed patrols are only a small fix towards a needed permanent solution.
“In the meantime, until the city can get it right, we will fill that void and try to be helpful to those citizens who want to be safe or who are law abiding citizens,” he said.
The Hartford Police Department had no comment on the patrols.
