Hartford’s police chief says he expects that an investigation into accusations that a sergeant harassed an officer to soon wrap up.
The complaint got a lot of attention, especially after the officer says originally nothing was done with it for nine months.
“Right now there seems to be a group of committed women in this community who are sick and tired of this,” said Kamora Herrington, chair of the city’s LGBTQ+ Commission.
On Tuesday, people in Hartford demanded action. They want to know what’s going on with two sexual harassment complaints involving the Hartford Police Department.
“Why is sexual harassment in the police department something we hear about, we can express some type of outrage and then put it in a pile and it sits there forever,” said Herrington.
Some believe it’s also a culture problem at the department that needs a correction.
“Our commitment is to foster a culture where harassment and discrimination is not tolerated,” said Cherese Chery, director of human resources.
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On Tuesday, city staff explained to a women’s commission changes to how complaints are handled, as the city looks at updating its sexual harassment policy.
There were concerns including from commission member Erica Crowley.
“It’s really unclear what mechanisms are there to make sure these complaints are followed up on and taken seriously. And the effect of that from what I understand is that victims are left unprotected and not updated,” said Crowley.
Police leadership was also at the meeting.
“We as a department we value everyone’s input,” said Hartford Police Chief David Rosado.
Rosado tells us they’re looking at bringing in a national firm to take a look at what they’re doing.
“The culture in our department, we work on improving every day,” said Rosado.
The chief says part of this is building a diverse department. In the most recent recruit class, he says half are black or Hispanic and women make up more than a quarter of it.
