As the Bristol Police Department prepares to say a final goodbye to Officer Alex Hamzy and Sgt. Dustin DeMonte, police from other towns are stepping up to help cover the city so they can grieve.
Mutual aid from surrounding police departments, has allowed Bristol police officers to mourn and provided confidence that the city is protected.
“That’s one thing we haven’t had to worry about since Thursday,” said Bristol police officer Conor Hogan.
Within hours of last Wednesday’s shooting, mutual aid started to arrive. Connecticut State Police, Southington, Hartford, Farmington, Torrington, Rocky Hill, Cheshire, Manchester and East Hartford are just some departments who’ve helped.
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“We are showing our support anyway that we can,” said Torrington police officer Caitlyn Fay. “[We’re] taking some shifts for them, just to give them time to recover and do what they need to do.”
East Hartford Police said it has provided multiple officers on multiple days, handling a wide range of jobs from dispatch to street patrol.
“Taking calls for service and shadowing their officers or having their officers shadow us,” said East Hartford officer Marc Caruso, explaining some of the duties officers are helping with.
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Fay said she’s helped with a variety of assignments, including domestic disturbances - a detail she said police officers are very mindful of right now.
“Everyone is on high alert, and they should be,” Fay said. “This is our job - we go and we do it, we have to.”
While East Hartford is providing Bristol Police with help, they are also preparing for what could be a massive funeral in their city. Services for DeMonte and Hamzy are scheduled at Rentschler Field Friday morning at 11 a.m.
“We are expecting a rather large amount of traffic during a timeframe where typically speaking, stadium events don’t occur,” Caruso said.
From dispatch to street patrol, mutual aid has been in Bristol for nearly a week and isn’t going away anytime soon.
“We’re super appreciative,” Hogan said. “It just shows what a brotherhood this is. We are just really lucky to have all those agencies right now.”
Departments, who spoke with NBC Connecticut say they are ready to provide Bristol with anything they need, and they are doing it, not seeking any credit.
Most departments politely declined comment today, explaining they didn’t want any attention for what they simply felt was the right thing to do.
