Members of the Hartford City Council will take up measures to strengthen the city's police oversight board amid an escalating legal standoff with the police department.
The council is set to consider amendments to a city ordinance to make clear that the Hartford Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) is empowered to subpoena documents and testimony from police.
City leaders granted that authority in 2020 to the board, which investigates allegations of police misconduct and citizen complaints.
But lawyers for the city and the police union want to block it from being used. They have asked a judge to quash subpoenas issued by the city's inspector general on behalf of the CPRB earlier this year.
The city argues the records should not be released without additional safeguards because they contain sensitive information about open cases or investigations and arrests tied to sexual assault and domestic violence.
The Hartford Police Union also filed a legal challenge on behalf of the internal affairs commander, who is named in the subpoenas.
In a separate case, the union has moved to block the CPRB from sending cases to binding third-party arbitration, another tool aimed at giving the board meaningful oversight power.
While the legal issues are pending, the police department has effectively ended its cooperation with CPRB investigations, Inspector General Joseph Lopez said at a meeting last week. The internal affairs staff is no longer providing discovery material. It has instead directed Lopez to send public records requests — a process available to any citizen, which in practice gives police wide discretion over what they release.
"Holding back on materials and not turning things over and fighting at every step of the way and involving the union and throwing hurdles in front of us is not transparency or oversight," Lopez said.
Hartford Police Chief James Rovella did not respond to a request for comment.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam has not publicly addressed the conflict over the board's authority. That prompted frustration last week among some members of the CPRB.
Commissioner Daniel Rodriguez asked why the mayor can't issue a directive to the chief to move forward.
"I don't understand who's in charge," added Commissioner Timothy Fisher.
In response to questions from Connecticut Public, a spokesperson for the mayor did not directly address the situation. He referred to a statement the mayor provided when the subpoenas were issued in April.
"The city will continue to prioritize giving the Civilian Police Review Board and the Inspector General the access necessary for rigorous oversight while remaining equally dedicated to ensuring the respect and privacy of family violence victims," the statement reads.
Despite the impasse, the CPRB granted a request from Lopez last week to serve 15 more subpoenas on the Hartford police chief.
"They have a right to have lawyers challenge these things, and they've exercised that right," Lopez said. "But my position here is that we can't just sit around and let these cases grow old because they want to exercise their right. We have to exercise every means available to us to keep our mission moving forward."
Revisions under consideration by the Hartford City Council would require internal affairs to promptly provide the inspector general with unredacted copies of all materials in its file, unless prohibited by law. They would also compel officers to sit for interviews with the inspector general. Officers would receive the same procedural and constitutional protections in place during questioning by internal affairs.
Other changes would eliminate procedural hurdles to arbitration, a process being tested for the first time this month. A retired judge is scheduled to weigh a recommendation Tuesday from the CPRB to issue a finding of neglect of duty by three officers.
The State Board of Labor Relations is still weighing a challenge from the union, which contends that independent arbitration violates its contract.
Union President James Rutkauski said previously that residents should question the wisdom of funding the inspector general's office, and said much of its work duplicates the findings of internal affairs.
"We believe in the accountability and transparency and the oversight, but I think the community truly needs to know that Inspector General Lopez is not doing an independent investigation," he said.
Editor's note: Arunan Arulampalam's father-in-law is Gregory B. Butler, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of Connecticut Public.
