Hartford Police Chief To Retire

Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts has announced he is leaving the department at the end of the year when his contract expires.  WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports.
 
Roberts has served as chief since July 2006 and is a 30-year veteran who worked his way up from patrol.  A city native, he was the hometown pick to replace Patrick Harnett -- the New Yorker who served before him.  
 
And he's been known as a chief who speaks his mind about his city -- where young people and guns too often find their way to one another. But he's also had a rough go of it.  Homicides were spiking earlier this summer, and Mayor Pedro Segarra has called for at least two investigations of the department -- saying he had concerns about integrity and trust at the HPD.
 
So it won't come as a huge surprise that Roberts is moving on.  Just last month, Segarra didn't sound like Roberts had a long future ahead of him.
 
"I am cognizant of the fact that the contract is up Dec. 31, and I'm cognizant of the fact that he might or not might not retire, and I'm cognizant of the fact that I need to think about what the future needs of the department are."
 
And Roberts was equally non-committal.
 
"I want to serve, I want to keep working hard, but we've got to do what's best for the city and that's important to me.  If I'm not doing what they think I should be doing, then of course we're going to have to reassess and look at things."
 
Another thing that may be influencing the chief's decision to leave -- one of Segarra's investigations into the police department and its management is due any day.
 
For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.