Restoring Faith In The Milford Police Department

Our local police department is one of the most important parts of what makes our community safe. It is supposed to be what makes people feel secure, give us comfort when we call for help, and trust that help will infact arrive. This image, in the past year has been tarnished, and many people in town are calling into question the faith and trust of all our dedicated officers.

Many people, including myself (a former law man) can say first hand that the reputation of an entire department is only as strong as its "weakest link." In the last week these "weak links" have been pulled to the breaking point. The Connecticut Post placed on its front page that video evidence had been accidentally destroyed by an officer, and the NH Register wrote what amounts to a "hit piece" on the entire Milford Police Department. The trashing included a "laundry list" of outrageous and irresponsible behavior.

The woes over the conduct of our officers are numerous and accusations currently range from the rehiring and firing of our police chief with a "magic formula" salary, to a city officer accidentally killing two youths in Orange.

The cost of this behavior is disconcerting, aside from the terrible loss incurred to the families and friends of the 90+ MPH crash victims in Orange, the city of Milford is going to be left with the added hardship of cleaning up this mess. The cost may arrive in increased insurance premiums, or the cost may arrive in what may amount to a multi-million dollar punitive lawsuit. The end result will be that every taxpayer in Milford will also be grieving, only we will be grieving over our city tax bill and the fact that we have all been made accountable for somthing that was not our fault.

We are at a critical juncture, whereby the people of Milford must have faith and trust in their Police Department. The people of our city need to have a government that works, a Police Chief that has policies, and subordinates who obey and respect the law themselves.

Our greatest challenge once again lies in the annals of the weak leadership in City Hall, the very boards and commissions run by the the Richetelli administration and its "responsible" Aldermanic leader Greg Smith. The job of keeping the Police Department, the Board of Education, The Building Department, and the City Attorney accountable all rests with the Mayor and the Board of Alderman. It is their job to call for a public inquiry to investigate the rapidly vanishing faith and trust in our Police Departments leadership. As of now this has not happenend and may never happen as things stand.

The right thing to do, in my opinion, is to call Chief Mello, the Lt who destroyed the data, the speeding police officers and those responsible before our city leaders. This forum should be held in public and before the Board of Alderman and the Mayor. The purpose of this forum is to use the body of government, in tandem with the current civil lawsuits, to hold our city departments and its individuals working for the taxpayers accountable.

The Board of Alderman should hear the public views regarding our Police Department. The public should be allowed to express their recommendations and opinions, regarding solutions to our Police Department. Our Citizens should be allowed to express their views to the people in charge that we will not tolerate this departments mistakes nor their failures or accidents.

The Board of Alderman has a responsibility to call a public inquiry on this matter or risk losing more faith in our Governments ability to trust its Police. It is the sole responsibility of our City Council to hold all of its employees accountable. Only the board of Alderman and the Mayor can legally suspend, fire or sanction the Police Department. The people of Milford are still waiting for the "Leadership" we were promised!

Two young adults are DEAD and laid to rest! How much more will it take?... and who dare be courageous enough to lead this great city into a better future?

Above photo of former officer Anderson

Oops! Milford Cop Deletes Video Evidence!

A police lieutenant was suspended for one day without pay for inadvertently ordering the destruction of thousands of hours of dashboard video sought by the family of one of the two teens killed when a speeding Milford police cruiser slammed into their car.

Police Chief Keith Mello said Monday afternoon that he suspended Lt. Dan Bothwell, who is in charge of the Records Division, in the incident. The video was the subject of a Freedom of Information request by lawyer Bart Halloran, who said that he hoped to use it to establish a pattern of Milford police officers using excessive speed on routine business.

"I am furious, absolutely outraged at this," Halloran said Monday night. "We will be pursuing every legal remedy available to us for destruction of evidence."

To Continue reading Frank Juliano Story Click Here

Lawsuits Against City Mount

Many years ago when I used to meet with my life insurance broker, he and I discussed retirement options. During that time I was young and naive and I dared to ask the question "how does the average person find the millions required to retire?" Well ask a silly question and get a silly answer, he replied "Northwest Mutual did a survey on this very issue and one prominent and alarming response by many people was they expect to win a lawsuit."

As of today, the city of Milford certainly has its litigants lined up to collect from the "city till." This week the Board of Education reported they are "almost out of legal funds" having spent almost all their money combating Harvey Polanski, and other Special Education Lawsuits.

The Milford Police Department is expected to get hit with a "whopper" as a result of two wrongful death lawsuits on the part of fired officer Anderson. These suits are expected from the victims families whose children were killed. The city could expect to pay out Seven figures each to these litigants.

In the Milford law Department today, Cynthia Anger who was fired decided to sue the town in Federal Court over her alleged wrongful termination. She states that because she wanted to form a union the Mayor wrongfully fired her. Her former boss Winn Smith was also named in the lawsuit.

These are just some of the most mentionable lawsuits, but none-the-less they are aggregate to the several other legal nuances that normally occur as a result of the heavy hand of government taxes, home valuations, and environmental disasters.

The level of litigious discord in Milford is reaching a budget breaking climax. Sadly most of these cases are the result poor judgement on the part of someone with power who thought better.

Many are asking who is paying for all this? And this certainly remains a valid question. I believe the city has some insurance to cover losses but in the end taxpayers are picking up the tab for most of it.

The Lawyers who are currently "stirring the pot" could care less about you or I. They are self serving "spin doctors" who make money by perverting logic, and inflating the rewards and expectations of their clients. They love it when people cannot agree it means they get more fees and work. A rational individual could easily conclude that the longer a legal conflict goes on the more a law firm stands to benefit.

Personally, and having been a former Deputy Sheriff myself, I can honestly tell you from my countless hours working with lawyers that they have kids to put through college, mortgage payments, and bills to pay just like the rest of us. They are motivated to make money for themselves and their bosses.

While I agree attorneys have their place in city issues, I fear that this new and excessive use of them is a false sense of security. The end result is going to be higher taxes on the citizens of Milford, and endless ongoing and protracted litigation that every attorney is "salivating to get a piece of."

The surest way to guarantee that a simple problem is complicated beyond reason, is to combine the "pompous delusions of grandeur" of legal clients with as many "liberal self serving lawyers as possible." Only then can the town-wide legal "feeding frenzy" and taxpayer extortion begin.

The time is now for all Milford Bureaucrats to start obeying the law, or change it to avoid the egregious and continual waste of taxpayer dollars to a predatory group of Vulchers..

Officer Anderson Relieved Of Duty

The Milford police officer who accidentally killed two Orange teens in June when his cruiser broadsided their car on the Boston Post Road lost his job Monday night.

The Board of Police Commissioners fired Jason Anderson, a five-year department veteran, and suspended another officer, Richard Pisani, for 30 days without pay in connection with the incident. The board also extended Pisani's probationary period, due to end in February, for another year

CONTINUE READING FRANK JULIANO CLICK HERE

Tragedy Ends With Milford Officer Getting Arrested

Last June 13Th at 2:15A.M two Orange Teens lost their lives in a very sad and tragic accident. The accident occurred when Milford Police officer Jason Anderson collided with a Mazda.

Two very young adults lost their lives, one on site the other shortly after leaving for the hospital. The graphic details of this accident were played out through the media, and although the macabre of the entertainment based society we live in would certainly make today's post interesting, those details will be spared out of respect to the injured parties.

This accident appears to be about allegations of reckless driving, more teen deaths behind the wheels of cars, cities overwhelmed with crime, and a lawless public. After learning about this sad accident, I wrote a short post just reporting what happened, I was very tempted to write more about this very issue, but decided to let the investigation and the victims families tell their stories, hire their attorneys, and let the police department release its own facts.

The allegations and charges against the police officer are now very real, being suspended from duty and having surrendered himself to the state police, a court date now looms where Mr. Anderson must defend himself from criminal charges.

The family of the victims of Servins and Krakowski, have filed a lawsuit against the city of Milford and the Milford Police Department. The details and nature of the claim are not Germain nor have they been revealed, but in the words of the litigants, "no amount of money in the world can right the loss our family suffered."

This story would have never been published had not a a bar called Utopia in West Haven broken out into a riot. West Haven Police, alleged they were unable to quell the tide of lawlessness that night and made a plea for help to the Milford Police Department. Three officers were dispatched to West Haven to assist in crowd control.

The Accident took place as Mr. Anderson was returning from that incident. The young adults he hit about an hour later (in a "T Bone Collision") were out that early morning in pursuit of cigarettes. The accident took place at the intersection of Boston Post Road and Dogwood Road in Orange

While all the facts in this case have not been revealed, there have been several requests to get the video from the police cruiser. Freedom of information requests have been made to obtain this video, but because of the nature and sensitivity of this case, and the fact their is pending litigation, the video can only be released according to the law, and with the due diligence of the many attorneys now involved.

The arrest in this case, has certainly been a positive development for some of the friends and families of the victims who have said they feel that "justice is being served, and their process of healing can begin."

To date there has been no comment by Chief Mello regarding changes to the Milford Police Departments policy of dealing with officers who engage in acts of reckless driving, drag racing or other like abuses of police vehicles.

The entire incident was a monumental wake-up call to the 100 police officers in the department who will certainly remember this incident for years to come. Even if no new policy is implemented I am certain that the magnitude of scope and nature of the loss of life, and injuries sustained, will be an induced policy that the officers will personally carry for years to come.

My prayers go out to the families, relatives, and loved ones of both victims and I sincerely wish for justice to be served in a manner that permits healing in a healthy and spiritual way.

Anderson has been charged with reckless driving. He was released on a $250,000 bond and is due in court on November 24. Keefe says he will plead "not guilty."

Should Mr. Anderson prevail in his trial with a verdict of "not guilty" this may adversely affect the damages and awards from any victim civil suits against the city of Milford and The Police Department.

LINK TO DPS INVESTIGATION