By: Sue Caldon, 08/17/2011
I left the town hall on Tuesday August 16, 2011 saddened to hear the words spoken out loud that I had read in the Rudewicz Report just hours before. Clearly it was a lack of leadership that led to a number of mishaps in the investigation on that fateful night when the young and innocent life of Henry Dang was taken so tragically from his loved ones and his community. Our police chief failed to follow procedures and responding officers failed in the lack of effective leadership.
How far back does the failure go? We can lay some blame on the police commission; after all they did approve of hiring the personnel and appointing the chief of police. Why weren’t preventative measures taken? Why didn’t the commission ensure that policies and procedures were being followed by our police department? Is there also a lack of leadership within the police commission?
Let’s go back a little further with the blame game. Who does the commission report to? I’m thinking that the commission reports to us, the community that votes these individuals into their positions. Can it be that we, as a community failed? Kevin Brace, who is currently running for a seat on the police commission, stated that, “In the 2009 Municipal elections, Windsor Locks had a 30.1% voter turnout (2,375 voters).” (Brace) If you are even a little good at math, you’ll know that out of nearly 7900 voters in our town, very few showed up to vote. Why is it that our community is outraged and wants to play the blame game, but didn’t take the opportunity to get involved upfront?
As a community, we need to stop playing the blame game and start to remedy what has clearly not been working for some time. We need to get involved, by getting to know our elected officials and voicing our opinions and concerns. We need to pay attention to the upcoming election and most importantly, WE NEED TO VOTE. When we vote, it’s to convince elected officials to adopt and adapt to the will and ways of the people who elect them. When we don’t utilize our right to vote and speak our minds, then we truly have no one to blame but ourselves.
Works Cited
Brace, Kevin. Save Windsor Locks. 3 August 2011. 17 August 2011
Sorry Kevin I cannot agree with you. You might be right but I don't feel the Investigation which was all about a tragedy should be used to let people know that you are running for a spot on the police commission this September. Sorry, Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteLike the above post states - Speak up ( vote ) or Shut up ! It seems there are WAY more opinions than there were voters at any polling location .
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right, more people need to get out and vote and be active in our community. What is sad is that a tragedy like this has to take place to get people outraged. Frankly I believe there needs to be a major reconstruction in our politics in town especially with the Henry Dang tragedy and the police force. Any other civilian involved in a fatality or major accident would have been given a breathalyzer automatically, not to mention they didn't even notify his family until approx 3am because they said they didn't have enough man force because they were all dealing with the Younger Koistenen. 5 other police depts rejected this man and we hired him and now a 15 year old is dead. As a mom I want to see that justice is served so I can show my daughters that not all police officers are bad and restore their faith in our town since they are going to be our next generation of voters.
ReplyDeleteVery well said Sue! You speak for many people in our community who are sick of the status quo of how things are run in our town. I have to say I am one of those people who never got involved in our town's politics....sure I voted, but whatever happened after that I did not pay much attention to because I didn't think my one voice could make a change.
ReplyDeleteWell, that all changed for me now that I have a child in school and decisions were made by the Board of Education that I personally disagree with. I spoke up, expressed my concerns and actually made somewhat of a differnce and I will continue to do so going forward.
We can all choose to get involved in different ways, whether it is running for office, attending town meetings, or just simply writing or calling our town officials to express our opinions and concerns.
If we work together we can improve our town government, our town education, our town protective services.....So to everyone, please get involved, please vote, we can make a difference in our town of Windsor Locks.
If you read the report you see that the First Selectman actually said he made a wager with the chief on the time the blood alcohol test came back. A boy is dead in the street and our elected officials go to the hospital to visit the perpetrator and make jokes on the way home. Sad.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in WL my whole life. We have one of the safest and nicest towns to live in. I would ask you to reconsider your reaction to this case with Henry Dang as a mishap on the behalf of the PD. One tragic event happens and everyone is ready to crucify our PD. Which I think does an excellent job. These men and women work round the clock for our personal safety. They dedicate their lives. They have to work lengthy hours and odd shifts and deal with people, mostly not from our town. I would challenge anyone that could say there isn't a much safer town to live in. Just look around at the numbers from neighboring towns.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed sad that a young boys life was lost as a result of our First Selectman, Police commission and officers at the sight of the accident. This all as a result of the process and method of hiring a son of a Sargent on the force. Time and time again the Police Commission has failed the community. Take the time to review the number of law suits and payouts over just the last 5-10 years, and the number of worker's comp claims are out of control. Take time and review the amount of overtime payed to each police officer and tell me this isn't OUT OF CONTROL. It is time for members of the Police Commission to step aside. I don't know how many are up for re-election but in my opinion all should step down, that is also true of our First Selectman. Who or what gives him the right to be at the scene of the accident. He needs to be reminded that he is not a officer of the police department and let the appropriate individuals do what should have been done in the first place. His only concern as evident by not going the the family of the young boy killed but and attempt to not get the town involved in a law suit and become part of the cover-up. Yes COVER-UP from beginning to end.
ReplyDeleteMy heart goes out to the Dang family and I only hope the residents of this community step up and make those responsible know this is unacceptable and we will vote this coming election to send a strong message.