I will never understand why police officers don’t embrace video recording of their work. But they don’t. Whether in the interrogation room, or on the street, lawmen fight for the right to keep the public they serve from seeing them in action.
Lawmakers are now considering a proposal to make it unlawful to video record a police officer making an arrest. That’s just plain stupid. Those arguing in favor of it should have their mugshots placed on a wall of public shame and ridicule.
Is videotaping distracting?
Nonsense.
Many departments are...
March 19, 2014
You know the state's Judicial Branch is bleeding when the chief justice takes to writing opinion pieces. I am not referring to legal opinions, mind you. I mean op-ed pieces designed and intended to influence lawmakers, as in the piece Chief Justice Chase Rogers penned, or had penned for her, in The Hartford Courant the other day.
She was writing to let lawmakers know that all is well in the family courts. Sure, there are a few disgruntled litigants out there. But what would you expect? Family cases represent, and I quote, "painful and heart-wrenching scenarios." The chief wanted us to...
March 13, 2014
Superior Court Judge Leslie Olear of West Hartford is no doubt a profoundly grateful jurist. She was nearly turned out of office by lawmakers the other day. The House of Representative voted 78-67 to permit her to keep her job, an unusually narrow margin. The state Senate voted 28-4 to keep her, but only after the House had already approved her.
What nearly derailed the career of this judge?
The family law “system is crying out for reform,” said Hartford Democrat Rep. Edwin Vargas. “I’m not saying that this judge is the only one that doesn’t deserve...
March 6, 2014
As read to the Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday night:
My name is Norm Pattis. I live in Bethany, and I also own Whitlock Farm Booksellers, located at 20 Sperry Road. I have lived in Bethany with my wife for the past ten years. I am a newcomer, still falling in love with what Bethany has to offer.
I cannot be with you tonight because I am with my wife visiting two of my children who live in Seattle. I can assure you they did not leave Bethany because they could not find low-cost housing. They wanted what Bethany could not offer: Big city life, with the...
February 28, 2014
February 26, 2014
I missed the town meeting in Bethany tonight, where residents once again debated whether to permit condominium development. But a friend was there,...
February 26, 2014
Almost everyone pleads guilty to a crime when prosecuted. Some estimates place those pleading guilty, rather than facing trial, at more than 90...
February 24, 2014
The good-neighbor folks of Green Haven are back, this time with new lawyers, a scaled-down version of paradise, and even a Johnny Appleseed...
February 19, 2014
If you’re of a certain age, you will recall the Jetsons, as in the space-age cartoon characters who’d do such things as leave their pod...
February 14, 2014
Remember “Miller’s Boys,” the gang of corrupt racist cops whom the feds prosecuted, calling them bullies with badges for their...
February 5, 2014
Massachusetts Judge Joseph Johnson has imposed a gag order on the parents of Justina Pelletier, preventing them from raising public questions about...