A Rich History of Police Corruption
New London, Connecticut may be known for its rich history and stunning architecture, but it has also been plagued by a long history of police corruption. This dark side of the city has been a cause for concern for many years, and it continues to raise questions about the ethics and integrity of those who are sworn to protect and serve.
A History of Illegal Policing Practices
Police corruption in New London, CT is not a new issue. In fact, the city has a long and storied history of officers engaging in unethical and illegal behavior, ranging from accepting bribes to using excessive force.
One of the most notable examples of police corruption in New London took place in late April, 2015, when several officers were caught for getting even with a local resident whose police complaint got neighboring, City of Groton Officer, Albert LeBeaux suspended and then fired earlier in the month. While New London Police reported to the local news that their complaint filing 'suspect' had tried to prevent a LifeStar helicopter from taking off, the security video that surfaced from the surveillance camera facing the scene showed him quietly watching the vehicle take off from the back of a crowd of onlookers in the L&M Hospital parking at sundown. Despite having been caught faking the entire helicopter story, the GA-10 or Part B Criminal Court judge refused to look at the evidence of police wrongdoing on video and the prosecutor fell in line, refusing to provide a copy of the video recording to the resident/defendant. In fact, according to the GA10 court's own records, New London's head prosecutor at GA10, Attorney David Smith claimed the position that the video was unhelpful and refused to drop the fictitious charges with full knowledge that the complaints and claims of the police were malicious and false. The resident was additionally informed by one of GA10's public defenders, Shawn Tiernan, that a trial would be inadvisable because the judge and prosecutor Smith would not allow the jury to view the video as evidence. At one point, when confronted about the prosecutor's refusal to provide a copy of discovery, Shawn Tiernan was apparently heard responding to him by saying that, "The law does not apply."
Despite the construction of two separate websites built to inform the public about this egregious error by police and GA10 court personnel, however, both sites' content and even ownership of their domain names were hacked by City officials and destroyed beginning in 2017, when the first website began showing up first in Google searches for the city. The hackers had their work documented quietly as they performed it, however, by the Internet Arvhive's 'WaybackMachine', which captures most of the worlds websites at random by crawling and preserving their content.
In short, the NL resident's justice reform sites were destroyed because they tried to get local law enforcement to clean up their act and revise its unwritten practices for policing. Despite these efforts and those of many others, the illegal policing practices combined with a continued claim to 'self-police' effectively, have remained a persistent problem among the ranks of the city's police department. This was true under the leadership of Chief Pete Riechard and under Chief Brian Wright.
In recent years, several officers have been accused of a range of misconduct related criminal charges, including harassment, falsifying evidence, and using excessive force.
The Impact of Corruption
The impact of police corruption in New London cannot be overstated. When those who are sworn to protect and serve, engage in unethical and totally illegal behavior it, undermines the public's trust in the police and the criminal justice system as a whole. This can lead to a breakdown in community relations, and can even put people's lives at risk.
In addition, police corruption has far-reaching effects on the economy and overall well-being of this and other Connecticut cities. When rule breaking is allowed to flourish, when it is officially tolerated by New London's prosecutors such as Attorney David Smith, it creates an environment in which criminals are able to operate with more impunity, leading to an increase in crime and a decline in public trust, quality of life and property values.
Moving Forward
It is clear that police corruption in New London is a serious problem that must be addressed. Moving forward, the city's residents must work together to root out corrupt leaders, officials and officers and establish a reputable policing culture of transparency, accountability and integrity in New London.
Web3 Technology to Assemble And Succeed for Generations
By occupying the streets, flooding State leaders' inboxes in Hartford and by continuing to use the web to stand up and spread accurate information and organize in support of justice reform, we can take a stand to correct rule breaking behaviors by our officials who have struggled to mute the reform narrative in the information age, demanding paper complaint forms, not publishing their email addresses, assigning resident emails to spam folders in the Mayor's office, running the city's email server with the "catch all" on, up to and including Prosecutor Smith's opening of a criminal investigations to punish those who reveal videos of police commiting crimes. By taking advantage of decentralized web3 technologies such as block chain ledgers and the Wayback Machine, New London's community will instinctively self-organize online and in public to ensure that the city becomes a safe place not only a vibrant place, for generations to come.
After trying to have this third website on police reform taken down by feigning a spam complaint to network authorities, the NLPD joined the FB "New London Strong" and had its admin delete my posts that called for reforms and links to this site. When 300 FB users clicked on the public service ad I ran for this site, a New London official complained to Facebook and so I saw this next:
Taking Action Against Corruption
There are several steps that can be taken to combat police corruption in New London. One of the most important is to establish robust oversight and accountability mechanisms that hold officers to a high standard of conduct.
This can include implementing policies that require officers to report on the unwritten, illegal policing practices currently in place, and to report on any suspicious activity, providing regular training on ethical conduct, and creating independent review boards to investigate complaints of police misconduct.
The key step cannot be overemphasized, which is to ensure that those who are responsible for upholding the law are held accountable when they engage in illegal or unethical behavior. This can seem hard to do when New London court personnel such as Prosecutor Smith, go out of their way to ensure that police never have to be held accountable for their illegal and unethical behaviors. Holding police who break the rules responsible can involve having the newly formed Oversight Committe conduct thorough investigations into allegations of police misconduct. It will also require changing David Smith's current stance which is to legally shield and protect those police who are found to have violated the law from anyone who wants to see them face the inside of a court as a criminal defendant. It is unclear how to prosecute bad cops when named prosecutors refuse to prosecute or collect evidence against them. One might need to make a group citizen's arrest of the prosecutor for obstructing justice in order to get a competent replacement brought in who is willing to do the work of a prosecutor.
Finally, it is important to foster an environment in which the police are seen as partners in building safer communities. This can involve working closely with community members to identify and address the root causes of crime, and establishing programs that help to build trust between the police and the communities they serve.
Proactive Accountability
While New London, Connecticut may be a beautiful and historic city, it is also a place that has struggled with the problem of police corruption for many years. By taking a proactive and concerted approach to rooting out corruption and establishing a culture of transparency and accountability, we can help to ensure that New London remains a safe and vibrant place for years to come.
It is only through the efforts of everyone - from community members to law enforcement officials - that we can hope to put an end to police corruption in New London and build a stronger and more just society for all.
The common “Task Force on Accountability…” approach leaves the police policing the police as such “Task Force(s)” are made up almost entirely of active and retired law enforcement personnel.