On March 7, city Councilors Craig Minor and Kevin McCauley met with Police Chief John DiVenere to go over the issues related to the code enforcement police officer position that has been held by Tom Lavigne since its creation. Lavigne is a former city councilor.
After the meeting, Minor wrote an email to the chief laying out what they discussed. He released that email to me today after I made a Freedom of Information request to him. Here it is:
Chief:
This is my understanding of what was said at our meeting on Friday, March 7. Please let me know if I got anything wrong.
1. Job Description. Chief DiVenere is fully supportive of having a police officer assigned to do code enforcement full time. However, designating an officer as the Code Enforcement Police Officer would be a bad precedent and in fact is something that the City has historically resisted doing. The duties of the officer assigned to code enforcement could however be spelled out as with other officers who are assigned to specific duties, such as the youth officer and the traffic officer. As with all other officers, the officer assigned to code enforcement is subject to being temporarily reassigned if the Police Department is under-strength or during an emergency, but this is not expected to happen more than once or twice a year, if at all.
2. Overtime. All officers are authorized eight hours of overtime during each three week period. Additional overtime may be approved by the supervisor of the officer assigned to code enforcement provided the officer requests it in writing and provides justification, and it will not be unreasonably denied. Such additional overtime would be requested only if necessary to meet with property owners who are not available during the normal work day or to occasionally appear before City boards and commissions, but not to attend meetings of neighborhood associations and civic groups.
Diane Ferguson pointed out that per the union contract, whenever another City department pays for the overtime of an officer to perform duties for that department it is treated as extra duty and has to be offered to any officer in turn (Craig asked her to provide the documentation on that). Therefore it is not feasible to put funding for overtime in the Code Enforcement Committee s budget.
3. Normal Working Hours. The option exists for the officer assigned to code enforcement to occasionally alter the hours of his shift to include
evening hours, such as from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.
4. Vehicle. The officer assigned to code enforcement will be assigned a vehicle marked Code Enforcement . As with any other assigned vehicle, however, this vehicle is subject to being used by other officers as needed during other shifts or in an emergency.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
34 comments:
I thought that Nicastro was the Deputy Mayor, not McCauley.
Didn't anyone tell him that Zoppo didn't win??
Keep finding more things to whine about. As ifyou don't whine enough already !
Help the taxpayers ..... Remove the blight committee and enforcement officers and use the funds saved to fund volunteer organizations to address the issues of concern .
That would make people happy , achieve the stated objective , AND remove some leaches from the union public dole .
I'm sick of the pro-union, pro-Ward people calling everyone who disagrees with them "whiners". You guys are only concerned with improving yourselves at the expense of the rest of the city.
Let Divenere do his job!
let Divenere do his job while it appears that othe councilmen are busy doing the mayor's job? The mayor was at this meeting too, but you wouldn't know it.
Divenere doesn't work for McCauley or Minor.
While he has to show them the proper courtesy, he does in fact report to the Mayor and the Police Board.
Where is Ward in all this?
Does he not stand up for his staff?
Or is he happy just to be called "Mayor"?
His job is to run the police department, including preventing crime and protecting neighborhoods. The scum bag landlords must be told in no uncertain terms that they are not welcome here. Policing overlaps that goal. He should let the police officer do the code enforcement work without driving the guy nuts.
Bristol has one of the most scandal plagued departments in the state. Cases going uninvestigated, cops running amok, you name it.
Bristol police routinely drive by kids skate boarding on the Barnes Group property, ignore people drinking on the sidewalks on Summer and Main Streets, let loud outside parties rage long into the night and ignore other civil crimes.
DiVenere is concerned that if these nuisance properties get shut down he will have less justification for growing the police force by another ten or twenty cops. He must be taking lessons from the fire chief.
If every other facet of the police department was operating in a flawless manner, and it ain’t, the chief could afford to stick his nose into code enforcement. The chief should worry about the other 120 officers he has and leave code enforcement alone.
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It sure sounds like their taking care of their boy, Lavigne. Lets make sure he can work hours that he wants, get overtime when he wants, gets his own car and they make a special job title for him so he can say, "thats not in my job description". How nice is all that. I wonder if any other officers were ever offered that position, somehow I find it hard to believe. Lavigne, knowing that the position was talked about behind closed doors went to the school so he could say, "I'm the only one qualified". How convenienent was that. They never mentioned a time limit like the other positions have so that other officers can move into the position did they?
What do our city councilman have to say about all of that. Probably nothing, They'll just continue to take care of their boy.
The police union and Ward have worked things out to the satisfaction of all, except the taxpayers.
He must of had something on some oneto get this job he makes a lot of noise while he runs his big mouth off. Mike Petosa is taking good care of his boy . When will the tax payers put a stop to this union and the owed favors.
Actually, Divener DOES work for the council and the mayor so someone certainly got their facts mixed up.
I nearly fell off my chair when poster 3:02 made such a ridiculous statement! Volunteers clean up? And how, may I ask, would they do that? Can they fine the absentee landlords that don't care who they put in their apartments and then those tenants destroy the place to the point it needs to be condemned? Can they hand out tickets to people who leave their barrels out all week long heaped with garbage? Can they ticket landlords who don't take proper care of their properties and bring down the value of the homes around them? Of course they can't.
The only person I see cleaning up is Mr. Blanchette down on the Boulevard so where are all these "volunteers"? If they were around, they would have been doing it all along. Perhaps the 3:02 poster should put on a pair of rubber gloves and start doing all of what has been listed above. They would see it's not as easy as it sounds.
There is already a position that was made over a year ago for a code enforcement officer. Mr. Lavigne has already been trained to fill that position. Let's not waste our money and put someone else in that spot especially since he is very effective.
If the Chief had been doing his job over the last few years we wouldn't be stuck with the drug dealers and users that contribute to the blight in this town. The majority of problems that we have are the section 8 houses that are ruined by the tenants that don't care about anything but buying their next fix.
Yea, let the Chief do his job. But since he hasn't Guy Morin has to clean up after him.
7: 32 suggest that you read the charter before you go any further, both as to the role of the Council and the Police Chief.
That is one of the problems: everyone wants to be boss (except maybe, Art ward).
Comntrol of housing comes under the building department.
when ward gets tired of these jerks riding wild everyone will say that he is controlling - look at the freak show taking place with every member of the city council thinking that they are the mayor - none of them had the b---s to run, none have the b---s to stay on a decision and all are freaking wimps - god bless this city because we all need it.
Are Lavigne and Geladino friends?
5:28 - I am hearing that the police union had no input on this and they probably have their own issues they will raise regarding this whole thing.
They will undoubtedly attempt to spin this to benefit themselves (and thereby weaken code enforcement), as unions often do. Let us hope management stands tough and does not let that happen.
This isn't about taking care of Levigne. The Chief doesn't want any cop working full time for code enforcement even though he got 2 extra cops to replace Lavigne on the street.
He's just being difficult.
Help the taxpayers ..... Remove the blight committee and enforcement officers and use the funds saved to fund volunteer organizations to address the issues of concern . That would make people happy , achieve the stated objective , AND remove some leaches from the union public dole .
Your head is in the clouds. This wouldn't work. We don't live in Whoville.
One union boy (McCauley) sticking up for another union boy (Lavigne) to ensure the other gets his sweet easy job as he cruises to retirement.
McCauley: you make me sick to my stomach.
Thank goodness for Ken Cockayne!!!
7:36 PM & 9:49 AM Posters ...
Please keep in mind .... Often times force leads to violence ...
Remember ... force led to violence a few years back @ the state lottery headquarters ...
Recently in the midwest a local council experienced what can happen when force is used on a private citizen .
Force can lead to very negative consequences . I'm merely offering an alternative to the use of force on Bristols' citizens to avoid the inevitable escalation .
The city did not approve three, one for code enforcement, they approved three cops, and eventually more, because the city needs them on the street.
Divenere pointed this out relative to downtown, relative to the West End, relatibve to Route 72, and other reasons.
Lets get our priorities in order!
"The city did not approve three, one for code enforcement, they approved three cops, and eventually more, because the city needs them on the street."
You are flat wrong. Check the minutes of the City Council meeting. The Salary Committee and the City Council approved the position on the Chief's promise that the officer would be assigned to do code enforcement full time. I'll put those minutes here later today.
DiVenere needs more cops because Bristol is the only police department so mismanaged that it sends three cruisers and a supervisor to a friggin fender bender.
I would compare them to the Keystone Cops except the Keystone Cops would be insulted.
Apparently 1:26 doesn't know much about police work. Two officers are required to respond to all accidents along with one supervisor. Addotional officers may respond if the are in the area and needed. They are cleared when the supervisor responds and determines the scene to be safe.
Please don't address things when you you don't know the facts and the procedures that are set in place.
THE POLICE CHIEF IS NO LEADER JUST ASK THE TROOPS. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED BUT THE UNION GETS WHAT THEY WANT FROM HIM SO LET IT BE.
- none of them had the b---s to run, none have the b---s to stay on a decision and all are freaking wimps -
Whereas you, Senor Cojones, insult these men while hiding behind an anonymous posting. You sure gave them a lesson in manliness!!
Hey 5:42. Nifty response from one of the "Boys in Blue".
Just because it is the procedure in Bristol doesn't make it right. Every other town has auto accidents that don't require a show of force at every scene. You reinforced my point. The policies and procedures come from the top.
Now go back to Dunkin Donuts and have another jelly donut. Then drive around in your cruiser talking on your cell phone while you look for bad people running yellow lights.
If you all stay tied up at the scene of the horrific fender benders you can ignore the actual crime going on in Bristol.
You Bristol cops are cream puffs.
10:20 Poster,
You have me laughing so hard!!
Very well put!!!!!
Sounds like all you clowns know all the tricks . You can do all the illegal things you want . Then cry when you get caught!
Hey 10:20, you sound like someone whose received one two many tickets for running yellow lights. The sad thing about you is that you don't know the law. A yellow light in CT is considered the same as a red light. It also sounds like you've received tickets for being involved in accident that you probably caused. Your a very disgruntled individual.
Please give me a break the police in bristol are trying but with no leadership from the top their hands are tied. The chief is no leader but he covers for the union and get to cruise toward retirement. Wake up your letting this happen.
Gee the naysaying republicans are on here too. Preaching the same ol same ol I see. Boo Hoo.
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