Council Member Appears to Suggest Reduced Access to Press to Police Blotter Was Over Objections to Editorial Policies and Negative Coverage of Police

A New Britain Republican City Council member suggested that city Police’s disapproval of press editorial policies contributed to revoked free access for the press to the Police blotter, saying that the press, “don’t have the right to pick and choose who makes it in the paper and who doesn’t,” and commenting that, “As soon as they find out a cop did something wrong, they are all over the city of New Britain.”

In response to questions raised at Wednesday’s Council meeting about the new practice of charging the press for police blotter information, Ald. Peter Scirpo (R-1), who has been a New Britain Police officer, himself, suggested that the objection from the Police included that the New Britain Herald, “said it was their choice to choose which people they put in the paper as criminals and which ones were not.”

Scirpo said that, “at this point, the Herald’s welcome to get whatever they wanted, at any time, as long as they properly, actually, put it in the paper, what’s happening in the city of New Britain, and not disguising in a way that makes certain entities in the city look better or worse.”

At the August 9, 2023 Council meeting, Scirpo commented,

So, the Police Department faced an issue, under Chief Chute, where the New Britain Herald was taking particular crimes and only reporting those. They were not reporting all the crimes that they were given. They were also not reporting the crimes correctly, and they said it was their choice to choose which people they put in the paper as criminals and which ones were not. We also asked them, like any other citizen who walks in to pay for the copies for the paper that comes out of the city budget, and they said they did not have to, nor did they want to. So, at that point, we stopped all communications with the Herald, based on the fact that they were argumentative, non-cooperative and were not reporting properly the crimes that were being committed within the city, because they felt that it was objective to certain areas of town. So that was under Chief Chute. I believe we did, my understanding, told the Herald that if they wanted they, just pay for it, and the Herald’s never come back since. So, any other citizen walks in who is a taxpayer, must pay for copies of police reports. We simply asked the Herald to do the same and they said no. So, at this point, the Herald’s welcome to get whatever they wanted, at any time, as long as they properly, actually, put it in the paper, what’s happening in the city of New Britain, and not disguising in a way that makes certain entities in the city look better or worse. So they don’t have the right to pick and choose who makes it in the paper and who doesn’t, when we give them the entire crime blotter. So that is where we are at with the Herald. And having worked the front desk, and having news agencies call me and ask me what’s going on today and we give them information, many times they choose not to publicize it. I myself have answered the phone many times in 25 years as a New Britain Police officer, to all the news channels in the state. They take what they want and they only put on what they decide is necessary. And, of course, 99 percent of the time it’s negative. All of the times we have told them about PAL events for kids, the PAL cheerleaders winning the national competitions, PAL football winning the regional or national competitions, we get zero news coverage. As soon as they find out a cop did something wrong, they are all over the city of New Britain. So, it is [inaudible] fair and impractical news coverage that’s hindering the city and making it look worse. There is no reason for us to subjugate ourselves to that, and make the city look worse, if the content we are giving them isn’t going to be fairly and equally distributed to the public.

In 2015 Mayor Erin Stewart (R) signed into law a repeal of provisions of what was then city ordinances that had allowed members of the public to obtain copies of public information, without charge, for up to 400 pages in a thirty day period.

Earlier in the day, Wednesday, the New Britain Racial Justice Coalition said it filed a filed a Freedom of Information request, “to access all arrest records and use-of-force records in 2023 so far,” citing, “the recent decision by the city council to discontinue sending daily police blotters to the New Britain Herald.” The Coalition says that it, “firmly believes that access to arrest records and use-of-force records is crucial for fostering trust, accountability, and transparency between the city and the community.”

The New Britain Racial Justice Coalition and others had strongly advocated for the creation of an independent and strong community review board to examine and review actions of the New Britain Police. That proposal was weakened and then defeated under Stewart and the Republican controlled Council in 2020.

“The residents of New Britain have the right to know about police activity in their communities without having to cut through bureaucratic red tape,” said NBRJC Director Alicia Strong. “This is an unfortunate step backwards for police accountability in New Britain.”

At the Council meeting following the Freedom of Information request announced by the Coalition, the Republican Council leader, President Pro-Tempore Robert Smedley (R-4) said that there is no policy on not reporting crimes, and called suggestions of a cover-up, “misinformation”. He said that the Herald decided to stop publishing police blotters in 2021, saying, “they stopped reporting that on their own. We had continued to waste resources to provide them the information, that, as Alderman Scirpo detailed, they were picking and choosing what they were going to publish.”

“To improve this situation,” Smedley added, “the city, very shortly, will be publishing our arrest logs online for everyone to be able to get information quickly, through our city and police department website.”

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