Teh One Who Knocks
05-04-2015, 11:41 AM
The Hartford Courant Editorial
In a state with strict gun laws, the sloppy and slapdash management of the Hartford police shooting range over many years should be embarrassing — if not criminal.
A city audit of the shooting range released this week found that the range administrator was purchasing way more ammunition than necessary for training and, due in part to poor or nonexistent record-keeping, could not account for the whereabouts of this stockpile of bullets.
This calls for a criminal investigation.
The audit, conducted by Hartford's chief auditor, H. Patrick Campbell, at the request of Police Chief James Rovella, found that the range administrator — identified by Hartford police as Officer Louis Crabtree — purchased an average of 485,000 rounds per year over the past six years, more than 1,000 rounds each for the force of about 400 officers.
But the auditor found that the department would not need more than 240,000 rounds a year, and was actually using about 180,000 rounds. What about the other 200,000-plus rounds? There were no records of ammunition purchased, held in storage or distributed to police officers. Where is it? Documentation "was not adequate to ensure that all ammunition ... was used for HPD purposes and not misappropriated."
The department had an annual budget of $115,000 for ammunition. But Mr. Crabtree circumvented the budget process by buying some ammunition on credit and pushing the payment into the next fiscal year. When the department blew the whistle on this, the vendor was owed more than $186,000.
Officer Crabtree was dealing with a vendor in Greenfield, Mass., who kept only paper records on a notepad. They don't sell bullets in Connecticut?
Mr. Campbell found that over a 10-month period in 2014, Mr. Crabtree purchased 94,500 rounds of .45-caliber and 9mm ammunition, at a cost of more than $33,000 — even though in 2012 Hartford switched to .40-caliber handguns. According to the audit, Mr. Crabtree acknowledged the purchase of the .45-caliber and 9mm rounds, but said that he did so with the purpose of trading for .40-caliber rounds, which he claimed were in short supply.
There was an ammunition flea market among police departments? .40-caliber rounds were in short supply?
Finally, there was no accounting for the shell casings, which the department should have been receiving revenue for.
Credit Chief Rovella with sniffing out the problem and calling in the auditors.
"Everything has been corrected, everything that comes in and out has been bar-coded and is tracked," said Deputy Chief Brian Foley. Mr. Crabtree has retired. The department is awaiting an internal inspection into the matter. If there is any indication of criminal activity, it will be referred to the state's attorney for investigation.
As it should. It appears that thousands of dollars of the city's money went up in smoke.
In a state with strict gun laws, the sloppy and slapdash management of the Hartford police shooting range over many years should be embarrassing — if not criminal.
A city audit of the shooting range released this week found that the range administrator was purchasing way more ammunition than necessary for training and, due in part to poor or nonexistent record-keeping, could not account for the whereabouts of this stockpile of bullets.
This calls for a criminal investigation.
The audit, conducted by Hartford's chief auditor, H. Patrick Campbell, at the request of Police Chief James Rovella, found that the range administrator — identified by Hartford police as Officer Louis Crabtree — purchased an average of 485,000 rounds per year over the past six years, more than 1,000 rounds each for the force of about 400 officers.
But the auditor found that the department would not need more than 240,000 rounds a year, and was actually using about 180,000 rounds. What about the other 200,000-plus rounds? There were no records of ammunition purchased, held in storage or distributed to police officers. Where is it? Documentation "was not adequate to ensure that all ammunition ... was used for HPD purposes and not misappropriated."
The department had an annual budget of $115,000 for ammunition. But Mr. Crabtree circumvented the budget process by buying some ammunition on credit and pushing the payment into the next fiscal year. When the department blew the whistle on this, the vendor was owed more than $186,000.
Officer Crabtree was dealing with a vendor in Greenfield, Mass., who kept only paper records on a notepad. They don't sell bullets in Connecticut?
Mr. Campbell found that over a 10-month period in 2014, Mr. Crabtree purchased 94,500 rounds of .45-caliber and 9mm ammunition, at a cost of more than $33,000 — even though in 2012 Hartford switched to .40-caliber handguns. According to the audit, Mr. Crabtree acknowledged the purchase of the .45-caliber and 9mm rounds, but said that he did so with the purpose of trading for .40-caliber rounds, which he claimed were in short supply.
There was an ammunition flea market among police departments? .40-caliber rounds were in short supply?
Finally, there was no accounting for the shell casings, which the department should have been receiving revenue for.
Credit Chief Rovella with sniffing out the problem and calling in the auditors.
"Everything has been corrected, everything that comes in and out has been bar-coded and is tracked," said Deputy Chief Brian Foley. Mr. Crabtree has retired. The department is awaiting an internal inspection into the matter. If there is any indication of criminal activity, it will be referred to the state's attorney for investigation.
As it should. It appears that thousands of dollars of the city's money went up in smoke.