By Kate Ramunni
Register Staff
HAMDEN >> A report on the rate at which police officers conduct traffic stops on minority drivers that suggests some Hamden officers have a propensity to stop African-Americans will lead to more sensitivity training, the department’s chief said Friday.

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By Keldy Ortiz

HAMDEN >> The Legislative Council unanimously approved 39 body cameras for the police department Monday night, suiting every uniformed officer on the street.
The council approved 39 Axon Wearable Body Cameras for $59,135.35, paid for by the town’s capital improvement budget. This will bring the total to 75 policer officers with body cameras, said Police Chief Thomas Wydra.
“This is the national conversation of today,” Wydra said. “I’m glad the council supports this.”

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By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
Investigations Editor
HAMDEN -The town recently reached settlement agreements in three cases in which individuals claimed they were subjected to excessive force by local police officers.
Meanwhile, two other people who had filed notices of intent to sue over alleged police brutality have formally filed lawsuits in recent weeks.
The three settlements were for a combined total of $70,500.

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A 2013 New Haven Register investigation found police in Hamden, New Haven, West Haven and East Haven had the most excessive force litigation against them in the Greater New Haven region.

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By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
and Viktoria Sundqvist

Seven out of the eight Connecticut police departments that received poor grades on a recent public information compliance test have improved their access to arrest information, a follow-up check shows. The exception was Hamden.
The New Haven Register, The Middletown Press and The Register Citizen in March tested all of the 92 municipal police departments and 11 state police troops for compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

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By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo

Investigations Editor

Michael Wood, a college student, is suing Hamden police in federal court for allegedly beating and using a Taser on him on Nov. 1, 2009 in Hamden when he was 18-years-old.

HAMDEN — What started with a fistfight over a cab ended with police using a Taser on college student Michael Wood and subjecting him to a “vicious and brutal beating,” according to a lawsuit Wood has filed against police.
At the end of the ordeal, Wood’s father, Ken, says he initially didn’t recognize his own son due to his injuries.

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Michael Wood, a college student, is suing Hamden police in federal court for allegedly beating and using a Taser on him on Nov. 1, 2009 in Hamden when he was 18-years-old.

By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo

Investigations Editor
HAMDEN — A federal lawsuit filed against the town by the mother of David Mills, who died after police subdued him with a Taser stun gun in 2007, was settled this month for $125,000.
Mills’ mother, town resident Judith Ireland, sued the town and Sgt. William Sikorsky in 2007, claiming police used “unreasonable force” on Mills. The suit further claimed the town inadequately trained Sikorsky, who has since retired, in the use of the device.

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Hamden-- Hamden residents stand near the Woodin Street Cemetery gate, part of the fence that divides New Haven and Hamden along Woodin Ave. (Left to right, front two women) Marilyn Hutsell and Vera Craven. (left to right men in back) Michael Hutsell, Bill Welch, John Craven, Mike Colaiacovo and Tom Bagenski. They are all residents in the neighborhood who have concerns about New Haven's development plans. Peter Casolino/New Haven Register 8/31/12

By Ann DeMatteo and William Kaempffer
Register Staff
For Hamden resident Garland Patton, the fence that divides his suburban neighborhood from public housing developments in New Haven symbolizes “peace of mind. You’ve got security.”
But for Cliff McClean, who is 80 and lives in the Ribicoff Cottages on the New Haven side of the fence, the barrier evokes a Cold War image.
“What is this? West Germany?” he asked. “Where we’ve got to have a passport to get from one side to the other?”

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