Organized Police Department
Back to EHPD History Page
As traffic and business encroached on the town, the town’s Board of Selectmen joined with the Fire District in the establishment of a Board of Police Commissioners in 1914. The Board was given full direction and control of the police department and the authority to enforce the general rules of the department. The Board decided upon a day and a night patrol. Police service in those days was a strenuous task, all on foot and with no system to summon assistance. Drunken or subdued prisoners had to be carried to the lockup either on the back of the arresting officer, in a wheel barrow, or in a wagon if one was available. At some point, in 1914, Patrolman Robert Kappenberg was designated as the town’s first Chief of Police.
On Tuesday, September 19, 1916, Chief Kappenberg was directing traffic on Main Street near Bissell Street when he tried to divert a motorist driving on the wrong side of Main Street. While trying to redirect the errant vehicle, Kappenberg was struck in the back by a second car. Chief Kappenberg was taken to Hartford Hospital where he died on Sunday, October 8, 1916. Chief Kappenberg was the first East Hartford police officer killed in the line of duty. Chief Kappenberg’s name is memorialized on both the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Connecticut Police Chiefs Law Enforcement Memorial in Meriden, Connecticut.
After the death of Chief Kappenberg, the police board organized the department, giving the department its own budget, and Patrolman William J. McKee was named the Town’s 2nd Chief of Police on November 1, 1916. Chief McKee professionalized the department with the issuance of new style uniforms, and breast and hat badges. Police Headquarters was in the basement of Wells Hall, telephone number Laurel 324.
By 1919, the police department had grown to four regular police officers and nine supernumeraries. In 1919, the Department issued its first official police badges, which were designed by Police Commissioner George Westbrook. Chief McKee received a gold badge bearing the title “Chief” while the other officers received silver badges. In 1929, fourteen full time officers patrolled East Hartford.
Chief McKee’s men jokingly gave him the nickname of “sneak” for his love or organizing his officers to catch lawbreakers by crafty methods. For example, after the weekly payroll car stopped at the railroad yards, many workers habitually gathered on a plot of land between the tracks known as “Gilligan’s Island.” McKee would disguise his men as farmers or have them sneak up by other ruses. Usually, though, one of the more sympathetic officers would tip off the raid by firing his pistol, and the railroad workers would scatter. Passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, Prohibition, brought more work to local police, as they raided many liquor stills that made moonshine for the Hartford market. Relatively quiet and secluded areas and tobacco sheds in East Hartford provided ideal distillery sites.
In 1915, some “yeggmen,” or safe crackers, blew open the safe in the Burnside Post Office and escaped with a modest sum of money. Ironically, they failed to see a sign inside which pleaded, “Safe Not Locked, Don’t Blow.”
On Christmas Day, 1923, Mrs. Mary Monsell was beaten to death at her Silver Lane home, allegedly by John Cook, during a robbery attempt. Mrs. Monsell’s home was at the Northwest corner of Silver Lane and Forbes Street, in the rear. Cook escaped with $12.00 for his efforts. A milkman reported seeing Cook hanging around the shadows of Monsell’s home early on Christmas Eve. Chief McKee and Hartford County Detective Edward J. Hickey went to visit Cook, who had a long police record. They searched his room and found an old button box. Cook had apparently grabbed the box in the dark, thinking it was filled with coins. A neighbor later identified the box as belonging to Mrs. Monsell. Before police could arrest Cook, he left town. Cook was never found, despite possible sightings both inside and outside the country, and a police manhunt which continued for more than a quarter century.
The first police patrol car was utilized by the East Hartford Police in 1929. Prior to this, patrols were performed by motorcycle and on foot.
In 1934, the department consisted of Chief McKee (annual salary $2610.00,) Captain Timothy J. Kelleher, Lieutenant John W. Foley, Detective Lieutenant Maxwell P. Knie, Sergeant William M. Cooney, eleven regular patrolmen, and seventeen supernumerary patrolmen. The department had a complete Gamewell signal box system with central control at Headquarters; a photograph and fingerprint bureau with identification system; two police cars, and three police motorcycles. 1935 saw the first police radios go into service. These were one-way radios and East Hartford police units were dispatched by the Hartford Police, who told East Hartford Police units to “Call Your Station” for dispatches.
Officer John Eugene Callahan, known commonly as “Gene”, was on motorcycle patrol on Connecticut Boulevard on Friday, May 18, 1934. At approximately 3:45 PM, a truck driven by Peter Perretto suddenly pulled away from the curb to make a u-turn. Officer Callahan struck the truck and was thrown from his motorcycle. Police blotter entries show that Perretto was arrested for Reckless Driving and Failure to Follow the Rules of the Road. Officer Callahan was taken to St. Francis Hospital where he was treated until October 22, 1934. Officer Callahan returned to limited police desk duty on October 1, 1935, and died of a heart attack on Sunday, November 12, 1939. Dr. F. Wellington Brecker directly attributed Officer Callahan’s death to his accident in 1934, and in June of 1940 his death was certified by the State Police Association of Connecticut as having occurred in the line of duty. Officer Callahan was the second East Hartford police officer to give his life in the line of duty. Both the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Connecticut Police Chiefs Law Enforcement Memorial declined to add Officer Callahan’s name to their respective memorials, as he had passed away too long after his initial accident, and from apparent natural causes, which do not meet enshrinement requirements.
The Town of East Hartford, in 1936-1937, saw the construction of a new Town Hall at 740 Main Street, under President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA.) The Police Department moved from Wells Hall to its new quarters in the basement of Town Hall.
In 1940, the Department was increased in size to deal with the “abnormal traffic situation created by enlarged employment at the aircraft” (Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, the aircraft engine manufacturer.) The department had the chief, four supervisors, and eighteen fulltime patrolmen, utilizing three police cruisers. In 1941, the year of greatest change to that date, the number of patrolmen jumped to thirty four, the department purchased two new police cruisers, Chief McKee retired on July 1, 1941, and Captain Timothy J. Kelleher was named the Town’s 3rd Chief of Police. 1942 saw the installation of the first two-way police radio system connecting officers’ cruisers with a base radio at police headquarters. The department then operated on a Low Band frequency of 37.18 Mhz.
On September 17, 1945, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) chartered Local 818 to the East Hartford Police Department, as the Department’s first affiliated sworn officer labor union.
East Hartford had the worst traffic safety record in the state in 1947, with twelve persons having been killed in the previous three years. The police department initiated a safety program, lecturing to students in the grammar schools, supporting driver education in high school, and sponsoring a bicycle safety program. The result was a dramatic change. East Hartford became the safest community in the state, going more than two years without a traffic fatality through October of 1949. The safety program won several awards.
In response to the post-World War II cold war era, Chief Kelleher formed the East Hartford Civil Defense Auxiliary Police unit in 1951. The unit was formed under the federal government’s Civil Defense initiative and also operated out of Town Hall. The unit was active until the late 1960’s.
Chief Kelleher retired on May 1, 1955, and Assistant Chief Veto A. Bushnell was named the Town’s 4th Chief of Police. In 1958, the Town built a new Police and Court building at 497 Tolland Street, at the corner of School and Tolland Streets. The building was constructed so as to serve as a civil defense bomb shelter if needed. The Department at that time consisted of 62 sworn officers and 3 civilian clerks. Also in 1958, Chief Bushnell opted to change the department’s uniforms, adopting a triangle-shaped shoulder patch with the town seal in the center, new breast badges bearing the town seal, and new hat badges. The wool choker coat was eliminated from the uniform complement.
The state abolished the Town Court system and replaced it with the Circuit Court system. Judge John Brennan was the last judge to sit in the Town Court. The patrol plan beginning in the early 1950’s consisted of six patrol car beats, supplemented by three walking beats.
In 1960, members of the International Association of Machinists at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft went out on strike. This was the most bitter strike since the railroad walkout in the 1920’s. The strike was over job security. Shortly after the workers walked out in June, violence started. With such large numbers of workers involved, the atmosphere at plant gates became highly charged and emotional. Pickets mobbed the cars of those going into work, and sometimes cars hit picketers. Windshields were broken, antennas ripped off, and cars were scratched and dented. Eighteen state troopers assisted the department in keeping order.
In 1961 Chief Bushnell designed a portable flashing caution / warning light to be placed at the scene of a traffic accident to warn motorists of the hazard. Chief Bushnell submitted his design to Law and Order magazine, and he won the 1961 Law and Order Magazine Traffic Trophy for safety innovation.
Under the direction of Chief Bushnell, Officer John Ruggiero and his brother, Supernumerary Officer Joseph Ruggiero, formed the East Hartford Police Marching Band in 1963. This group was designed as a youth activity for high school-aged boys and girls. The band wore uniforms; was equipped with drums, fifes, and glockenspiels; and practiced twice weekly with their instruments and in marching and maneuvering techniques. The group participated in parades, events, and marching band tournaments throughout Connecticut until the late 1960’s.
The year 1964 saw the department advertise for and hire its first policewoman, Patricia M. McMahon. While a policewoman, Ms. McMahon married and became Patricia O’Neil. She worked from May to October of 1964, and resigned when she became pregnant. The Department then hired its second female officer, Judith Brewster. Mrs. O’Neill and Ms. Brewster were initially hired to work in the Juvenile Division. Officer Brewster eventually rose to become a Lieutenant, the first female to attain a supervisory position over male officers in the New England area.
Chief Bushnell retired March 11, 1969, and Assistant Chief Joseph J. Ciccalone was named the Town’s 5th Chief of Police. The phone number for the police department at that time was 289-5471.
Back to EHPD History Page