Arrest Made for Assault

From the Middletown Police Department

On July 6^th, 2009 Middletown Police officers arrested two individuals in connection with two serious incidents including a June 6^th 2009 robbery and assault on Liberty Street and an April 24^th 2009 assault on Lincoln Street.

Jacob Thomas, 19 years, of 30 Swain Avenue, Meriden and a 17 year old Middletown youth were arrested Monday and charged with Robbery 1^st degree, Assault 3^rd degree, Larceny 3^rd degree, Conspiracy to Commit Robbery 1^st and Conspiracy to Commit Larceny 3^rd all in connection with the June 6^th incident.

Additionally, both were charged with Assault 2^nd degree and Conspiracy to commit Assault 2^nd degree in connection with the April 24^th incident.

Both suspects were held on a $700,000.00 court set bonds and will appear in court on July 20.

The arrests come after lengthy investigations by Detectives Baboolal and Duffy.

UPDATE: More on this in the Middletown Press, with some good reporting from Jennifer Sprague, and a rather contentious debate in the "comments" section.

More Graffiti and a Mugging: New Gang Activity in Middletown?

The following "Public Safety alert" came in on the email today, from Wesleyan's Public Safety office:

Middletown Police have advised Public Safety that on Sunday 3/29/09 at approximately 12:30pm a non-university person was robbed in the area of High St and Huber Ave. According to Middletown Police the victim was approached by an individual who displayed a weapon and demanded money. After being given the victim's wallet the subject fled from the area.

The subject is described as an African-American or Hispanic male, between the ages of 18-21, 5' 7'' tall, weighing approximately 175 lbs. with light facial hair and a lip ring. The subject was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and grey sweat pants with a red oval logo on the side.

Anyone with any information on this incident is asked to call the Middletown Police at 860-344-3200.

Public Safety reminds all community members to report suspicious people or activity to our office at 860-685-2345 or Middletown Police at 860-344-3200.

Yes, you read that correctly: 12:30 p.m. In other words, in the middle of the day. I called Public Safety this afternoon to confirm this, and a friend emailed Public Safety right around the same time. Both inquiries revealed that the information was, in fact, correct. The robbery took place a half hour after noon yesterday, Sunday.

This disquieting event occurs on the heels of a spate of new graffiti in the neighborhood south of campus along High Street, Beach Street, Home Avenue, and McCarthy Park, much of which is being created by individuals referring to themselves as "3D". Several younger acquaintances tell me that "3D" stands for "three desperadoes". A google search for "3D" and "three desperadoes" [and "desperados"] turns up nothing in the way of gangs, so perhaps it is just a local group of miscreants looking for creative new ways to deplete the Public Works and Police Department budgets. One of the targets of the spray paint was the sign for McCarthy Park along High Street (almost directly across from Huber Ave.). Happily Public Works has already cleaned it off, as well as the "tags" at several of the other locations.

When I spoke with the officer at Public Safety, I asked whether they were aware of the new graffiti. He said they were.

This isn't the first time the question of graffiti and possible gang activity has been reported in the Eye. And sadly it probably won't be the last. In addition, we may be hearing more about all this soon from another source: a "Channel 3 Eyewitness News" truck was seen wrapping up a shoot this evening at the Huber-High intersection. I'm waiting on a call back from the Police Department detective bureau for any additional information. If anyone calls, I'll post an update.

Meanwhile, Helen Ubiñas had a story in yesterday's Courant about graffiti. [Correction: Actually the story was dated 11 January 2009]. She found that while graffiti is up, complaints are down. Apparently people are getting used to it. She reports that a favorite target in Hartford is the new "cable boxes". Actually, I think she's referring to the AT&T "U-Verse" boxes, which have been invading Connecticut towns in the past year.

Tag you're it

We've got a graffiti problem in Middletown, and it isn't getting better.

Walk a block in any direction from Main Street and you're bound to spot a "tag." The city's procedure is for citizens who see graffiti is to call and report it to the police department so it will be recorded, and then to call the Public Works departments (sometimes repeatedly) so that they will remove it.

Middletown is obviously making some effort to control the problem. Witness paint overs on highway substructure on DeKoven Dr./East Main.

But if the quantity and frequency of the tagging is any indication, the city may not be pursuing the problem agressively.

If the experience of other cities is of any value, what begins as a nuisance blossoms into a plague. In addition, some public safety officials have denied that there is any gang connection to the graffiti. My own gut tells me that when I see "Blood" scrawled on an abandoned truck trailer, I should at least be suspicious that the notorious gang of the same name is making inroads to a city where narcotics are also a problem.

While eradicating graffiti is nearly impossible, other cities have had some success in stemming the problem using a variety of techniques, including:

- writing a graffiti ordinance (I can't find one in Middletown's code)
- apprehending taggers and prosecuting
- making taggers and their parents financially responsible for cleanup
- getting rid of tags immediately though cleaning or paintovers
- setting up a graffiti reporting line
- enlist business owners in combating the problem
- hold property owners responsible for cleaning graffiti on their premises

As one anti-graffiti website says, the difference between art and vandalism is permission. And there is no tagger in Middletown who is making any aesthetic advances.

All the photos here were taken within one hour on a morning walk around the city. Some of the identical tags can be seen at several locations. What's published here is less than half of what I saw and photographed.