Daniel Conklin — the New Haven detective whose hiring by Westport ignited a storm of controversy, after revelations of 3 internal affairs investigations into his conduct — will not join the Police Department here after all.
The New Haven Independent reported today that Conklin has formally rescinded his letter of resignation there.
Assistant police chief Archie Generoso said, “He’s a fine detective. I met with him today and told him I’m happy to have him back.”
Click here for the entire Independent story.
We all know this “rescinding resignation” is face saving and Westport made it clear he wasn’t welcome after the public outpouring. Congratulations to Jim Marpe, the adminisatrstion and to Chief Koskinas for listening here. This shows strength and not weakness and I applaud their leadership on this dofficult issue. Congratulations to the RTM members that were publicaly outspoken against this move – Especially Kristin Hamlin and particularly some of the new RTM members that were most vocal. This was a good outcome for “Brand Westport”.
Westport should be ashamed.
No Nancy – they are feeling relieved.
Butt out.
small mindedness achieves what?
Have you ever asked for a second chance?
I think Officer Conklin was granted a 2nd chance with the NHPD after his issues, and by rescinding his resignation and heading back to New Haven, you could argue he is is getting a 3rd chance.
I don’t believe anyone here is trying to block his ability to work as a police officer, but rather just that many feel he was not a great fit for our community.
You have been successful in ruining this man’s career.
Carry on “Brand Westport”.
Daniel Conklin’s demonstrated actions impaired his marketability. Westport’s standards for hires can be very high, and ensuring those standards are maintained requires forums such as this where citizens’ voices can be heard. Daniel Conklin still has career potential in New Haven, where he may very well prove to be a better cop going forward. You need integrity to do your job well. Conklin didn’t demonstrate that based on the many Internal Affairs investigations and the arrest and jailing of a businessman on a trumped up felony charge who filed that civil rights violation case. One can assume that for every IA case filed by a citizen, there are others that could have been filed; the filing process is lengthy and many eventually elect to dismiss their mistreatment and get on with their busy lives. The same applies to Westport’s uproar on this site and WesrportNOW: for every commenter, there was some multiple more who felt the same way but didn’t have time to get involved. That’s one reason you need indefatigable representatives who tenaciously push back. And yes, that’s a strong call out to Kristan Hamlin! She has demonstrated integrity in spades and is well known in Westport. Conklin was an unknown with a long documented past of questionable policing conduct. Town government twisted itself into pretzels trying to say red was blue. It didn’t fly for good reason and the right decision was made, although in a very messy way that hurt both the town and this young officer.
One could say that since he’s still gainfully employed, his career isn’t ruined. It just doesn’t have a path here in Westport.
This is good for taxpayers and others concerned with potential incidents and liability. We have the resources to stand up for our rights, and as taxpayers, it’s not fair to expose us to those risks when there are other well qualified candidates without this baggage.
Good for you, Westport. He sounds like a real problem. Good luck New Haven.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Good job Westport. Better to mitigate the risk. New Haven can continue to deal with the problem.
Have we finally learned that Jim Marpe listens and supports our wonderful town?
Thank you Jim Marpe.
And Thank you Westport for standing up and raising a very ligitimate concern.
Thank you Dan Woog-without 06880 we would not have known and also have a place to discuss.
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Grateful to Jim! Thanks.
yes. it would seem that, without Dan’s blog, and the very extensive and intelligent discussion and research re Conklin presented theron, the old home town might have been stuck with a real oinker on the force, so to speak. air smells sweeter tonight…next time you RTM folk run into the Chief
or Mr. Marpe, just thank them for listening to reason.
This is a forum, not a blog.
Westport lost a good potential officer today.
Though Dan’s blog was a fine venue for this discussion, don’t overlook the fact that the controversy was well spelled out(even a bit sooner, I believe) on the WestportNow site, which also did a fine job of spreading the word.
Correct, Dan Katz. Westportnow lead on this issue both with the initial disclosure and on the recision decision. And at Westport Front Porch (WFP), it was discussed the most.
WFP is a new wonderful community forum, where one gets to hear from a lot of women’s voices (and men) who do not post here. It is great to hear from them. The submissions at WFP show that they were overwhelmingly against what this hire meant for their town. AT WFP, the residents can start a conversation, whereas here, the conversation has to be started by the editor, Dan. The conversation on this topic was delayed here at 06880 compared to when it was covered at both Westportnow and WFP. Dan chose, in this instance, to wait to post about this until the police issued their continuing-support-for-Conklin press release.
That is no criticism intended, as Dan does a terrific job covering many topics and his forum/blog is a wonderful resource for our Town and Dan is a gifted writer and a pillar in our community.
All three — 06880, WFP and westportnow — all played important roles, in their own way, and represent the democratization of news, so that people’s voices and opinions can be more directly heard. ~ Kristan Hamlin
Thanks, Kristan. I appreciate your thoughts, and agree that we need diverse media outlets in this town, so that diverse opinions can be heard. WestportNow does a great job covering lots of “hard news,” along with events I don’t have space for. Westport Front Porch is user-generated, which is very important. I will try to keep filling my “06880” niche, which is posting a few stories a day about people, places and trends, highlighting the Westport of today, tomorrow and yesterday. Once a story is up, everyone is invited to chime in. And many do!
Such an incredibly inappropriate comment. It truly is amazing that Dan hasn’t chastised you for it.
Great work, Kristin Hamlin – thank you!
Once upon a time, Westport’s Finest were raised in Westport.
That’s when housing was affortable.
Yes indeed. The property values in Westport have not been without cost.
I agree this was a good outcome for Westport and evidence that not only can citizens have a voice but that reasonable solutions can be found.
I have little doubt we will be able to attract another qualified officer who will represent our community and add value to the police force
As a former Westport resident, who now lives “next door” in Fairfield, I can only add that Officer Conklin would have been too controversial to serve Westport. Anything he would have done would have raised too many questions. And since they’re happy to have him back in New Haven, the outcome seems to be to everyone’s satisfaction. I just hope the next applicant is vetted more carefully.