Glastonbury crowd demands action on juvenile crime
Jul. 23—GLASTONBURY — A boisterous crowd of more than 100 people made a couple of things absolutely clear at a Town Council forum on juvenile crime Thursday evening, which was attended by the three state legislators who represent Glastonbury — and will have a voice in any changes in Connecticut's juvenile justice laws.
A lopsided majority of those who attended the forum want juvenile offenders to start experiencing more significant consequences.
And virtually all want the wave of car thefts and thefts from cars to stop.
Several speakers emphasized how close the violence associated with the thefts had come to them.
James Stanley said, for example, that he was sleeping about 200 feet away when a youth who had approached a car in a Talcott Road driveway fired two shots at the homeowner when she opened her front door around 3 a.m. July 2.
Few speakers had a more compelling connection to the problem than Anna Dubiel of Rocky Hill, a runner and friend of Henryk Gudelski, 53, who died after being hit by a stolen vehicle while running in New Britain.
"He did everything correctly," a tearful Dubiel said of Gudelski, emphasizing that he was running on a sidewalk when he was hit. Dubiel said she is now afraid to run on the sidewalk.
She said the suspect charged in the case had 13 previous arrests and asked why he was free.
Following shouted demands from the crowd for an answer to the question, Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr., who was one of the invited speakers at the forum, replied that prosecutors in New Britain were making arguments to a judge regarding detention.
"I don't know why he was out," the state's top prosecutor said.
The state legislators who attended to forum were Reps. Jill Barry and Jason Doucette and Sen. Steve Cassano.
Barry listed four "solutions" she is fighting for.
One is better access to information by police. If Glastonbury police arrest a juvenile, she explained, they have access to information on the juvenile's previous arrests in Glastonbury but aren't privy to similar information from other towns.
Barry also advocates allowing juveniles who are arrested to be released only to a "responsible adult," rather than simply being released on their own or dropped off at home. She said parents should have a say if they believe it is in the child's best interests to remain in custody.
A third measure is to make more use of transfers from juvenile to adult court, where, Barry said, more services are available.
Her fourth proposal is that juvenile offenders be required to stay home, with their location monitored by devices that could include GPS trackers. She said there should also be consistent alcohol and drug testing, with consequences for failure to comply.
Barry disputed the notion that the surge in vehicle thefts is a "suburban problem." She said crime in urban areas is three to five times higher than in the suburbs.
"Who is speaking up for the victims in the city," she said. "Their legislators are failing them."
Doucette said he and Barry "are very much on the same page." He said they "are sometimes very much swimming upstream in the legislature."
But he added that some of their "colleagues in Hartford who were reluctant to have this conversation have been listening."
Cassano said the current wave of criminal activity "is a new version of the same old organized crime that goes back to the Mafia."
He also said, however, that children need to be protected "when they do one dumb thing that might change their lives, hopefully in a positive way."
Cassano suggested that a strong local response to crime "will drive them out of Glastonbury," but he also said criminals will probably go somewhere else.
For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.
