Last October, Lieutenant Dustin Demonte and Sergeant Alex Hamzy were killed when they were ambushed while responding to a 911 call.
Officer Alec Iurato was also shot during the attack. He returned fire, killing the shooter. And he recently returned to the job.
The community rallied around the police department in the following days, and they continue to do so.
Bristol Mayor Jeff Caggiano is finishing up his first term and is hoping to be re-elected to a second.
Mike Hydeck: So first up, we are coming up on the one year anniversary of those two officers being killed. How are they going to be honored this year? And, it’s amazing, even now a year later, people still have blue lights on their front porches.
Jeff Caggiano: They do. We’re asking for really two things from the citizens of Bristol. The first is if everybody can please light up their blue lights again. And if you don’t have blue lights, go out and get them if you have time here. And let’s make sure that we light up the whole city blue. I think we were 70 to 80% blue lights a year ago and it’s amazing that we’re coming back on that anniversary. The second is, organically last year, we had citizens that came together and had a silent vigil out in front of the police department. Literally a silent vigil on the night after the incident. So our police department has asked us to do another vigil this year. And we are going to open up our downtown center which, tons of construction going on there, but we’re going to ask people to be patient, come down and we will have a silent vigil. And that’s happening Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
Mike Hydeck: So is there anything being considered to try to make the police officers safer when they respond to a 911 call? And talk to any police officer and they say a domestic issue is the scariest call to respond to. Is there any new protocol being talked about? Are you have you been in contact with the police?
Jeff Caggiano: Yeah, I don’t get that involved in their police tactics. But I can tell you that I’m sure training has been updated and increased. And as a matter of fact, Officer Iurato, who’s back on duty, his main focus over the last month or two that he’s been back, is to focus on that training. So you always have to take the lessons that you can learn from an event and continually improve. So, you know, our officers are very well-trained. The fact that that night turned out the way it did shows the great training that they had, and they will continue to improve and continue to look at ways to be safer. But it is a very difficult environment out there.
Mike Hydeck: Now as we looked at the incident from that night a year ago, we learned as the details came out, that the suspect, there was alcohol involved, there may have been depression involved and the weapons involved. Now recently this week, you had a similar, smaller, thankfully non-lethal incident in the police department. It seems as if something is repeating itself there. Let’s talk about the incident and what we think happened there in the police department.
Jeff Caggiano: Yeah, so unfortunately, the incident just this past week, comes at a very inopportune time, right. Our police officers are just trying to start to move forward. We’re putting our police force back together. But it just reminds us how much they are in the line of fire. And unfortunately, the incident that just occurred is one of those that is a different type. It’s full mental health, that this person was in great need, and was really coming to the police department because they couldn’t find that relief that they needed. And our police officers ultimately, I believe, saved her life and will get her the help that she needs.
Mike Hydeck: Right. For people who are not familiar with the story, a person came in the lobby and actually started shooting and police were able to non-lethally, you know, set the stage…
Jeff Caggiano: De-escalate that situation and make sure that she is safe and secure. And certainly the community is safe and secure. So there are different types of incidents. The intent was not to harm or injure any community person or even the police in this case. There was a different intent.
Mike Hydeck: And so that speaks to one of the things we’ve been talking about literally since prior to the pandemic, through the pandemic and now. Mental health. Those are two mental health situations that, one ended up being lethal for two police officers. Thankfully, this one did not. Does mental health need to be talked about on a town-wide level, do you think? Can it help some of these situations?
Jeff Caggiano: I don’t think it can hurt. And I do think that, I’ve had a background and experience in the biotech pharma industry and have been a long advocate of mental health. Probably one of the few mayors or elected officials that have continually talked about it. We’ve had actually two more recent events. And we had a community-wide discussion on mental health. We brought in a young individual that talked about anxiety, and that’s on the mayor’s page. We only had about five or six people show up to that event. People don’t want to engage on mental health. They don’t want to admit that it’s out there. They don’t want to succumb to something I guess is the way they look at it. And we need families, we need friends, we need colleagues, we need people to speak up and offer that help. The stigma that’s attached to mental health is something that I don’t fully understand. It is a healthcare crisis, much like any other illness that people might have, and I’m outspoken about it. We just had another event last weekend where we were talking about our veterans who, 22 veterans today, take their life, and they’re afraid to come for help many times, but they’re the ones who need it. And that event was much better attended. We have a high veteran population in our town, but I really think that we need to keep calling that out and people need to get the help.
Mike Hydeck: And that’s the annual Stand Down event that happens every single year for veterans to get the help they need. Maybe we can do something with our local police and encompass others as well.
Jeff Caggiano: Open to any ideas on this, but I think us talking about it and putting it out there in the open and making sure people know that there is nothing wrong with getting help, it will save a life, is a great thing to put out there to people.
