The article in today’s Courant about violent crime in Hartford…yeah, let’s talk about that. This is precisely the kind of article I’ve been waiting for them to get around to publishing over there. See, I swear I don’t make up stuff about crime in places like Cheshire being a rare instance. Yet, those sort of crimes get in depth media coverage and attention from lawmakers. When it happens here, we don’t usually read about the reasons for murders. There’s not usually any intervention either.

The following excerpt sheds a lot of light into why such killings might go on as if this is just a part of life here:

“I’m going to start asking our agencies” — the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI — “if we are doing enough,” O’Connor said. “It [raises] the question, should [the federal government] be doing more?”

O’Connor says he will start talking to agencies. What reason can possibly be given for why he has not already been in touch with the federal government. Having the feds involved directly in Hartford is not necessarily the answer, but tapping into their research is a no-brainer.

Speaking of no-brainers, the most poignant quote got buried well into the article:

“You’re not going to arrest your way out of the social, economic and educational dilemma that is facing many urban centers,” Abdussabur said — adding that he was quoting from Police Chief Francisco Ortiz’s mantra.

Maybe prevention of violence is more complicated than suspending parole, and so it’s less attractive to talk about getting to the root causes of crime than it is to slap on one more bandage, as Gov. Rell continues to insist on doing.