Please explain what I am missing. To keep their doors open, hairstylists and barbers are required to wear face shields and masks. People are not allowed in grocery stores without masks.

But, even after weeks of kvetching, the Hartford Police Department continues to not wear masks when “serving and protecting” residents.

This photo was taken on June 1st in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.

I try to give the benefit of the doubt and understand why you may want to as well, but these officers were not engaged into a foot chase during which a mask might have legitimately interfered with their breathing. They were assisting a woman whose car broke down. Seconds after this photo was taken the hood was popped and she exited the car, wearing a mask. You may expect that the officers, when she opened the door, would have created extra physical space or donned masks to protect this individual. They did not.

I don’t like “gotcha” politics. They stink and are not about finding solutions. I’m not interested in hating on the cops. I’m interested in them wearing PPE around our residents until this pandemic is no longer an issue.

As has been reported, for black residents in Connecticut, the “likelihood of death [from COVID-19] is 2.5 times as high. The death rate for Hispanics is now calculated at 67% higher than non-Hispanic whites.”

This is what I think of when I see all the unmasked police in my neighborhood, and when I see photos of unmasked police at rallies. I see them disrespecting Hartford residents. I see them putting Hartford residents at risk, for no reason.

Calling out individual officers also stinks when it is not just the one or two. Since the CDC began recommending everyone wear masks when in close contact with others outside their households, the majority of Hartford officers I have seen in the neighborhoods have not been wearing masks. It goes well beyond the two officers in this photo; look at any of the coverage of the rallies in Hartford over the last few days.

I have already written about this, numerous times, without turning any single officer into a scapegoat. I have contacted Hartford’s Civilian Police Review Board, who has been in communication with HPD’s Internal Affairs. Other residents have complained.

There are many ways to hurt a population, and they don’t all involve shooting guns or crushing a man’s neck.

If you are in Hartford, please take two minutes to contact Internal Affairs —  860-757-4138 or kevin.obrien@hartford.gov — and demand that our officers show more respect for us and our neighbors.