Hot Spot Rules Still Being Discussed

By David Huck | Correspondent at May 3, 2024 | 8:15 am | Print

City Refuses to Provide List of Exempt Properties

City officials are still reviewing hundreds of different emergency response situations to determine what types of calls would be flagged as a nuisance under the hot spot fee ordinance that it plans to begin soon.

Currently there are hundreds of different police codes used by officers to designate on police reports what type of call they responded to, such as false alarm, which is broken down into several other categories, according to the Mayor’s Spokesperson Phil Sherwood.

Workers are “going through each code, trying to determine whether its emergency related,” he said.

There will be an appeals process for landlords to revisit a determination of a response.

City officials refused to provide a list of a “couple hundred” exempt properties despite a Freedom on Information request from the New Britain City Journal. The City would only provide private residences where police calls were made.

According to data obtained, 110 West Street had 104 police calls in 2011, the most of any property in the city. Those police calls weren’t broken down into nuisance or actual emergencies, but city officials say there is likely a correlation between those locations with the most calls and those that officials consider the “problem properties.”

Other properties on the top 10 list of most police calls in 2011 include:

• 1317 East St., 82 calls;

• 177 Columbus Boulevard, 76 calls

• 111 Franklin Square, 76 calls

• 408 Arch St., 75 calls

• 33 Highland St., 74 calls

• 50 E. Main St., 72 calls

• 118 E. Main St., 70 calls

• 174 Arch St., 61 calls

• 714 W. Main St., 61 calls

The top 180 locations had at least 20 calls each in 2011 and accounted for 5,738 responses in 2011, or nearly 14 percent of all police calls.

What has been revealed so far is that for a three-family house, for example, excessive is defined as more than eight responses in a 12-month period. Anything larger than that and the limit is nine responses and fees begin being assessed based on the number calls to that location compared to the rest of the city, among other factors.

Exempt from the ordinance would be for situations such as a crime in progress in which a person is at risk, domestic violence, a medical emergency, or an arrest for violation of a trespass affidavit.

Presently, two bills are in the state legislature and are being looking at to see whether charging for 911 calls is considered illegal or not.

.News