July 10--Connecticut's largest domestic-violence coalition has hired the former deputy police chief in Putnam to be its point man as model arrest guidelines take shape, and every police agency appoints a domestic-violence contact officer by Oct. 1.
The department contacts and the uniform arrest policy, designed to make tactics and procedures more consistent across the state, arise from legislation earlier this year and continue a series of reforms that began in 2009 after several high--profile domestic-violence murders and kidnappings.
Joseph J. Froehlich has been hired as law-enforcement coordinator for the East Hartford-based Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The coalition represents 18 emergency shelters, hotlines, and advocacy programs across the state.
Froehlich served for 22 years with the Connecticut state police, working as a detective before reaching the rank of master sergeant. He retired and joined the Putnam Police Department in 2007. His tenure there ended this spring after a dispute over his role in the department, and a pending lawsuit filed by Froehlich against chief Ricky Hayes and Senior Sgt. Leonel Konicki.
Froehlich was brought in to fill the newly created post of deputy police chief in the 15-officer department, and he said publicly that part of his mission there was to help modernize the department, the Norwich Bulletin reported. There was friction with the police union, and the last months of his job included a vote of no confidence from the union, an administrative leave, an uncomfortable return to work, his premature resignation and his lawsuit alleging contract violations.
Karen Jarmoc, executive director of the domestic-violence coalition, said the dispute in Putnam did nothing to detract from Froehlich's qualities and his desirability as a candidate.
He was one of over 40 applicants for the position. An internal panel of the coalition interviewed four finalists after a national search.
"Joe Froehlich's references were impeccable," Jarmoc said Monday. "We're really excited about the opportunity to have Joe, and about this post taking shape at CCDV." His position will be paid for by a grant.
He's the husband of Windham State's Attorney Patricia M. Froehlich, who has testified publicly about the need to strengthen the penalties for threatening and other offenses associated with domestic violence. On Monday, convicted murderer Timothy Quail, who was prosecuted by Patricia Froehlich's office, received a 60-year prison sentence in Danielson court in the stabbing and beating death of his girlfriend, Robin Cloutier, 38, of Pomfret.
State Rep. Mae Flexer, D-Danielson, said she found the controversy over Joseph Froehlich in Putnam to be a secondary issue. Flexer, who chairs the legislature's domestic-violence tack force, said she found the Putnam officers well trained and adept at handling domestic violence situations when she visited the agency and reviewed records last year as task-force members gathered facts to put together the model statewide policy.
"You could see that the officers made distinctions in situations where dual arrests where necessary and where they were not," Flexer said Monday.
Dual arrests -- charging both people in a domestic-violence incidence -- are an unintended consequence of the mandatory arrest law in Connecticut, which grew out of the landmark Tracey Thurman case in Torrington in the 1980s.
Jarmoc, Flexer, and other advocates and lawmakers are hoping that a statewide policy helps to limit dual arrests by pointing out that the police do have the discretion to try to determine if one person was the aggressor and the other was acting in self defense.
Joseph Froehlich will be asked to develop training programs, a relationship with the domestic-violence officer in each department, and an advisory committee that tracks and implements changes in laws and tactics as they evolve. The aim, Jarmoc said, is to reduce the number of domestic-violence homicides in the state.
Copyright 2012 - The Hartford Courant, Conn.
