The majority of the Hartford Police Department’s detective bureau is under investigation this week after it was revealed Friday one detective shared a message with colleagues proposing a so-called “dead pool” for the group to wager on the location of the capital city’s first murder of 2021.
Detective Jeffrey Placzek, the 16-year veteran of the department who proposed the wager in a group text to his colleagues last week, faces demotion and four months of unpaid leave in a discipline recommendation handed down Monday by Police Chief Jason Thody.
Sixteen other members of the 26-person division, including the lieutenant and two sergeants who lead it, also are now under investigation for how they did or did not respond to the “appalling” bet, Thody said.