Mutual Aid Plan Was Key in Helping Manchester Police Make Quick Work of Monday Mall Melee, Authorities Say

MANCHESTER, CT ― Quick work on the part of police to control a large fight that broke out at the Buckland Hills shopping mall the day after Christmas shows that a regional mutual aid system works, police said on Wednesday.

Dubbed the "Blue Plan," the system is designed to put into place the precise number of officers needed for a situation. It is based on "lessons learned" from a shooting incident at Hartford Distributors in August 2010, said Vernon Police Chief James Kenny, the regional Blue Plan supervisor.

Both Kenny and Capt. Christopher Davis of the Manchester Police Department remember getting too many cops at the site that day. Things are more controlled now.

"It worked extremely well and as it was intended," Davis said Wednesday. "Previous to the Blue Plan development, if we requested mutual aid then we would not know how many resources we were getting. We might have too many or too few depending on the situation. Utilizing this plan allows us to have a better control of the responding units from other jurisdictions."

Added Kenny, "Cops are cops and want to respond. They want to help out. But having too much personnel could make things complicated."

Local police had a taste of what the Blue Plan could do with a regional response in October when an active shooter drill took place at Rockville High School. That, Kenny said was a "Level 1" response, meaning police from the immediate area were called in to help.

Two other levels can be put in place and a real-time active shooter situation at a school would likely employ a Level 3 response, Kenny said. The key is to deploy officers to make sure that the incident and daily police response are covered for the duration of the incident, he said. Level 3 responses could get as serious as deploying a SWAT team, Kenny said.

That was not necessary, but Davis said the quick response stifled quickly what was initially a "chaotic" situation.

"Manchester police did a fantastic job ion Monday," Kenny said.

Police have arrested seven people in connection with the fight, which involved hundreds of teens and forced authorities to shut down the Shoppes at Buckland Hills shopping mall on Monday.

Police released arrest details on Tuesday morning. Two adults were involved, and their booking mug shots were released. The others were juveniles, and police are not allowed to release their mugs shots or names.
The story broke as hundreds were at the mall looking for post-holiday bargains. See the initial account here.
Here are the details from a police-issued news release:

• Raekwon Gaines, 20, of 17 Barber St., Hartford, was charged with second-degree breach of peace.
• Solomon Wilson-Frame, 19, of 16 Hunnington St., Hartford, was charged with first-degree criminal trespass, second-degree breach of peace and interfering with an officer.
• A 15-year-old male from Hartford was charged with breach of peace.
• A 14-year-old male from Hartford was charged with breach of peace and interfering with an officer.
• A 15-year-old female from Hartford was charged with breach of peace and first-degree criminal trespass.
• A 16-year-old male from Hartford was charged with first-degree criminal trespass, interfering with an officer and breach of peace.
• A 16-year-old male from Hartford was charged with first-degree criminal trespass and breach of peace.

Police converged on and eventually shut down the Shoppes at Buckland Hills mall on Monday night after a large fight broke out involving hundreds of teens.

On Monday at 5:30 p.m., a disturbance involving approximately eight to 10 teenagers was reported at the Shoppes at Buckland Hills Mall, police said.

Some Manchester officers were already at the mall and responded to break up the fight, police said.
It was estimated that there were several hundred teenagers inside the mall, and several other fights broke out around the same time, police said.

The situation turned so chaotic with hundreds of people inside the mall that a request for mutual aid was put out to surrounding jurisdictions, and state police, East Hartford police, Vernon police, South Windsor police and Glastonbury police all sent personnel to help clear out the mall and get the situation under control, police said.

One Manchester Police officer was assaulted while attempting to break up the first fight, although he did not sustain any significant injuries and did not require medical attention, police said. There were no other reported injuries to anyone involved, police said.

There was no report of weapons being involved, and there is no indication that any of the fights were gang-related, police said.

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