New Haven Independent

The meeting took place last Thursday night at the Newhallville police substation. It was organized by Alderman Charles Blango, whose own home in the neighborhood had bullets fly through the window on the evening of Sept. 4th.

Police brass showed up at the meeting to discuss the recent spike in crime, including the statistics cited above, which covered the period between Aug. 19 and Sept. 18.

Many of the 20-something residents in attendance had their own nightmarish story to tell. Their grievances spanned from intimidating throngs of teenagers congregated in front of their homes to rounds of bullets being fired in the middle of the night.

“There’s definitely an increase in gunshots. There’s definitely an increase in violence,” Lt. Pat Redding explained. “For the past two weeks we’ve been hitting this area predominately. This is a hot spot right now.”

Currently the police department has set up an interdiction team of ten police officials of varying rank to patrol the streets between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. Most crime occurs between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. in the neighborhood. There has also been an increase in uniform presence.

“It’s a constant struggle and we need your assistance,” District Manager Rebecca Sweeney (pictured) said. “We’re not miracle workers.”

“We are developing information so that we can make arrests,” stated Police Chief Francisco Ortiz. Nevertheless, in spite of a 24-hour anonymous tip hotline, retrieving crime intelligence from the community remains an uphill battle. Many residents fear the possible repercussions of being informants.

Chief Ortiz spoke of Newhallville’s possible candidacy for “Weed and Seed,” a federal program that combines social programs with aggressive street-level crime-fighting.

“There should be a curfew for everyone,” one resident asserted. The institution of a mandatory curfew in New Haven was proposed last year, but abandoned amid a public backlash.

Mandatory ID cards for individuals under the age of 21 and the installation of motion detector lights were also presented by residents as possible methods of deterring crime.

Sergeant Sydney Collier touched on the hot button issue of the evening; troubled youth, mainly young African-American males. “Kids are out there doing the dirty work,” he said, adding that the prevalence of broken families only heightens the allure of gang violence for many of these young men. Nevertheless, not every one present at the meeting was convinced that stricter incarceration was the cure-all.

In an emotional, tear-filled, testimony Bernice Small, a 59-year old resident raising her 17 year old grandson made a call for responsible parenting. “We’ve got to take back the reins. We’ve got to reach the young people that are raising kids and don’t even know how. It’s not about us anymore. We’ve had our time. Now it’s time for the young generation.”

“It’s easier for the government to spend $40,000 to incarcerate them than to spend$ 20,000 to rehabilitate them and send them to school,” Alderman Blango said after the meeting. He said he believes that crime is an extension a greater issue, the lack of resources in communities like Newhallville. He states the rapid disappearance of many social programs and employment opportunities during the 1990’s as a catalyst for crime. “The factories are gone. Wichester is gone,” he explained, the latter ironically referring to a fire arms manufacturer that used to be in Newhallville.

If residents and officials reached any sound conclusion, it was that crime would only be deterred through total healing of the entire community.

“We can’t expect the department and the city to find solution for our communities; -it comes back to the parents,” said Bishop J.L. Guion. “We can meet every week but until we get rid of the mindset of the element it’s fruitless.”

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