New Haven Independent

Cops To Get “Aggressive”

by Melinda Tuhus | July 25, 2008 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

chief%20with%20morehe2222ad.jpg That doesn’t mean “excessive,” New Haven’s new chief told a Dixwell audience, as he vowed to start seizing kids’ dirt bikes and not view police officers as “social workers.”

Chief James Lewis proceeded to discuss what “aggressive” means with some 30 Dixwell neighbors at a community meeting at Wexler-Grant School Thursday night, one day after the dirt-bike related death of 15-year-old Quinell Payne and the related beating of a motorist in Newhallville. “Aggressive” means not just arresting people, but helping those who’ll accept help, too, Lewis said.

Lewis also announced he’s bringing in Roy Brown as one of his new assistant chiefs. Brown is a former chief from a small city in L.A. County with whom Lewis worked when he was chief in nearby Pomona, California, as one of his new assistant chiefs.

The discussion took place against a historical backdrop. Lewis proclaimed cops “are not social workers.” That was the mantra of the police union and other opponents who tried to kill community policing when it was introduced in New Haven in the ’90s with an eye toward seeing officers as solving problems through working with the community rather than intimidating it or locking up large numbers of people for petty crimes. The military-oriented chief who preceded community policing in New Haven used to promote cops who lost brutality lawsuits with the proclamation that he wanted “aggressive” cops on the street.

Lewis said Thursday night that to him “aggressive” means hard-working cops who earn their taxpayer-funded salaries. To many in the African-American community, it conjures up the police force’s “beat-down posse” of old.

At Wexler-Grant Thursday night, there appeared to be a move toward a meeting of the minds on the subject, at least in concept.

Dixwell Alderman Greg Morehead (pictured behind Lewis at the top of the story) introduced the chief. Lewis began by explaining how he’d learned, in his 38-year policing career, that cities can’t arrest their way out of crime. He mentioned that after trying and failing at that approach, he embraced community policing as chief in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which he said, “is all about fixing problems.”

Lewis announced that in light of Wednesday’s Newhallville incident, before which teens were riding a stolen Honda dirt bike at high speeds, he’s ordered his officers to seize any illegal vehicles when they have the opportunity. Dirt bikes are illegal on city streets. Lewis added that the the force’s no-chase policy remains in place.

Then he said — and repeated many times during the 90-minute meeting — that he favors “aggressive, not excessive” policing. In other words, he said, he doesn’t want his cops to violate the Constitutional rights of residents. (That would be “excessive.”) But “I’m going to keep telling my officers, until they get tired of hearing it, I want ‘em aggressive. I don’t want ‘em feeling like they won’t be backed, as long as they’re not excessive, and I want ‘em aggressive in both areas: If shooting basketball with a kid will help turn him around, and they think that’s what works, then do it. If they’ve got to get the kid and get the gun and put him in jail, if that’s what it takes, then do that.”

Lewis went on to say that cops aren’t social workers, although they can refer young people to programs. He especially favors the Boys and Girls clubs, and has worked extensively with them in other cities. He also said he’d like to get them into a job training program with a grant the city has, “but I’ve got to make sure there’s jobs at the other end. If not, it just increases the frustration.”

Budget cuts have reduced funding for both police and for youth programs. (Meanwhile, New Haven taxpayers will be paying $319 million as their share of Iraq war spending, according to the National Priorities Project. That money could fund the salaries of 6,299 police officers.)

Lewis acknowledged that lack of funding means fewer resources going to programs like computer labs for youth. “And without computer literacy, you have two-and-a-half strikes against you when you try to get a job,” he noted.

He said he could buy some computers with drug-seized money, but he’d need to rely on volunteers instead of paid staff. “If I could get 50 students out of all these [local] colleges to volunteer one night a week, I could put little learning centers in all 10 police substations five nights a week,” he said.

Ruth Henderson (pictured), who volunteers at Wexler-Grant every day during the school year, pleaded with Lewis not to give up on teens who get into trouble. “We have let our kids down,” she said. “There are some good cops and some not good. Police can’t do it all — neighbors need to stick together. That’s not snitching; we need to be involved,” she said to loud murmurs of approval from the audience.

lamont%20moye.jpg Lamont Moye (pictured) asked what information the chief has about the existence of the notorious gangs the Crips and Bloods in town. “New Haven has a lot of wannabe thugs,” Moye said, “but I’ve never heard of a serious problem with the Bloods and Crips. Have you heard otherwise?”

“Nobody knows for sure,” Lewis said. “Some people think there’s [gang] recruiting going on; others think it’s just neighborhood kids.” He said he’s going to find out, and tell the community, unlike in some cities where officials deny having a gang problem where one exists.

He mentioned last week the cops stopped two 15-year-olds with guns under their shirts. “Kids are acting like Bloods and Crips,” he said.

barb%20fair.jpg “But where did the guns come from?” asked Barbara Fair (pictured), a frequent critic of the police. “Will you be tracking guns back where they came from and prosecuting those people? We need a commitment to stop the flow of guns and drugs in our city. Our kids don’t have poppy fields or gun factories in their back yards.”

“We have a gun unit that tries to track guns,” he said. “I don’t know what their success rate is.”

Fair said, “We have to find out where these guns are coming from. As aggressive as we are in finding out who has a bag of weed on them, we have to be just as aggressive about that.”

“You’re starting to use my ‘aggressive’ word, you know,” Lewis pointed out, generating a kind of “we’re all in this together” laughter. Fair responded, “I join you in that. We’ve got to save our kids’ lives.”

Lewis talked about being “aggressive” in “grabbing” truant kids off the streets and getting them into a truancy prevention program. “It may look aggressive, and it is, but I see it as a [crime] prevention program.” He said kids are truant for all kinds of reasons, from feeling they don’t have the right clothes to wear to school to not having a computer to do homework on and not wanting to turn in hand-written work when the other kids have done theirs on a computer.

One man asked how the new chief is going to prevent a recurrence of the police corruption that brought down former cop Billy White and brought an end to the city’s narcotics unit (which Lewis had pledged to bring back). Lewis noted, “Those are procedural things we were brought in to fix.”

Lewis promised that, given enough notice, he would appear at any community meeting he’s invited to, in order to keep the community advised of his efforts and to hear their concerns. As people filtered out of the auditorium, the feeling was generally positive, although one woman still expressed concern about the chief’s commitment to be “aggressive,” wondering what that will really mean for the African American community.

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Comments

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 25, 2008 9:05 AM

First...CEDAR HILL LEWIS!!!!

Second..
OMG DO WE HAVE A CHIEF WITH BA*LS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is that hope I am feeling??

Posted by: edgewood park neighbor | July 25, 2008 10:00 AM

Can someone tell me who are we to call when the dirt bikes and quads are speeding through the neighborhood? 911? Or is there another city number to call?

Posted by: Edward_H | July 25, 2008 10:29 AM

Cedarhiill

It appears so but how long before the Mayor cuts them off.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | July 25, 2008 10:30 AM

Hey Chief are you going to have the cops get aggressive with the city policy on Illegal Immigrants?

Posted by: James | July 25, 2008 10:55 AM

New Haven Police non-emergency is (203) 946-6316. I've reported these kids a lot of times, but given the no-chase policy I don't know what they can actually do about it. I've been told to find out where they live and report that address, but I'm not going to follow these kids around town.

Posted by: sciencehill | July 25, 2008 10:59 AM

Yes, where should we be calling about these dirt bikes and quads? Because last night at 6 PM I phoned the New Haven Traffic Safety Hotline (203 946 6956) about a dirt bike with 2 kids on it tearing up our street and it went straight to voice mail. What, pray tell, is the sense in leaving a voicemail for someone to find who knows how many hours later, when the death trap is speeding up and down your street RIGHT NOW??

Posted by: formerly unprotected | July 25, 2008 12:20 PM

when you call the police, tell them you want to see the officer. try to see where the bikes went, if they went into a yard or garage. it is easy to track them once you know where the bike is parked. when a cop gets that info, he or she can wait at that house for them to return

Posted by: dwightstreetrenter | July 25, 2008 1:40 PM

If you witness a situation which requires prompt attention from the police, call 911. If you request the presence of an officer to take a complaint, either call the non-emergency number, or go to the police station and file your complaint. Descriptions, times seen, clothing worn, vehicle type/size, etc are all helpful when filling out the complaint forms.

Leave a voicemail regarding complaints which do not require immediate response to; if a vehicle/driver receives 2 or more "reports" in their disfavor, the city will send that person a letter in the mail with warning to change their behavior.

You may also contact the Mayor directly through the city's "Web 311" system, available at: http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Ask/index.asp click on "make a service request"

Posted by: Bob Abuey | July 25, 2008 2:18 PM

"But where did the guns come from?" asked Barbara Fair, a frequent critic of the police. "Will you be tracking guns back where they came from and prosecuting those people? We need a commitment to stop the flow of guns and drugs in our city. Our kids don't have poppy fields or gun factories in their back yards."

I bet the guns these kids have were forced on them. After all, these kids didnt MAKE the guns!! Its not the kids faults at all. Damn you Smith and Wesson!

Posted by: TrueBlueCT | July 25, 2008 3:11 PM

If they want to get aggressive, how about hiring my 30yr old friend, who passed the test, and would make a terrific officer.

The problem? He was told he would have been hired, except that he was a white male! (this doesn't sound like me, I know. I'm all for the trend towards a force that looks like New Haven. But still, my friend is a dyed-in-the-wool New Havener.)

Is the slowness to hire because of diversity concerns? Or is it on purpose due to budgetary problems?

You can't get the job done without sufficient people-power!

Posted by: James | July 25, 2008 5:22 PM

Two issues, Barbra. The supply of guns and the demand for them. I'm not sure where you think the guns are coming from, so I won't address that side of the equation. But what I can tell you is that if there is no demand for guns, there will be no supply. On the other hand, if supply is scarce and there is demand, somebody will supply the market. A market that has a demand will always be met with supply. The only difference is how much it will cost and who will supply it. It is for this reason that the war on drugs has been a failure. You can take one supplier out, but there are ten more waiting to fill that demand. You have to eliminate the demand.

Stemming the flow of illegal weapons is certainly one side of the coin. The other is to get these kids to stop buying, carrying, and using them. So please, clarify your point.

Posted by: Wait True Blue | July 25, 2008 5:31 PM

True Blue,

You are right that does not sound like you and probably deserves some looking into.

First, it would be illegal and thus is quite unlikely. Now I know at this site lots of people think that New Haven randomly breaks the law for these reasons but this is so extreme that it almost certainly did not happen.

Second, while New Haven does not give points for racial preference (again illegal), it usually does for residency preference, so living here would likely have been a big help. Usually being a veteran helps as well.

And third, and really undermining to this idea that racial bias kept him out of the job, New Haven lacked a sufficient number of applicants for police officers and had to start a smaller class than it wanted to. While more people applied than were slots, after eliminating people who could not pass the written test, the drug test, the background check or the physical test, it no longer had enough people to fill all of the slots budgeted.

So it started a smaller class and then began recruitment again, even more aggressively.

So maybe your friend has some sour grapes and came up with a reason for not getting in. But it would have been impossible for race to have been the reason for his denial. A qualified white candidate from New Haven who passed the required tests and checks would have been hired this past round without any doubt.

Don't confuse this with the fire exam (because there are so many more applicants for the fire department, being qualified and passing the tests is not enough) or with promotional exams at the police department (which have long been fought over by the union and minority officer organizations).

Given that you do have a history of being good on these issues, you get a pass. But putting something like this out there is highly problematic because it simply has no basis in fact and could effect how people think things actually get done. This in turn undermines cops of color who one might assume from your comment are not qualified -- when in fact they faced the same standards of entry as your friend.

And of course, a majority of this entering class was white.

Posted by: jahad | July 25, 2008 6:02 PM

No one except law enforcement should own a gun. That is a start...I wish the best of luck to the new Chief and extend my support.

Posted by: truth hurts | July 25, 2008 9:36 PM

Hmmm, silence from Barbara Fair? Great points. Maybe we should put the tobacco companies and liquor companies out of business. After all, many people drink and smoke. Get a life! Yes, children don't always make the best decisions. Parents (FYI popping out a kid or more doesn't qualify you as a parent, being one does) need to instill morals, values, respect and discipline to their kids. Parenting is NOT being your kids homie or friend. Therein lies the problems (and no, not just in the inner city). It just seems like so many people who decided they didn't want to be parents blame society for their poor decisions. My parents had me at 18 and 19, and though I grew up on the outskirts of New Haven, they worked opposite shifts (yes, they had jobs!....even though my mom only had a diploma and dad never graduated HS) so that we were taken care of. Money was always low but the love and discipline was always high. Start being role models to your kids and stop making excuses!

Posted by: Not Sure | July 25, 2008 11:40 PM

I'm not sure Barbra, but don't you live in Hamden. And I'm sure the police along with federal agencies will trace the guns back to their original owners.
But let's be serious, it's just like engaging the police in pursuit, just stop and nothing will happen. So, don't pick up the gun and carry it around,you will not be arrested or worst case get shot. This may be to simple, but lets give it a try.

Posted by: clipper | July 26, 2008 12:50 AM

hay good news
new chief doing what should have been done a long time ago.....chief lewis you are making an impression now do do ejections get these thugs off are streets..god bless you and protect you..

Posted by: ReadyandWilling | July 26, 2008 2:27 AM

"If I could get 50 students out of all these [local] colleges to volunteer one night a week, I could put little learning centers in all 10 police substations five nights a week."

I'm in. Seriously. Who do I call?

Posted by: Edward_H | July 26, 2008 9:25 AM

Bob Abuey & James

Stop trying to confuse the issue with rationality, logic and facts. I want to hear more about "The Man" who is forcing kids to shoot each other and hide crack in their cracks.

Posted by: James | July 26, 2008 11:23 AM

Jahad, I'll turn over my guns when you can guarantee that only the police and military will have guns. Unfortunately all this would accomplish is raise the price of black market guns and keep them out of the hands of law abiding citizens. I know it sounds like a stale, right-wing NRA argument, but it stands up to reason.

The process of applying for permit is onerous and very expensive. A gun is even more expensive. You're looking at two to three months and approximately $200 just to get a permit to own a gun. After that you're looking at $600-900 for a decent weapon. It's not by legal processes that criminals are obtaining guns.

Anyway, we're getting off topic. Best of luck to Chief Lewis. He's instilled a new sense of hope for the law abiding citizens of New Haven and I truly wish that he has the fortitude to stand up to DeStefano's political pandering and soft stance on crime.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 26, 2008 11:49 AM

truth hurts
Ditto on everything you said but my parents where 17 and 18

Posted by: Bob Abuey | July 26, 2008 3:18 PM

Im sorry Ed, I dont know what came over me....

Posted by: Keystone Kop | July 26, 2008 3:41 PM

Is the Independent trying to derail the new police chief? They post a picture of an elderly man bent over with his hands out and a very large belly covered by a bad fitting uniform. He looks as far as can go from AGGRESSIVE. To me he's a bit like Homer Simpson saying "Doh". Come on Bass. Give the guy some support. Dont do this visuel undermining stuff again. He may not be your liberal type but give him a chance. You must have had better shots to put in this tory.

Posted by: M | July 26, 2008 4:18 PM

Where are these childrens parents. There were kids taken turns on stolen dirt bike all day.

Again my question is where are the parents?

It's always someone else's fault, like the poor driver who was beat up for no reason. Again where are the parents of these kids rooming the streets that guy should sue the socks off of their parents since they are accountable for their minors.

Posted by: -fairhavener- | July 26, 2008 10:18 PM

Just in the past week or so we have seen a dramatic increase in the enforcement of the law. It has been spectacular. Many people in this area are very pleased.

I knew Lewis would pull through. Let's see if John lets him stay the course. Lotta votes on the line. Too many smart, voting people moving in spells Trouble. Of course that's a far ways off.

Posted by: solo | July 26, 2008 10:56 PM

Ready and willing, just call the Chiefs office for New Haven. You can find the numbers in the blue pages of the phone book.

Posted by: David Streever | July 27, 2008 12:39 AM

This new police chief is already great.

We finally have our safety hotline too:
203 946 6959
Thanks to the police & the city.

Call this with any dangerous traffic/speeding/bad intersections/cars that are parked blocking line of sight.

You can be anonymous but I encourage you to leave name & number. If they issue a ticket, they may need you in court. If you and a friend witness something, you both should call: if there are 2 complaints on same license, they will send a letter or issue a ticket.

Be safe out there.

Posted by: bfair | July 27, 2008 8:58 AM

To the same old diehard Barbara Fair critics: I know you read the NHI just to see if I have commented on an article so you can TRY to discredit me. Keep trying. You make me feel so special."Sorry but I can't sit here and respond to you all the time. I am too busy to fulfill your insatiable need for attention but I WILL give you a minute or two. James" One place that the guns were coming from was a drug addicted Hamden Police Officer who supplied guns to kids in New Haven. Shootings were traced back to the guns he sold to them.(source, New Haven Register, 2007) Outcome: unknown. Others have included several "upstanding " citizens from the suburbs. Outcome: 1-3 years in prison,probation and others Unknown.
Truth Hurts: It certainly does which is why I receive so much response to my comments. Hurt me? You can't be serious. I have endured a whole lot more in life than empty comments. "Nothing said has hurt me yet because I consider the source of the idiotic and meanspirited comments but thanks for the concern. If commenters were more learned they would be supportive of what I say because I speak from being educated "In the hood" and in the classroom".And yes,if I had my way liquor companies, tobbacco companies and pharmacueticals whom kill far more than guns should be eradicated from society but too many people are addicted to all three of these drugs to allow that to happen and far too much money is being made just as in the gun industry. Not Sure: FYI; I don't live in Hamden and we all know "that just say no" doesn't work for adults it certainly will not work for kids and to the biggest idiot Edw H: You seem to be stuck on "crack in the crack" Why is that? No intelligble conversation? If you don't hear from me it's not because anything you say "hurts". I may be annoyed by the ignorance but never hurt. I DO have a life away from NHI. It's unfortunate that you don't.

Posted by: Edward_H | July 27, 2008 10:23 AM

BJFAir

You seem to be stuck on "crack in the crack" Why is that?

Glad you asked. My use of the term "crack in the crack" and variations thereof fall under the category of a literary technique called a "play on words" or "word play".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_play

No intelligble conversation?

Are you insinuating my most recent post was unclear? That is what you are saying by the use of the word "intelligible" in your sentence. Please let me know what you did not understand and I will break it down into simpler terms.

For any of those wondering WTH BJFair is talking about:

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/03/support_flows_f.php#comments

Cops To Get “Aggressive”

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