New Haven Independent

Has Newhallville Had Enough?

by Melinda Tuhus | May 27, 2009 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

kenneth%20cousar.JPG For the past four months, between a quarter and a third of all gun discharges in the city have occurred in just one neighborhood — Newhallville. Kenneth Cousar (pictured) is one neighbor who’s ready to take action.

Cousar was one of about 20 people at the Newhallville Management Team meeting Tuesday night. He listened as police Lt. Anthony Duff displayed city maps showing little black gun symbols at the site of discharges in the city’s color-coded neighborhoods. He said the percentage of individuals actually shot was more than one-third of the total in Newhallville.

Duff (pictured) is neighboring Dixwell’s district manager. He sat in for his counterpart in Newhallville, Lt. Rebecca Sweeney, who was unable to attend.

“This is a crisis unless something is done,” Duff said. “All the markers are in place for a tragedy to happen.”

He made a distinction between the “good intelligence” to prevent crime that he and his officers are able to collect from Dixwell residents and the lack of information residents of the ‘Ville provide to police. He said records show that people there are calling the cops, but only after incidents occur, not as they see suspicious activity building. He theorized there exists a lack of trust. (Click here for a story about a fatal incident last year in which no one came forward to provide information to police.)

Duff said Officer Joe Avery, who keeps track of block watches around the city, said Newhallville has 20 on record. “That’s not bad,” Duff said, but added that only ten are active, which is a problem. He encouraged the management team to invite Avery to a meeting to try to re-engage the inactive groups.

alfreda%20may%20cmt.JPG Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards (pictured) said she and fellow Newhallvile Alderman Charles Blango walked the neighborhood recently. They saw fear in the faces of many residents. “There’s open shooting — it’s like the OK Corral,” she said. “We want to sit down together with the police; we know what some of the problems are, but we can’t make people tell.”

After the meeting she said, “There was more interaction during the days of community policing.” She said she doesn’t really know what’s happening now, but she has noticed that more younger kids are on the street and are often the ones getting in trouble.

“That doesn’t excuse the older ones” from responsibility for their illegal actions, she added.

Darron Smith of Lilac Street proposed a multi-pronged approach that would include installing more cameras and lights on the streets, promoting home ownership, and providing jobs and activities for youth. He concluded, “We need to make this a community again.”

That’s when Kenneth Cousar spoke up.

“I’ve been a resident of Newhallville for 47 years,” he said. “The gun violence on Shelton Avenue is really unbelievable. On Feb. 26 I saw a young man take his last breath. My parents are afraid; my sister is afraid; I’m afraid. I have not slept since Feb. 26. I’m tired of not speaking up, because we are losing our community, and that’s something I want the whole community to hear. I’m ready to get involved for my nieces and nephews.”

tyrone%20west.JPG Tyrone Weston (pictured), supervisor of the Street Outreach Team, spoke briefly and said two new outreach workers would be starting in Newhallville. (They had stopped in at the start of the meeting to introduce themselves.) “We put light on the people that are causing violence,” he said. “We let them know we will not tolerate it. If you want change, we can help you.”

Since the management team meeting had several items still on the agenda, attendees agreed to meet again on June 6 to focus just on the issue of violence and what to do about it.

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Comments

Posted by: anon | May 27, 2009 2:33 PM

This level of violence within such a small neighborhood is unacceptable.

Posted by: robn | May 27, 2009 4:23 PM

Why should kids fear repercussions when there aren't any? Last years beating of an African American resident of this neighborhood by neighborhood kids resulted in no arrests because witnesses wouldn't talk. End the Omerta Newhallville.

Posted by: hood rebel | May 27, 2009 7:54 PM

And where exactly did the other two thirds of gun discharges take place this quarter? In New York? Or is this another example of oversimplified data.

I mean if we wanted to be cynical we could say 100% of cops groping girls took place downtown New Haven.

Or 100 percent of bad community policing decisions took place on Union Avenue.

Or we could just keep playing with the numbers...

Or, we could have an honest dialogue about what happened to real community policing in New Haven.

Posted by: Change the Vill | May 27, 2009 10:03 PM

Where are the community ministers. Where are the moms and dads. Where are your alderpeople. Where is your police district manager. Its time for change. Vote your alderpeople out of office. Put some responsibility on the parents. Have the ministers start preaching instead of playing politics and getting freebies. Replace Sweeney with someone who will get the job done like Bombalicki or Duff.

Posted by: bebe1222 | May 27, 2009 10:09 PM

The answer always seems to be lets provide jobs and activities. The activities are provided by the schools. The jobs-we are in bad times. What about this- as parents lets give kids chores (brilliant!). washing dishes, doing laundry, cutting grass, washing your car. When I was growing up I didn't dare say I was bored and had nothing to do. My mom would respond there's a sink full of dirty dishes. I had to do my chores first before going outside or hanging out with friends.In the summertime I see kids hanging out so early in the morning I wonder if they even brushed their teeth yet. I remember going to the island on summer vacation and that was chock full of chores...washing windows, feeding chickens, etc etc..but i guess i was part of a child slave labor ring & that doesn't exist anymore. & everyone I know from my generation black, white, hispanic we all had jobs at Burger King, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts but I guess it's not a lucrative high paying enough job for someone who is only in the 9th grade. My brother and I grew up in Bridgeport, Congress Ave, Exchange St, and about all of Fair Haven and we are not part of the statistics -teen pregnancy, gang bangers, jail time etc etc. You know why??? OUR MOTHER WOULD'VE BEATEN OUR A** IF WE GOT IN TROUBLE.We weren't angels we got into normal teen rebellion stuff--skippin school, sneaking out the house but we are talking about SHOOTINGS, MURDERs here...we as parents can't expect our kids to do right if we can't do right by them!!! at the end of the day it's not the white man's fault, illegal immigrants fault, the economy's fault..it is our fault as parents !!!!

Posted by: anon | May 28, 2009 10:46 AM

Hood Rebel, what don't you understand about the NHPD's numbers? A neighborhood with a very small percentage of the city's population has experienced a massively disproportionate percentage of the shootings.

Posted by: The Defender | May 31, 2009 11:45 AM

...As a community member you do not need a plan in place, such as "COMMUNITY POLICING," in order to be involved as a responsible community member. The same applies to parents; either you choose to-be or not-to-be involved with your kids. The N.H.P.D nor the city can make you become a responsible person; that is entirely up to you.

Has Newhallville Had Enough?

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