Allan Appel Photo
The mayor administers the oath.
Three of New Haven’s newest cops first got pepper-sprayed — then had their badges pinned on them — by parents who know what it’s like to walk the beat.
The three were among 30 graduates of the 22nd class of the New Haven Police Academy to official become officers at a ceremony Friday night at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School.
Police brass, commissioners, the mayor and both U.S. senators helped preside over an event that drew nearly 200 people to hoot and holler, cheer on and shout words of pride and praise to the 30 men and women who finished seven months of rigorous training with the traditional oath-taking and badge-pinning ceremony.
Of the 30 recruits who became officers, two will go to serve in Trumbull and 28 in New Haven.
The festive ceremony has always been a family affair, with at least 90 percent of the new officers getting pinned by parents, siblings, cousins, or friends either in the New Haven Police Department, active or retired, or in police, fire or other uniformed service organizations in nearby communities.
Friday night’s festivities were no different.
Proud pepper-spraying cop parents Teague, Miller, Nieves.
The pictured three proud police parents — Ret. Lt. Makiem Miller, father of Officer Mariah Miller; Sgt Steven Teague, Sr., father of Officer Steven Teague Jr.l and and Officer Omaida Nieves, mother of Officer Justiano Nieves — not only pinned, and then kissed, their children at the ceremony. They had also pepper-sprayed them during training earlier this summer.
Miller said all police recruits in New Haven are themselves “O.C‑ed” as part of their training so they know what the experience is like to be on the receiving end.
“O.C.” is shorthand for oleoresin capsicum, the main ingredient in pepper spray.
He and Teague and Nieves were invited to the academy to do the honors on their own children. Scenes of the parents pepper spraying their kids were among the lighter moments in a vivid video of what training had been like. In another New Haven academy tradition, the video was created by the recruits themselves
Class leader Ryan Lopez address the crowd.
“It made up for all those diaper days,” quipped Nieves.
She said her son’s decision to become a cop completely surprised her, as he had been away in Colorado in the summer of 2016 becoming certified as a fitness instructor. When he expressed an interest in the career his mother pursues, Nieves said, she guided him to preparation for the academy. She took him to the shooting range. “He liked that part of it,” she added, and he was hooked on the career.
Miller said he was not surprised that his daughter Mariah ended up following in his footsteps because she saw that his career has been a successful one. He retired as a New Haven district manager last year and is now chief of police at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C.
Ret. city cop Monique Cain pins her son, Warren Waller.
Nieves said she is “happy but nervous” her son is following in her footsteps. “There are a lot of risks in this work,” she noted.
Sgt. Teague was not only celebrating his son Steven, Jr. becoming a New Haven police officer. He wanted to mention that he’s equally proud of a second son, Jordan, who last week joined the Yale Police Force.
46-year-old rookie Nick Gogliettino shows his muscles.
The oldest officer graduating in the the 22nd class was 46-year-old Nicholas Gogliettino. The academy’s executive officer, Sgt. Elliot Rosa, joked Gogliettino in particular “felt the pain.”
He admitted that he was ribbed during the training, “but in a good way.”
Asst. Chief Luiz Casanova pins Diamond Dickerson.
Gogliettino, who celebrated afterwards with his wife Michellem 10-year-old daughter Ava and 16-year-old daughter Gianna, said that it was always in his heart to become a beat cop. After serving as a judicial marshal, including at the Whalley Avenue lock-up for the last nine years, he made a decision to go for the academy. He had been in an academy class ten years ago, but dropped out because one of his kids was just a baby then, “and it wasn’t the right time.”
Mayor Harp called the graduation an opportunity to asses the state of public safety in town. Her conclusion: the right balance of the officers’ top notch training —along with the deployment of walking beats and the use of innovative new technologies — have combined so that for six consecutive years across the board crime has been declining, she said.
“New Haven is setting the standard not only in Connecticut but for urban settings from coast to coast,” she added.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal address the gathering.
The Millers said they were going to celebrate with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Trumbull; the Gogliettino girls were lobbying for Friendlys; and Officer Omaida Nieves said that since many family members had not been able to get into town for Friday’s ceremony, she planned to hold a party for them all at home on Saturday.
None will have much time to rest. The officers were to begin their three months of field training at midnight on Sunday, when some get deployed, with veteran partners, to the night shift, said Assistant Chief Archie Generoso.
The graduating officers included: Kaitlyn Arcamone; Randy Billups; Yonick Crawford; Vincent Destefanis; Diamond Dickerson; Alexia Emery; Kenneth Erdos; Gary Gamarra; Nicholas Gogliettino; Aaron Grimaldi; Cesar Gutierrez; Stephanie James; David LaVorgna; Kyle Listro; Ryan Lopez; Mariah Miller; Tyler Moreau; Justiano Nieves; Nicholas Pates; Stephen Perry; Michael Pierne; Gregory Reynolds; Luis Rivera; Annastassia Scott; John Sklenka; Steven Teague Jr; Thomas Testa Jr; Ramonel Torres; Paul Vakos Jr; and Warren Waller.
Congratulations!
Paul can you list where they are from? I would like to know how many actually live in New Have .