8 New Cops Sworn In

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by Paul Bass | Oct 22, 2012 4:21 pm

(4) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Legal Writes

Paul Bass Photo The police department got eight new faces Monday—with some familiar names.

Eight officers were sworn in at police headquarters, among them Michael Fumiatti II—a third-generation New Haven cop.

Michael’s grandfather Vinnie served on the force for 29 years. Michael’s uncle, Officer Robert Fumiatti, died from injuries sustained after a drug dealer shot him during a police operation in the Hill. (Click here to read about his funeral, here to read about a successful crusade Michael’s father, city government’s purchasing agent, waged to make sure Robert was recognized for having died in the line of duty.)

Michael (pictured), who’s 25, was asked before his swearing-in on the third floor of police headquarters what made him want to become a cop.

“It’s been in my family. I can’t imagine doing anything else,” he replied.

Policing is in Elizabeth White’s genes, too. White, who is also 25 and who is the new group’s only female, pictured at Monday’s ceremony with her brother Billy, who just retired as a detective. (Click here to read about one of his last major cases.)

And if Allyn Wright’s name sounded familiar to people—that’s because he was named after his uncle, New Haven’s former assistant fire chief. The new Officer Wright, who’s 37, left a position as a nuclear engineer at Electric Boat to join the New Haven force. He’s pictured shaking hands on the receiving line Monday with the son of a New Haven cop, Mayor John DeStefano, after DeStefano officially swore in the new officers.

The eight officers were trained as part of a regional class of cadets at Milford Police Academy. They will serve three months of field training, then spend at least their first year on the job on neighborhood walking beats. New Haven’s police academy has another class of 28 cadets slated to graduate in December.

The other new officers are Eric Aviles, Rafael Ramirez, Matthew Stevens, David Vega, and Hugo Villacres Jr.

Comments

posted by: anonymous on October 22, 2012 4:36pm

In terms of increasing safety and providing career opportunities for families who actually live here, hiring 1 cop who lives in New Haven is as good as or better than hiring 3 cops who live somewhere else.

Instead of hiring 8 new cops who all live (or will soon be living) somewhere outside of New Haven, how about hiring 6 new cops and offering each of them $60,000 in housing down payments and incentives to live in the city, like what Yale University does with its employees.

Let’s say that just 3 of the 6 new cops take up this offer - we’ll be 50% safer, break even on the budget, and reduce our unemployment rate more than a new “job pipeline” program ever can.

posted by: Resident on October 22, 2012 8:21pm

Anonymous- 90% of all statistics are completely made up.

As a cop who lives in the city I can say you way over estimate the value of living here

posted by: Fairhaven#27 on October 23, 2012 8:32am

May you all have a great career God Bless and be Safe.

posted by: anonymous on October 23, 2012 10:06am

Resident, I think that the benefit is greatly underestimated. I would feel much safer living next to a police officer than I would having 3 officers living in Orange patrol my block for one shift per day. Perhaps you live in a neighborhood such as East Shore or Westville, which have crime rates lower than most of our suburbs and already have many cops living in them, so don’t really need more officers. But if you spend any time in other neighborhoods and talk to residents, you will realize that what people long for the most are the days when police officers lived right in their neighborhoods, and knew the families and kids.

The State of Connecticut recognizes this point and has housing incentives for officers to buy homes in areas with higher density - if we want residents to respect the police force, we just need to add on to that program (which isn’t particularly generous) so that we can achieve some balance in terms of having a few officers who live here.

It works well for Yale - which is highly conscious of equal opportunity for minorities and the safety of its immediate environs - and it would work well for the City of New Haven, if the City’s administration began showing some concern for minorities and lower-income neighborhoods.

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