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Amid Carnage, Chief Works “Behind The Scenes”

by Paul Bass | Apr 13, 2010 7:50 am

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

Posted to: Legal Writes

Two days after a new rash of homicides in the city’s black community, new Police Chief Frank Limon spoke publicly about the root of the violence: not gang warfare, but personal disputes often involving ex-cons.

Limon and Mayor John DeStefano updated the public on the killing spree and his department’s planned responses at a City Hall press conference Monday afternoon.

Limon also said why he waited two days to address the public and the press after the third homicide in three days, the fifth in eight days, and the 11th so far in 2010.

“I work behind the scenes,” Limon said, sparking pleas from black leaders to make himself and his cops more visible in the community. (Click on the play arrow to the above video to watch highlights.)

The chief and the mayor crunched the numbers and reported some startling statistics at Monday’s press conference: New Haven had no homicides between last March and October; now suddenly it has had 17 since October.

And while murders have spiked, shootings have actually dropped. Year to date, non-fatal shootings in 2010 are down 26 percent from 2009.

Also, the ages of the victims have in generally risen from past years. For instance, the man found dead inside a trash can in Newhallville last week, Jerry Atkins, was 59. Some 70 percent of the victims were over 20.

And while 10 of the homicides involved gang members, only two of the 17 homicides themselves have been determined to involve gang disputes.

“This is not gang war we are seeing,” Limon said. “Individuals are using firearms to settle personal conflicts.”

All the victims have been black.

Five of the victims were on parole; 13 of the victims, or 76 percent, were convicted felons.

That, according to DeStefano, is an important root of the challenge facing the city amid the wave of violence: finding ways to deal with the estimated 25 people who return to the community from jail each week, and incorporate them productively back into New Haven life. He vowed to “redouble our effort to ease reentry.”

Limon stressed another statistic: 14 of the 17 homicides occurred in “The Corridor”: a swath of New Haven running through Dixwell and Newhallville, through the Kinsington/Dwight/“Tre” and West River neighborhoods, into the Hill.

In his first week on the job (last week), Limon launched “Operation Corridor” there to respond to the uptick in homicides. Last Friday and Saturday nights “saturation patrols” made motor vehicle stops, interviewed people congregating on the street, served warrants in hot spots along that swath from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Looking forward, the department will continue that operation and will work on engaging the community more so people will provide the police with more information, so they can solve more of the shootings, Limon said. The department has made no arrests yet in this year’s homicides, but officials said they have suspects in a number of them.

Paul Bass Photo At the press conference, Limon heard from community members like retired Wexler/Grant Principal Jeffie Frazier (pictured) that they want a closer, visible connection to the police.

Those exchanges followed Limon’s response to a question about why he waited two days to hold a press conference and speak out publicly about the latest rash of killings.

“I worked seven days straight,” Limon said. “I was very active behind the scenes. My approach in terms of being the police chief is I work behind the scenes to deploy resources out there. The media person will release a statement ... That’s the way how I work.”

“The chief is behind the scenes, but this is on the scene now,” declared Frazier, who said one of the most recent victims was a former student of hers who had been “making progress.”

“We want on-the-scene action,” Frazier said. “If you’re working behind the scenes, I want to work with you behind the scenes. Otherwise, come on the scene and let’s work together.”

Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards urged the chief to make beat cops more visible, too. She said that she misses having beat cops “on the corner” who get to know neighbors. The disappearance of those foot patrols is part of the reason people haven’t cooperated more with police, she argued—because they don’t know the police as well. Edwards said two of the homicides over the past six months have occurred on her block.

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posted by: Resident of the City on April 12, 2010  5:26pm

Observations from this article and clip. The new chief appears to be a tad bit defensive. And only after a week. Working 7 days straight is not extraordinary but should be the rule for the highest ranking law enforcement official in the city especially in the week of violence. Working behind the scenes is for the chiefs command staff, the chief has a obligation to in front and keep the residents informed. A closed door policy is not what is needed for someone in charge and not at all familiar with the working of his department or for the city that employs him.

posted by: Are you serious? on April 12, 2010  5:36pm

Are they serious?  They are coming at this by talking about statistics?

Or how about this one: “And while 10 of the homicides involved gang members, only two of the 17 homicides themselves have been determined to involve gang disputes.” HELLO…what then will it take for this city to admit that it has a gang problem…of I forgot, we should not say that too loud or else we put the revitalization of downtown and its outskirts at risk.

This city has a GANG problem!  Wake up!

And yes, I am with Mrs. Frazer on this one: “We want on-the-scene action….If you’re working behind the scenes, I want to work with you behind the scenes. Otherwise, come on the scene and let’s work together.”

posted by: Threefifths on April 12, 2010  5:36pm

The chief and the mayor crunched the numbers and reported some startling statistics at Monday’s press conference: New Haven had no homicides between last March and October; now suddenly it has had 17 since October.

And while murders have spiked, shootings have actually dropped. Year to date, non-fatal shootings in 2010 are down 26 percent from 2009.

May be they are doing this here with the numbers?


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/nyregion/07crime.html

posted by: Jon Doe on April 12, 2010  6:06pm

Sounds to me the Mayor and NEW Chief are playing the statistic & number game here. They are trying to tell us something different then what we are reading in the news. How dum do they think we are?

posted by: FAIL on April 12, 2010  6:58pm

This epidemic represents a massive Fail by the New Haven community.  We all need to accept the responsibility of this failure.

I’ll start by doing my part as an East Rock neighbor to Newhallville in saying that I do not participate enough in helping a community that is having trouble helping itself.

I hope that Mr Blango, Mr Morehead, Mr Destefano, the Chief, the preachers and everyone else who lives in and loves this community will do the same and admit massive community failure.

Lets get our shit together and fix Newhallville. This has been going on for too long.

posted by: Sunday on April 12, 2010  9:28pm

To Fail I agree with you 100%, but the people that live in these communities must take a stand and say enough is enough and make their voices heard. I can not figure out what make
some people so willing to accept these behaviors when its black on black crime they act as if it’s ok and come up with all kinds of excuses to justify these incidents. But god forbid if a cop shoot a black male everybody take to the streets. Why not do this every-time a black kid is shot and not killed so you can gain control of the problems. It start with parenting,teaching a child to have self respect, education,love etc. Take back your neighborhood and say “NO MORE”. If you don’t show and interest in your neighborhood and demand respect from these kids then no one else is. It start and stop with you. To the men out there help these single parents raise these kids which most or women. If you are afraid of your own kids then how you think other people feel. “Answer” the same way.

posted by: behindthescenes on April 12, 2010  9:45pm

Give the guy a break. He’s only been here a week. He hardly knows his way to work. He inherited this problem. Give him some time to develop and implement a strategy and THEN rate him.

posted by: Doyens on April 12, 2010  11:06pm

A sense of history:

The chief and the mayor crunched the numbers and reported some startling statistics at Monday’s press conference: New Haven had no homicides between last March and October; now suddenly it has had 17 since October.
And while murders have spiked, shootings have actually dropped. Year to date, non-fatal shootings in 2010 are down 26 percent from 2009.

Five of the victims were on parole; 13 of the victims, or 76 percent, were convicted felons.
That, according to DeStefano, is an important root of the challenge facing the city amid the wave of violence: finding ways to deal with the estimated 25 people who return to the community from jail each week, and incorporate them productively back into New Haven life.
-Mayor John DeStefano, April 12, 2010 (NHI)

John DeStefano summoned the ghost of another eight-term New Haven mayor at his inauguration as he promised bold new efforts to combat violence and foreclosures and to build the city’s tax base.
-Mayor John DeStefano, January 1, 2008 (NHI)

Rebounding from a year of startling youth violence, Mayor John DeStefano announced a host of crime initiatives in a major speech Thursday, focusing on truant youth, shutting down crime-ridden night spots, and stopping the flow of guns.

The announcements came at the annual report of crime statistics. Contrary to the feeling around town, crime actually dropped this year: Overall crime was down 7 percent, due mostly to a crackdown on auto and license plate theft. Domestic violence is down 9 percent.
The number of non-fatal shootings fell from 126 to 111. But homicides spiked dramatically, from 15 to 24. The worrisome aspect remains youth, younger and younger kids are getting involved with guns, as victims and shooters.
For example, the number of victims of homicides and shootings under 15 years old spiked, from six victims in 2005 to 13 in 2006. So, too, shooting suspects are getting younger.

DeStefano and crew identified two groups in need of new solutions: Truant youth and older repeat offenders. “There’s a younger group coming up with a strong correlation to truancy, and an older group that are victimizing each other over and over and over.”
-Mayor John DeStefano, January 4, 2007(NHI)

Mayor John DeStefano presented his crime-fighting plan Monday night to the Board of Aldermen and the public at his 13th annual State of the City address. The response was generally positive, but some wonder, given drastic budget cuts, if he can pull it off. And one alderman, Jorge Perez, criticized DeStefano’s plan for lacking an emphasis on walking beats.

In his address, DeStefano said his three goals for the year are reducing crime, increasing affordable housing, and getting the city n the best possible financial footing, considering that state and federal aid has dropped by several million dollars in real terms since 2001.

On the crime front, he plans to reinvigorate community policing by increasing block watches, adding a new class of 20 officers, and forming a new street crime unit that would not be neighborhood-based but instead be deployed wherever there’s a jump in crime.
-Mayor John DeStefano, February 7, 2006 (NHI)

posted by: The Corridor? on April 13, 2010  3:01am

Really Chief Limon? Are you kidding me? You roll into town and immediately add another label to our community? So in addition to living in Tre, Da Hill, and Ville, you start your job creating another degenerative title, “the corridor.” What is wrong with you?

Chief, you need to rethink this negative approach to solving this problem In case you haven’t heard yet, New Haven is “one city” as the mayor regularly points out. New Haven doesn’t need—and DeStefano shouldn’t stand for—you adding to the “other side of the tracks (corridor)” mentality.

Hope your lame attempt—to brand this very serious matter with your simple-minded-cute label, fails.

posted by: newhaven on April 13, 2010  8:39am

Well staying behind closed doors’ nice way to start seven days or not good luck

posted by: streever on April 13, 2010  10:04am

Give the guy a break! He’s been here 7 days as of this article.

I don’t know about you all, but that was hardly time for me to figure out where they kept the coffee or get a key to let myself in the office.

Interesting theory I’ve heard:
The sudden rise in homicides could be traced to the chaos in upper management leaving (all the retires and Chief Lewis moving on). Without steady leadership, the efforts of the PD are unfocused & less successful, leading to spikes in murders.

(This isn’t a bash on Redding who I am sure did a great job, but let’s face it, losing most of the leaders at one time must have been tough for the force!)

Let’s give this new chief a little bit of time to address the problems before we dump on him.

posted by: re Corridor? and Doyens on April 13, 2010  1:18pm

Hey, in case you haven’t noticed, the city is divided. Fair Haven, Da’ville, East Rock, etc.. So the cops use the word Corridor, would you prefer “Shooting Gallery” or the “OK Corral” or maybe “Dodge”.

Its not a negative approach getting people to stop shooting one another.

And Doyens, youre becoming a one trick pony with your one man rants about DeStefano. I wish you would run for office, even if its the BOA, that way you could have more effect on the budget by forcing the BOA to debate these issues.

posted by: field of dreams on April 13, 2010  1:28pm

Detefano brings in a minor league pitcher like Lewis who left with a 6.4 ERA a journeyman veteran with 7.8 ERA who is getting lit up in the first inning.  I would have taken him out already.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.weekend.violence.2.704117.html

You need a new pitcher.  And a new manager.  After all, you are owners of the team.  Can we getPete rose and Billy White a pardon?

posted by: Threefifths on April 13, 2010  6:24pm

I wonder will they try this next.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/4465/1/?

posted by: Corridor or Dodge City? on April 13, 2010  10:15pm

You could choose the best label that makes you feel better when denigrating an entire population of people in a community. Which ever one you like best (corridor, or OK corral)  still makes it wrong, wrong, wrong!  And one has to wonder why that is so hard for police management and politicians to figure that one out?!! You just throw out a label and officially brand everyone there. Just like the ignorance of the old days..

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