nothin Chief Vote Question: Who Protects “Thugs”? | New Haven Independent

Chief Vote Question: Who Protects Thugs”?

Kevin Ewing (left) and Maurice “Blest” Peters of Frontline Souljaz.

Black activists rallied in support of New Haven’s embattled police chief Monday, charging that the union holding a no confidence” vote this week seeks to protect thugs” on the force. The union’s president’s response: The protesters are protecting the thugs” who live in their neighborhoods.”

The activists and the union chief also took sharply divergent views on whether civilians or rank-and-file cops should be judging the chief’s performance.

The escalating back-and-forth Monday occurred three days before the city’s police union holds a no-confidence vote in Chief Frank Limon and his two assistant chiefs. The voting takes place at the 1 Union Ave. police station from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Read about the conflict here.) Thursday. Union brass said rank-and-file demanded the vote because of outrage over Limon’s management style — allegedly eviscerating morale by denying due rights, moving slowly and arming them with new rifles, and failing to communicate.

The 20 black community activists assembled outside 1 Union Ave. Monday afternoon claimed that the union is failing to give a new chief the chance to make needed changes in the department — allegedly because he wants to hold cops accountable for how they treat the community.

Groups rallying on behalf of the chief have been active at public meetings about the violence plaguing the city’s poorer neighborhoods. They included Frontline Souljaz, Meeting of the Moms, and Cop Watch. The activists have shown up at 1 Union Ave. before — to rally against cops accused of brutality. This time they showed up to support the department’s top cop instead.

Paul Bass Photo

Barbara Fair addresses rally.

We are asking that this chief be given a fair opportunity to prove that he is the man to turn this department around, to demand that officers behave in a professional, ethical and respectful manner, to be given the power to fire rogue officers ad develop policy without being hampered by a union that has coddled thugs with badges for decades,” declared rally organizer Barbara Fair.

She was asked about suggestions by union President Louis Cavaliere that rank-and-file cops, not outsiders, are best positioned to weigh in on how their boss is doing.

I’m not surprised” to hear that from him, Fair responded. He’s been coddling thugs with badges for decades. I wouldn’t expect any less from him.”

Or he from her.

Melissa Bailey File Photo

Union President Cavaliere.

If Barbara Fair worked for a living,” police would be in no position to offer their own opinion on her boss, Cavaliere said.

The neighborhoods they [the protesters] come from is where the thugs live. The alleged brutality comes from them [the neighborhood thugs] when the police do their jobs. … You get these do-gooder groups that hate cops. They want no violence in their neighborhoods” but then charge brutality when police do their jobs, Cavaliere argued. Rank-and-file cops risk their lives in neighborhoods they don’t live in.”

Nearly 80 percent of New Haven police officers live out of town.

We’re not thugs. There’s got to be something going in the police department” when 123 rank-and-file members demand a no-confidence vote in the chief,” Cavaliere said. He noted that last fall he deflected a no-confidence vote by convincing the membership to let union brass try to work out differences with the chief first.

Demands, Too

In her statement at the rally, Fair said Limon has proved he is listening” to people seeking to repair the department’s image and reinstate community policing in New Haven. We are here because he has promised to keep an eye on and rid the department of rogue officers,” she said. We are here because he is concerned that policy development and proper training take place before officers are armed with yet another weapon, AF15’s, to patrol our streets,” she said.

She also issued six demands on which the group said its future support for the chief depends.

The demands included community input in selection of top cops; expedited handling of civilian complaints; a moratorium on bicycle ticketing until safe lanes are in every section of the New Haven community”; support for street outreach workers; a moratorium on the use of Tasers” pending more information and public discussion on their wide use; and creation of an anti-gun task force.

Kevin Ewing and Maurice Blest” Peters of Frontline Souljaz (read about the group here) said they’ve already built a good working relationship with Limon since he arrived last April.

We’ve been meeting with him. He’s talking really well. We don’t want to start over with another chief,” Peters said.

Ewing said their group consists largely of young men who look like, live with, hang around the guys who are committing some of the trouble, some of the terror” in the black community. The group’s members are trying to bring peace to the city instead, Ewing said, but they don’t feel they can work with the cops because too many officers treat them roughly. You want to know why we don’t tell [cooperate with police investigators]? We are afraid of what happens when we come to the police department. … The [police] Beat-Down Posse [dismantled in the early 90s as part of community policing] still exists. It just changed its name.”

He and other speakers said Limon has started mending that relationship with the community by meeting regularly with activists, demanding professionalism” from officers, crafting a policy protecting the rights of citizens to videorecord police officers on the job.

Any time I’m at a community meeting, I see Chief Limon and one of his deputies. They say the right things,” Ewing said.

Talk is cheap,” Lou Cavaliere responded later. That’s how he sold the mayor to get here. You can [say the right words to] people at a neighborhood meeting. They believe in what he’s saying. But when you work for someone you can see him not delivering.”

Maybe they should try working for him,” Cavaliere said of the ralliers.

Fair was asked Monday if she might be inadvertently hurting the chief’s chances of winning Thursday’s vote. Since she often protests alleged police misconduct, might cops be more likely to oppose the chief if she supports him? No, she argued: the cops who would do that already probably oppose the chief.

Former Alderman Allan Brison and potential mayoral candidate Clifton Graves.

New Haven lawyer and civil-rights activist Clifton Graves, who’s considering a run for the Democratic nomination for mayor, joined the rally. Chief Limon, keep doing what you’re doing,” Graves said. We’re here to support you.” He praised Limon for not only challenging his cops to be more professional, but also challenging the community to resist the no snitching” culture.

Limon himself said he was surprised and happy to hear the community supports me. Without the community it’s really hard to make it safe. The community is the eyes and ears of the police department.”

Anybody who wants to help me achieve my goals, the community at large, including the union, that’s what I’m trying to do,” Limon said. Hopefully the union will understand I’m willing to work with them” too.

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