Thomas MacMillan Photo
Assistant Chiefs Blanchard, Casanova, Generoso, and Reddish.
Assistant Chief Archie Generoso isn’t from Chicago. He grew up in the Hill.
Assistant Chief Thaddeus Reddish? He’s not from L.A. He’s from Newhallville. Even his parents still live in Newhallville.
And Assistant Chiefs Denise Blanchard and Luiz Casanova grew up in Fair Haven and the Hill, respectively.
Lest there be any doubt, all four of New Haven’s new assistant police chiefs are New Haven born and raised.
City officials made sure not to leave any doubt about that at a Friday afternoon badge-pinning ceremony at City Hall, where they drew a clear contrast with previous police leadership teams.
The two chiefs before the current police head, Dean Esserman, had never previously lived or worked in New Haven. They brought in out-of-town deputies to help them run the department.
That situation didn’t go over well with many New Haveners, Mayor John DeStefano said after Friday’s ceremony.
“People really want to know their police,” he said. Hence four homegrown heroes were sworn in Friday.
Blanchard receives her new badge from her husband and daughters.
Not only are the new assistant chiefs all from New Haven, but one of them will likely be moving up to the chief’s seat one day, DeStefano said as he kicked off the ceremony at 2:30 p.m. in the atrium of City Hall. The space was packed with friends, family, cops, and city officials, along with several tables of cookies, crudites, and canned sodas.
After introducing the new top cops as “New Haven natives,” DesStefano told them that someday “a successor of mine will be swearing one of you in as chief of the department.”
“Not any time soon,” he said, adding that he hopes Esserman will stick around.
Casanova kisses his wife as his daughters look on.
Esserman, too, mentioned that all four new chiefs grew up in the city, and named their childhood neighborhoods.
“I often do not speak long, most particularly about myself,” Esserman said, before offering a couple of sagely spooneristic sayings: “It is not the rank that makes people believe in the person, but rather the person that makes people believe in the rank.” And: “People are more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.”
After the chiefs were sworn in by the mayor and pinned with new badges by their loved ones, they each spoke briefly.
Assistant Chief Blanchard mentioned … her childhood in Fair Haven, at Chatham Street and Clinton Avenue. “I had no idea this was where I’d land.”
Assistant Chief Casanova offered a few words of Spanish: “Junto, si se puede.”
Generoso receives his new badge from his wife.
Assistant Chief Generoso mentioned his mentors and promised not to let them or the city of New Haven down .
Assistant Chief Reddish thanked Chief Esserman for hiring him 20 years ago and gave a shout-out to his “SWAT brothers”: “Either you’re SWAT or you’re not.”
The four new top cops had a group huddle following the ceremony.
As the ceremony broke up into happy hugs and smiling family photos, Mayor DeStefano said the hometown-hero theme had been foregrounded “because the previous two chiefs were from out of town” and brought assistant chiefs with them from out of town.
He said having chiefs from New Haven creates a “real connectedness.”
“I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Reddish still live in Newhallville,” he said, referring to Thaddeus Reddish’s parents.
At the next swearing-in, it may be Reddish who’s moving up. Or one of his fellow New Haveners: Generoso, Blanchard, or Casanova.
“This is a good bench,” DeStefano said.
I have worked with Assistant Chief Casanova before and have nothing but positive things to say about him. A fantastic choice and I look forward to getting to know and work with Assistant Chiefs Reddish, Blanchard and Generoso.