Markeshia Ricks Photos
Union prez Miller (left); Esserman (at right).
Amid complaints about abusive behavior and favoritism, the police union has decided to hold a “no confidence” vote about Chief Dean Esserman’s stewardship of the department.
Union members voted 39 – 12 at a mass meeting Wednesday night to organize the no-confidence referendum, according to local President Craig Miller.
Miller said Thursday the union has not yet set a time or place for the vote.
“Many chiefs across the country go through no-confidence votes at some time in their tenure,” Chief Esserman told the Independent Thursday. “You can either learn from it or fight it. I’m going to work to learn from it.”
The request to hold the vote stemmed from a union member who has been passed over for promotion and been the subject of discipline.
Then the idea of holding a no-confidence vote gained support among the rank and file, for a broader variety of reasons.
Miller said the reasons cited at the meeting for holding a no-confidence vote included alleged favoritism by Esserman in promotions and discipline, as well as an accumulation over years of incidents in which Esserman had lost his temper and insulted, humiliated, or otherwise verbally abused or made rude comments to both high-ranking and rank-and-file cops as well as members of the public.
The best-known incident involved Esserman’s reaming out and threatening an elderly volunteer Yale Bowl usher in 2014 for not allowing him in a football game without a ticket. Mayor Toni Harp gave him a written reprimand for that incident and warned him not to repeat the behavior. Since then countless unreported incidents have occurred, Miller said. One recent incident involved the chief allegedly ordering a former chief, William Farrell, out of a photo op at a ceremony honoring a fallen cop.
“It is an embarrassment how he does talk to the public in public” and berate officers and others in front of others, Miller said. “Some of his ranking guys he just disrespects.”
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Esserman, center, besides Commissioner Dawson and Mayor Harp at May 11 announcement of falling crime rates.
Miller attributed a wave of retirements, including of some senior cops, to the workplace environment under Esserman: “They had enough of him.”
Miller said another controversy behind the consensus to hold a vote is the ongoing disrepair of police cruisers — some of which are literally falling apart —while Esserman bought expensive new vehicles for himself and other top brass.
He accused Esserman of using internal affairs as a “lynch mob” against out-of-favor cops and approving “petty” discipline of rookie cops without or instead of offering needed retraining.
New Haven police chiefs, including Frank Limon and Nicholas Pastore, have faced no-confidence votes before. The vote against Limon in 2011 was 246 – 21. He left town soon after. Pastore, on the other hand, held on, even in the face of a violent weekend-long
“blue flu” sickout by white officers angered at changes in the department, and eventually built support through the department and in the community.
This pending vote, however, comes amid broader pressures on Esserman.
The idea of holding the vote found support among different factions of the police department that at other times find themselves in opposition to each other.
And alders spent a good hour during final deliberations over a new city budget last month expressing frustration over perceived longstanding disrespect and lack of accountability on the chief’s part. They passed a series of budget amendments requiring the chief to provide more timely spending information (especially about overtime costs, which have led to a current $870,000 department deficit); and updates on plans for responding to the pending abandonment by the state of the 1 Union Ave. prisoner lock-up; and requiring the chief to show up in person at alder hearings to answer questions about his management of the department.
“There is a feeling within the community and it is reflected among the Board of Alders that people want increased accountability and transparency from the chief and from the department,” East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes, who during last week’s debate insisted on a detailed discussion on the amendments before voting for them, said Thursday.
NHPD
On the other hand, crime has steadily dropped over the nearly five years that Esserman has served as New Haven’s police chief. The department has developed effective partnerships with state and federal law enforcement agencies to tackle gang and gun violence. The department has won national accolades for its approach to community policing.
Board of Police Commissioners Chair Anthony Dawson expressed hope Thursday that the problems facing the complaints about Esserman can be worked out.
“I’m working with the mayor and the other commissioners. We’re going to be taking a more serious look at it. We need to be looking at it more in depth,” Dawson said.
“There’s a concern based on people’s style of doing business. You identify things and you try to mentor and coach it and do the best you can to put it back on track. I am doing my best as chair to keep this moving in the right direction, to take all that I’m hearing from individuals to talk to the various people, whether it be the mayor’s staff or the chief, to try to resolve it.”
I know many cops- from patrol to detective and up. All types- women, men, Black, white, Latino, etc. Not one support or like this chief. Fascinating and sad.
I am reminded of the earlier NHI articles where there were posts from alleged officers from Providence (I believe) warning us about him and thanking us for taking him off their hands. Their warnings were similar to the above listed complaints. At the time, it seemed like a done-deal politically, much like Harries when he got his job.