Markeshia Ricks Photo
Attendees vote “no-confidence” in chief.
Community members packed the Stetson Branch Library to decry what they allege is Mayor Toni Harp’s leniency toward embattled Police Chief Dean Esserman and his pattern of public misbehavior.
Many attendees said instead of three weeks of paid time off, Harp should have given Esserman a pink slip in response to his latest public outburst against a citizen.
About 100 community people attended the public discussion Wednesday night at the Dixwell neighborhood library branch to strategize how to get her to fire the chief instead of allowing him to return to his job next Tuesday. The evening ended with talk of a petition drive. (In an Independent “True Vote “poll, 73 percent of responded said Esserman should not return to his job; 18 percent said he should.)
Harp explained her reasoning this week on WNHH radio’s “Mayor Monday,” saying she gave Esserman “progressive discipline” following an outburst against a waitress at Archie Moore’s restaurant while also seeking to keep streets safe in a city where crime has dropped steadily during Esserman’s nearly five-year tenure. The paid leave was partly a rebuke of Esserman’s behavior, but also a charge to him to get his personal affairs in order.
Retired police Capt. Odell Cohens, a respected community cop, told the crowd that he was angry that the department seemed to be regressing in the recruitment of officers of color under Esserman’s leadership. Cohens joined the force in 1963, when there were just five officers of color. He was among those who sued the department in 1968 to increase representation and won. He said that it now looks like things are going backward.
“We are not in tune or in touch with people of color being on the police department,” he said to the crowd Wednesday of a conversation he had with Esserman. “I made him aware that I was watching and that I was sick and tired of seeing things done the way that they have been done in New Haven.”
He said he told Esserman that department has failed to promote officers of color and didn’t give them good job assignments. He said those failures result in the systematic elimination of people of color in the department.
“At that time I said to him, ‘You are making me have flashbacks pre-1968,’” Cohens said. “And he said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Because what you’re doing is an injustice to people of color.’”
He urged attendees to “get a backbone and stop being pushed around. Something has to happen.”
Cohens: Department has regressed under Esserman.
At the two-hour meeting, attendees pressed mayoral Chief of Staff Tomas Reyes and city Corporation Counsel John Rose to reveal the specifics of Esserman’s punishment. They wanted to know exactly whar conditions Esserman is supposed to meet during his paid 15-day suspension — some derided it as a “paid vacation” — in order to return to work.
Reyes and Rose suggested Wednesday evening that it isn’t a foregone conclusion that the mayor would allow Esserman to reassume his duties next Tuesday. When pressed for details of his suspension, they said legally they aren’t allowed to share the details of a personnel matter with the public.
Reyes: Chief is not “on vacation.”
“I would not say the chief went on vacation,” Reyes said. “The chief was put out, on a leave of absence with pay. He’s got a number of things to do between the time he got put out and the time that the three weeks are up.”
State Sen. Gary Winfield pressed Rose to be more forthcoming about what the community should expect as an outcome of Esserman’s disciplinary process and what if any information people would receive about that result.
Rose.
“All the information from the process that the law allows us to give,” Rose replied.
“I don’t want people to leave here saying, ‘I know absolutely nothing more than I did when I came here,’” Winfield said.
After still more pressure from the audience, Rose finally said that the mayor is not going to rescind Esserman’s appointment until she is satisfied that there is a basis for such an action.
“[Esserman] is consulting with professionals for the purpose of satisfying the mayor that he is eligible and capable” of performing his duties, Rose said.
Lia Granger-Miller of New Haven’s Black Lives Matter chapter expressed concern that the administration cannot offer the public any reassurance that Esserman’s personal problems won’t continue to interfere with how he runs the department and interacts with the community.
“How do we as a people know that those things are being addressed?” she asked. “If he is supposed to be back out on the streets, how are we supposed to know that it is deemed that he’s safe to rule essentially? We don’t know because you guys aren’t providing us assurance that it’s OK for him to be back on the streets.
Granger-Miller said Esserman’s record of public outbursts and shoddy treatment of city residents and police department employees has been well documented not only in New Haven, but in his previous jobs.
“I understand the political answers that you’re giving us, but you guys are going to have to answer to us soon,” she said. “And it cannot be a blanket general answer. We want to know why you think that it’s OK for him to come back.”
Lewis.
Pastor John Lewis, who is among a group of African-American clergy in the city with whom Esserman consults, urged attendees to decide what they wanted, do their homework, and then go after it.
“If we want to get a new chief, let’s get a new chief,” he said. “If we want things changed in our department, let’s get it changed. We can do it. I’m telling you, we can do it, or we can just shut stuff down. Period.”
Fair.
Attendees left with a plan of action that many hope will ultimately result in Esserman’s ouster. Participants said they plan to launch a petition drive door-to-door and online to remove the chief permanently.
Barbara Fair, a longtime community activist who organized the meeting, is also pushing for a meeting with Harp to hand-deliver the petition and surveys collected at the meeting, and to discuss their opposition to reinstating Esserman before any final decisions are made.
“We need to have a chief who is going to make our city feel safe,” she said. “And our city is not going to feel safe if our chief is out of order.”
sad that so many racists comments are made on this issue. The chief should not be focused on black citizens, white citizens, hispanic citizens. The chief and the police force are for all in the city. The sooner we stop ( and don't tolerate) those who divide us, the better we'll be in the long run.