Dean Esserman is not returning to his job as chief of police Tuesday. It’s still unclear if he ever will.
Esserman Monday served his last day of a forced 15-working-day paid leave ordered by Mayor Toni Harp in the wake of another embarrassing public outburst.
Monday afternoon Mayor Harp announced that Esserman will now go on an indefinite “sick leave.” Assistant Chief Anthony Campbell will continue serving as acting chief, with Assistant Chief Archie Generoso filling in when Campbell leaves town.
“The chief will use earned and accrued sick time,” a release quotes Harp as saying. It doesn’t identify how much leave Esserman has. (Harp subsequently told the Independent he has accrued at least a week or more; the city’s human resources chief is out of town this week.)
This latest development leaves open the question of whether Esserman will ever return. He has faced continuing calls for his resignation. A two-site community protest against Esserman’s continued employment is scheduled to take place Tuesday beginning at 3:30 outside City Hall and 1 Union Ave.
Harp met with all three assistant chiefs last Friday. It is believed that Harp offered Esserman a financial deal in return for his stepping down, but that the deal would not extend indefinitely. If so, this latest switch to “sick time” relieves pressure to have had to come to terms by Monday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, in an appearance on WNHH’s “Mayor Monday” program, Harp said in response to listeners’ questions that she did not know if Esserman will return or not. Asked about his ability to mete out discipline given his own pattern of misconduct, she mentioned that some other police departments have created in-house committees to handle discipline. Theoretically, New Haven could do that, too, if necessary, she said.
Click on or download the above sound file to hear the full “Mayor Monday” segment, which included a broader discussion on the future of community policing, as well as discussion about the Board of Education and events around town. (The episode of “Mayor Monday” was made possible in part thanks to support from Gateway Community College.)
The fix is in. Esserman is out. Harp might need to sweeten the pot as I have no doubt that Esserman has an attorney evaluating the deal.
Who will be the next chief? One of the existing assistants? An outsider?
Can Harp (and the new chief) deliver on the resources to fix NHPD's endemic and systemic problems? Time will tell.