Mayor Toni Harp said she’s not pushing embattled Police Chief Dean Esserman out the door, for two reasons: She believes in “progressive discipline.” And she wants to protect the lives of young New Haveners.
That said, she added that she recognizes she may have to find a new police chief at some point.
Harp made the remarks during her latest “Mayor Monday” appearance on WNHH radio.
She responded to questions from listeners about why she gave a 15-day paid suspension to, instead of firing, Esserman after his latest public outburst against a citizen; and whether she believes he can carry out discipline in the department if he indeed returns to the job on Aug. 16.
The questions came as cops are wondering if Esserman will indeed return, and whether he’ll be able to run the department.
Harp previously reprimanded Esserman in 2014 after he yelled at at an elderly volunteer Yale Bowl usher and threatened to shut down a football game there when he wasn’t admitted without at ticket. Harp placed Esserman on paid leave two weeks ago after he berated an Archie Moore’s restaurant waitress so belligerently that diners asked to move and the management felt the need to give them free meals.
That happened on the heels of a 170 – 42 no-confidence vote by the rank and file and calls for his resignation. Over 70 percent of Independent readers responded in a “True Vote” survey that Esserman should not return as chief. An 18-year staffer in the chief’s suite has filed a human rights complaint that Esserman repeatedly “bullied” and demeaned her and other women during a “reign of terror,” reduced her tears and “shaking” by yelling at her when she didn’t immediately her an order to dial a phone number for him, and created a “reign of terror” in the office; 16 witnesses signed on to the statement.
During Monday’s radio program, Harp responded that she “took a look at how the chief had actually been caring for himself and whether or not he’d had enough time off to integrate all the things happening in his personal life. I thought it important that he take some time, that he get some R&R and do the things he thinks he needs to do to come back to the New Haven police department should he choose to do that.”
Esserman and his former wife divorced last year. According to court records, he must pay her $5,833 a month in alimony.
“The real issue,” Harp said, “is progressive discipline. My expectation — and he knows this — is it will not happen again …”
“I do believe these outbursts are unacceptable. He is the police chief 24/7. I am the mayor 24/7. I can’t afford to behave in a way that the people of New Haven would not respect. They expect me to be respectful of everyone. That’s what I expect of any of our employees who wear the mantle of New Haven every day of the week and every evening of the week.”
Harp told a caller that she has respected Esserman’s commitment to community policing since she was an alder and Esserman helped then-Chief Nick Pastore in the early 1990s introduce the program to New Haven. She noted that violent crime, and all kinds of crime, have plummeted since Esserman returned to town almost five years ago as police chief.
“Prior to his coming in, there were 34 murders in one year” in 2011, Harp said. “The next year there were 17. We’ve gotten down to below ten since he got here. A lot of what he does is innovative … We’re the only police department where upon graduation our recruits walk the beat for a year. And so we have seen crime reduced across every measure that is measured by the federal government.
“So if you’re the kind administrator that says, ‘Let’s look at outcomes,’ at least for the police, our outcomes have been outstanding and extraordinary compared to other urban areas. I‘ve heard from police that he shouldn’t get all the credit. But he is the leader. And our police force is an outstanding police force. …
“So he’s my known quantity. I know what he believes in. I know how important the community-police relationship is to him. I don’t know any other quantities, anybody else who would be police chief. One thing I cannot afford to have happen is for our crime to go up, for us to lose our babies on the streets.”
Harp said she would “love to think” that she can pick from among the pool of current and former New Haven cops to serve as the next chief, should she face that hiring decision. “It really depends on how they see their role in the community.”
More Board Meetings?
Also on the program, Harp said that recent dragged-out approval processes for two development projects point up the need for the Board of Alders to meet more often to make major decisions.
She said she agrees that alders should play an active role in ensuring that all voices from the community get to weigh in before projects like developer Randy Salvatore’s building plan for the Hill neighborhood or Yale’s pending request for permission to construct a replacement for its J.W. Gibbs laboratory.
“I think that’s what democracy is. It’s a sloppy process. Most times it has good results,” Harp said.
But that democratic input can happen without the approval process dragging out for half a year or longer, she argued.
“If you really want to be an activist board, which they’re being, you have to meet a little bit more,” Harp said. The full board meets only twice a month —- and only once a month in the summer, further delaying approval of projects. In addition to holding more full board meetings, she argued, alder leadership can call “procedural sessions” similar to those held in the state legislature to move projects along.
Please click on or download the above audio file to listen to the full “Mayor Monday” episode, which also touched on student test scores and the selection of the next fire chief. The segment on the police chief begins at 8:39. The discussion about approval of development projects begins at 19:32.
Today’s “Mayor Monday” episode was made possible in part thanks to support from Gateway Community College.
He should be given one last chance. He's done a good job, he's just a little bit of an odd guy.