New Haven’s Police Budget, By The #s

Dear NHI, where are:

1) HEALTHCARE COSTS?
2) PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS?

This article leaves out a huge portion of municipal spending for Police Services.

[Reporter's note: Thanks so much for the comment, and a great point! I've just updated the article. Indeed, these New Haven Police Department section of the city budget does not include healthcare, pension, and workers' comp cost for police. Those costs are lumped in with other municipal employee "fringe" benefit costs, and are not broken out by department. On average, these benefits add around 40 to 50 percent on top of an officer's salary. As I've noted in an update above, in the context of the policy debate around "defunding the police," I think the $43.1 million police budget as described in the city budget provides a worthwhile framework for understanding how and where the city currently allocates public dollars for law enforcement. Thank you again for the comment!]

Are the numbers for personnel full costed, i.e., inclusive of pensions, health insurance, social security, workers' compensation, etc, costs? Or are those costs elsewhere in the city budget, although they are actually in support of police services?

[Reporter's note: Thanks very much for the comment! I've updated the article following your and AverageTaxpayer's comments. Thanks again for raising these questions. The personnel numbers above do not include the cost of health insurance, pensions, and worker's comp for New Haven police officers. Those "fringe" benefits add roughly 40 to 50 percent on top of the cost of each officer's salary. Therefore, the $43.1 million that the city budget identifies as the police budget is indeed only a part of the total public cost associated with each officer -- since, again, health insurance and pension and worker's comp are not included in that number, but rather tallied elsewhere in the city budget. Nevertheless, I think that that $43.1 million number provides an appropriate framework for understanding how and where the city currently allocates public dollars for law enforcement, since it covers all budgeted police positions and salaries, overtime, and non-personnel departmental costs.]

Good points made above about including healthcare & pension costs in this calculation... That said, obviously $33m is not going to get cut from this $43m budget.

I will say this, though: When I was at the NHPD session of "Democracy School" (a seminar-style program put on by the city), I asked the then-chief (Tony Campbell) whether the police department or the city had considered more specialization: Do you really need someone with a gun and six months of training to take an accident report or create a buffer to a construction zone? I pointed out that other countries have a limited number of "armed police" while functions like walking beats & traffic are separate. I got a vague answer and a polite smile and everyone moved on.

Maybe "specialization" is not radical enough for this "defund" moment, but it's frankly idiotic -- on the part of the police brass, City Hall, and the Board -- that this idea hasn't been taken seriously until now. You can consider it from the angles of increased friction / probability of confrontation, the city budget, or the sheer impossibility of training one person for 15 different roles, but the answer is always the same: Don't pick one profession and make it the "do everything" job, [i] let alone [/i] a "do everything" job with a license to use deadly force.

Incidentally, I've also brought up red light cameras and automated ticketing/enforcement, and I keep hearing, "Oh, that just costs so much..." Well, I'd like to see a break-even analysis that takes into account how many policing hours are spent on ticketing, summonses, etc annually, and then let's talk.

The analysis is incomplete. Its missing the other side of the equation: the demand for services.

How many calls do we ask the police to respond to, what time of day and for what? I filed several FOIA requests asking for the data but it was denied/stonewalled by Harp.

Get the data and then you can begin to talk about proper resources. I do know that only 20 officers are staffed from 11PM to 7AM. 2 per District. And when a shooting happens, as they do about twice a week, most districts are left with no patrols.

Regarding specialization: The existence of parking enforcement officers (traditionally meter maids) is one area where New Haven does specialize. Yale has not only its 94 sworn police officers, but a 150 man, unarmed, security group which function as the "eyes and ears" of YPD. Britain has most patrol officers unarmed, but highly trained armed police response teams available for back-up when needed, Armed officers have several years beat experience, then become essentially SWAT teams. Korea had (I think they have been disbanded) thousands of national riot police, unarmed but well-armored, ready to deploy to overwhelm any would be rioters. Specialization would be easier we did not have the Balkanized police forces we have in the US, and particularly New England. Here, every almost every town has its own police force, and is able to get teh level and tenor of policing it wants, subject to its budget tolerance. Thus, Newtown can do a lot of traffic enforcement, and Waterbury very little. In Connecticut, traffic enforcement not only reduces accidents, but can be part of a broken windows strategy as traffic violators often have other issues, like outstanding warrants, etc. As with any broken windows approach, a lot of traffic stops increase interactions thereby increasing the possibility of a Philando Castile type tragedy. (although that stop was not traffic enforcement, but an investigatory Terry stop).

Great article, Tom.

It would also be interesting and useful to see an analysis of the demands on the department (911 calls, different kinds of complaints/crimes) compared with how the resources are deployed.

How much of the patrol division's time is spent responding to 911 calls, and what level of staffing is required to meet peak demand for such calls?

What level of staffing would be required if the police used walking beats extensively, as they were able to do before the force was depleted?

It seems like there could be trade-offs made based on a combination of the judgment of the chiefs and the values of the community.

For instance, my sense is that New Haven cops don't do a lot of traffic stops--the kinds of activities that result in over-policing and excessive use of force in some other places. Maybe they should do even less of this? The result might be that there are more traffic accidents, a negative. But, on the positive side, there would be fewer stops that could increase the risk of escalation and bad outcomes for drivers and police.

Bottom line: It seems to me that there's an opportunity here to understand police strategy, operations, and resources, and to rethink how the department should operate based on analysis and input from people in the community.

@ ethanjrt--- I am not a cop but I am well aware that a seemingly benign situation can turn ugly very quickly. Which situation will be the one to turn deadly??? No one knows.

Taxpayers in NH are facing yet another tax hike. If you and others wish to trade police for mental health professionals --- you think there is no downsides?? You think Social Workers want to work for minimum wage? With No pension? No health insurance? Right.....

You will save nothing with this foolish plan but the average people of NH will pay in blood. I wonder if that is what the powers behind this move REALLY want to see to fulfill their long term goals of revolution and anarchy.

Don't forget the cost of hiring outside legal counsel to defend excessive force and other civil rights lawsuits brought by citizens against police.

Also, a forensic analysis of IA activities, complaints, and outcomes would be really important. I understand that there have been very few complaints this year. Wondering why.

@ethanjr

Do you need some with 6 months of training to take an accident report, yes you do, for a lot of reasons, now if your talking a stolen vehicle report or vandalism then that can be done over the phone by a civilian clerk.

Walking beats are good if the department has the resources, officers and money, to do it. If you want to replace them with civilian patrols by all means do so but who will respond and act if there is a crime or what ever issue they would not be equipped to do. Instead of have police do it and be in the area or on scene time will be wasted calling for service that might not come because the police were defunded and now have less officers.

New Haven already has a Traffic and Parking Department or "meter readers" however police can enforce parking laws as needed but rarely do.

Red light cameras would fall under Traffic and Parking and are good but someone will complain about privacy issues and there is the money needed to operate, repair, manage and storage of data, but remember when those who have been ticketed don't reply it's the police that will have to arrest if warrants are issued. So you add cameras which will increase enforcement but defund the police and ask to do more work.

While I'm all for removing some responsibilities that police have that they truly shouldn't but roll over those funds for more training, more officers and police reform, which I believe New Haven Police do a good job, not perfect, instead of some BS SJW woke program that will fail. If you get what you want don't complain when you get the results.

DMH464 wrote:
[quote] Do you need some with 6 months of training to take an accident report, yes you do, for a lot of reasons [/quote]

I am very, very interested in what those reasons might be.

Also, to whoever said "which situation will turn deadly??... YOU WILL PAY IN BLOOD"...
#1: Chill.
#2: Take deep breaths.
#3: We live in a country awash with guns. Literally any tension could turn deadly any time (and does). That doesn't mean 100% of America needs to be the police. (You see how absurd that sounds now that I've said it, right?) It's not only wise but at a baseline level [i] necessary [/i] for us to think about which situations are substantially (or most) likely to require the use of force and direct the police's time, energy, and associated cost of training toward them. I don't think we've thought hard enough (@1644: meter maids? that's great, now what about...) or even begun to use our imagination.

I guess Social Distancing, Wear a Mask, Stay Home Save Lives.......that went out the window with all the other causes these bandwagoners jump onto every 9 months. You are all being played like a fiddle. Shouldn't people be calling the City Governments into question over their policies since they have been over the police for so long. Essentially these fiscally insolvent disasters of government have shifted all of their malfeasance and problems from themselves over to Trump and the Pollice or at least they are trying to. Their is a silent majority out there that appreciates what the police do and have to put up with.

@ethanjr

Easy, I'll give you two, enforcement of M/V law and arrest if needed.

Who knew, Noteworthy would be New Haven's "Defund the Police" pioneer!

Love the comments from @Dennis Serf @stevehamm @CityYankee @The Good Old Days ....you know, these folks that have these ideas should really commit themselves to scheduling ride-a-longs. Ride with these officers, see the frequency of calls they are dispatched to...what type of calls, low or high priority calls. They can talk to the officers at that time and really get to see to a small extent, what being a police officer in this city is. Understanding and communication has to be a two way street. How law enforcement agencies conduct themselves in Chicago, Charlotte, Austin, Los Angeles, Palm Coast, Hartford, Bridgeport etc etc etc varies in from city to city...and sometimes vastly. You can NOT paint law enforcement with a broad brush and apply demands that may make some sense in other cities and say you need it here.

It's absolutely absurd and shows the lack of critical thinking and planning in making demands of this local City of New Haven Police Department. The NHPD apparently has a lot of measures of accountability in place to protect it's citizens from the nonsense that occurs in other cities. It is disheartening to see people from this community bandwagon efforts of activism in other cities where those protective measures are NOT in place.....

I implore these community activists to commit to a few ride-a-longs with the NHPD when it's allowed. Instead of pointing the finger and making demands...grab a clearer picture of what really goes on in the city and how busy it is for the PD....ignorance is bliss....a lot of these folks need to come out of that bliss if they are actually really trying to push forward progression within this city....

@elmcitybornandraised: you wrote that" The NHPD apparently has a lot of measures of accountability in place to protect it's citizens from the nonsense that occurs in other cities. "
If you read the comments on the NHI for the last 15-20 years, none of the the measures has worked.
The protesters have it right.
Our legislators are not as knowledgeable as the people who live with this occupying army in their neighborhoods and schools, so look for them to water down what needs to be done.

I have done a bunch of ride-alongs with police and talked to many people in the city about these issues. One of the results was this documentary, Shift Change, a deep look at community policing in New Haven.

https://vimeo.com/334306941

@patriciakane with all due respect, I'm a black man that was born and raised in this city. All of my friends that I grew up with have the same similar opinion despite different experiences. In New Haven growing up, we didn't have a perception of a horrible police department or one that had consistent widespread issues as other departments from around the country. Then again, despite living in the poor neighborhoods of New Haven, we were all active student/athletes who kept busy and stayed off the streets. A few of us were raised by both parents while the majority were raised in single parent households. Despite who raised us, the common thread was keeping us active, off the streets and out the way of any issues related to criminal activity or the potential of it.

Have we been stopped by NHPD officers while growing up while we "fit the description?" Some of us have, did we "survive" our police encounter? We did...Our parents raised us to understand as young black men unfortunately we may be stopped by police, mainly due to the vast amount of criminals within our neighborhoods that look like us. I thank my parents and my friend's parents for empowering us to understand the reality around us...to understand we may be stopped by police one day and I thank them for giving us a plan on how to conduct ourselves during those stops which were few.

Any poor police experiences I have gone (and many of my friends) through have occurred locally in East Haven, Orange and Milford where those officers, at those times profiled to the fullest extent. We all know what happened to the East Haven Police Department correct? We'll agree to disagree on our viewpoints of policing within this city all be it from definitively different lenses.I don't discredit your opinion, but I also haven't sat online read comments neither do I bother to look at stats. I actually lived this life and base my perspective from real life, local personal experience, as a black man....

@stevehamm I'm well aware of your ride-a-longs and your excellent documentary. I hope more people take the initiative to participate in ride-a-longs. Maybe that is something @PatriciaKane or @AndrewGiering has done or is willing to do again?

I would like to know where the surveillance technology line items are. "Equipment" or "Other" categories?

NHPD should commit to ditching ineffective shotspotter microphones, as they hinted at last month:
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/New-Haven-police-chief-City-might-ditch-gunfire-15282893.php

...and we should also re-evaluate contracts with third-party surveillance vendors to make 100% sure there is no facial recognition technology in use. Without parroting my previous criticism of FRT in the NHv Indy, the bottom has fallen out of the tech as it proves to be ineffective for policing (and only "useful" for biased campaigns against PoC).

Also, we need to be certain that stingray devices, which are basically fake cellphone towers, are not in use. Expensive to buy, sure, but worse than that is the expense of officers doing 24/7 dragnet surveillance.

@elmcitybornandraised, I've been on NHPD ride-alongs and am also a Democracy School grad.

@SeanO'Brien, Cell-site simulators, also known as Stingrays, are still in use, though they are often described euphemistically in public indictments.

Thanks Andrew for the tip re: cell-site simulators. That confirms what I've heard, but they cancelled the ride-along / community academy last time around so I never asked the question in person.

The 1st and 4th Amendment issues are obvious and well-known. If you'd like to help put together a campaign and legislation against stingrays, please reach out. https://cyberclear.cc

@elmcitybornandraised: I've attended dozens of COMPSTAT mtgs (never once was an Alder in attendance). Lived in New Haven in Edgewood for 55 years and have experienced the good and bad of New Haven first hand. I speak with members of the force regularly. Two weeks ago, BEFORE George Floyd, I emailed Chief Reyes and offered to moderate a public "Conversation with the Community". I read and analyze the COMPSTAT reports and have submitted recommendations for improvements. So, I'm a bit more than a computer activist.

And I think you misinterpreted my comments. I'm saying the City gets lots of calls to 911 and 6316. Analyze the call data to see how many require a response from a sworn officer with 6 months of training. I've been told by police that up to 50% of calls are not true police calls...think noise complaints and other quality of life issues. So, MAYBE we need fewer armed officers. I also believe the starting pay should be much higher. If you work nights, weekends and holidays and are asked to subdue armed dui drivers with heavily tinted windows you should get paid more than $50K a year.

Dennis Serfilippi

Camden, NJ dismantled their corrupt city police force and substituted a county force that has performed much better.
Some of our police problems have come from East Haven and Hamden police who were in New Haven. New Haven police have overall been better than surrounding towns.
So- why don't we have a regional police force instead of all these local departments? We could save money by reducing redundant specialty forces like SWAT that are seldom used. We can improve quality by bringing higher standards to small town forces.
It's time for Connecticut to get as the small town government and look for regional solutions and services.

Again, this has gotten completely off track. The protests began as a legitimate cry for the reform of policing. It has been taken over by radical shouting about defunding the police by mostly college age (scan the pictures all over the country - initially it was all ages, but with the call for defunding it has collapsed to 80-90% students, anarchists ). With media support, even elected politicians have bought into the hype.
Polls show strong support for the police amongst the entire population. They are our spouses, sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, aunts, uncles, and neighbors. There are 750 million of them across the country. If you took the suggestion to go on a ride-along, you would see that they are community based people who are trying to do the right thing under difficult and dangerous conditions. Every call has the potential for gun involvement, but they still respond. Many more police die while trying to serve and protect than unarmed people.
If someone enters my house, murders my grandmother, rapes my daughter, assaults and robs me, burns my house, or steals my car, I want an armed officer to respond, no matter where I live or who I am; and I think the vast majority of people agree.

@elmcitybornandraised: you wrote: "I don't discredit your opinion, but I also haven't sat online read comments neither do I bother to look at stats. I actually lived this life and base my perspective from real life, local personal experience, as a black man…."
In no way would I ever argue against your personal experience. I have not walked in your shoes.
My criticisms are aimed at institutions and not individuals.
My opinions have been shaped by first hand experiences, such as the police riot that followed the Route 34 protest a few years ago, clients in both juvenile and criminal courts who were treated more harshly than white clients with similar charges, but mostly listening to people from the black community who told me of their day to day humiliation and fears at the hands of the police.
White people are not immune from violent treatment, as Bill Saunders can tell you. He was assaulted from behind by a female New Haven cop at a music event. She testified with a straight face that she was in fear for her safety and so tackled him from behind, throwing him to the pavement and causing injury to his head. Those magic words "feared for my safety" = a license to do unnecessary violence and so we have protests everywhere.

stevehamm : Great film. My quibble is that your narration of the Washington shooting make implies that Yale, not Hamden had the lead in the stop and the shooting. It was the Hamden officer, the only one shown in your film. who was pro-active, and who fired the vast majority of rounds, incudling the rounds that hit Washington and the Yale officer.

@DrJay: Great point. All these little fiefdoms cost the taxpayers and could be regionalized on many levels, except for the political opposition of the current occupants of the fiefdoms and their political enablers.

DrJay: If NHPD's culture is better than surrounding departments, why would you want to disband NHPD and bring in cultures from surrounding towns? The suburbs, even Hamden, are whiter than New Haven, so you would dilute the influence of communities of color. Many racial problems with police occur in places like Minneapolis where whites are a dominant majority, so policing is tailored to meet the desires of the white community.
Yes, there would be savings in avoiding duplication, although most of towns participate in a regional SWAT team rather than have their own. Personally, I think we have far too many SWAT teams. Having trained in urban combat, it is tough. If these teams are spending enough time training to do it right, they are spending more time away from other duties than can be justified by the sue of teh SWAT team. Plus, of course, departments use SWAT when not necessary because they need to justify its existence and it has cool stuff and everyone gets to pretend they're SEAL Team Six.

elmcitybornandraised; I'm on the cops' side. You must have mixed me up with someone else. I don't have to ride along to know what cops do every day and the danger they could be in on the turn of a dime. Read carefully before you name people en masse.

Defund the police.

Great news for the criminals, drug dealers, shoplifters, burglars, street robbers and domestic abuses.

Not so good for regular citizens who try to live their lives. Try riding a bicycle from the Hamden line to Yale. Police from both departments have cautioned against that because it's not safe. On the route a rider will see people smoking marijuana, prostitution activity, cars driving at high speeds at all cross streets with the canal line and just last week two people defecating in the woods at the New Haven line. Such a wonderful introduction to the city.

Check out what's happening in Seattle right now to see the effects of inert leadership in that cities government. It's coming here or is already in place wondering what to do.
No police. New Haven turns into the purge in most neighborhoods.

Chris 246--- can we hold off on defunding till those of us who prefer to leave can sell our houses???

What about getting rid of these schools many assistant principles or superintendents? They make more then 100,000 dollars..... the police budget is only 7% of the CITIES budget...... when people need help they can dial 411 and 211. When they're child is missing dial 211 when their car is broken into call 411. When your home and business is burglarized it's the dirt bikers are bothering youre baseball game or barbecues or the naked man is hush on PCP and your friend is laying in the ground bleeding out after getting shot or your vehicle is struck and the opposing vehicle flees dial 211!!!!!

For those of you who don't watch The Daily Show a very interesting panel discussion about what "defund the police" "abolish the police" actually means...
http://www.cc.com/episodes/te9mhf/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-june-9--2020---panel-discussion-on-radical-police-reform-season-25-ep-25113

Ethanjrt, the issue with red light cameras is not their cost. Installing them would require a change in state law.. This has not happened in spite of real efforts by Rep. Roland Lemar and others. Red light cameras have been opposed by an idiosyncratic coalition, including Republicans (who believe they a money grab by cities), black and brown people (who fear they would be racially profiled), and civil libertarians (who raise privacy issues).

@Kevin Some of us agree with all three :P I think traffic cameras are a cash grab, disproportionately target PoC, and are a privacy problem.

Auto-ticketing of traffic violations would be a nightmare for New Haven. It would require ALPRs and near-constant surveillance. That's not going to encourage people to park and spend their money downtown, as we continue in this terrible economic climate for small business.

For a very long time I have advocated that we should publish "safety" statistics, not crime statistics. When you are hit by a car whether in a car, on foot or on a bicycle you are just as hurt as if you were "assaulted." And when your car is in an accident, you suffer property damage which is a loss like the property loss from a theft.

I bet if those statistics were generated for every community. Pure white communities would be no safer than a town like New Haven where we are lucky enough to have diversity.

My two cents.

It's good to see the NHI make a detailed breakdown of this budget, as well as respond to points people are making in the comments.

To repeat a question raised in a comment last week: can we see what the budgets have been over the past 20 years? The city site only goes back to 2012, when the police department budget was ~$37 million. The NHI archive indicates that DeStefano massively increased the police budget by up to 20% in 2005-2007. Perhaps if we have a better sense of how the budget has changed over time as policing has been disastrously prioritized while other social services were cut year-after-year, we'd have a better sense of what to immediately defund & how to shift spending away from policing to services that support the thriving of Black people & all people in New Haven.

Also, just want to lift up Heather C.'s link to the Daily Show panel above. Note that panelist Alex Vitale's book The End of Policing is currently free as an e-book from Verso Press: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2817-the-end-of-policing.

Whether you're supportive, curious, confused, skeptical, or horrified by calls for the abolition of police and prisons, there is perhaps no better person to listen to on the topic than New Haven-native Ruth Wilson Gilmore. She just did a two part interview that is accessible, clear, & brilliant: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/10/ruth-wilson-gilmore-makes-the-case-for-abolition/. She even gives a little family history of her grandfather's labor organizing as a custodian at Yale, and her father's labor organizing as a tool & die maker at Winchester Repeating Arms.