New Haven Independent

posted by: Jon Doe on January 29, 2010  4:47pm

I love the fact that Chief Lewis is cleaning house even with him leaven at the end of next month. I just hope we find another chief who will keep up the good work he has started.

posted by: Sunday on January 29, 2010  5:34pm

This is the type of Chief we need to conduct business at the police department. Officer got a problem and he committ mis-conduct deal with it like a real man. Lewis we hate to see you go this is just the tip of the “iceberg”. They can’t wait until the man is out the door so they can carry on business as usual here is a true exsample of what’s to follow.

posted by: lance on January 29, 2010  5:51pm

I think it’s a load of B.S. that the Independent would dump this article out there as its final one of the weekend with such scant details.  Cops are people too.  The Independent is quick to champion the cause of a convicted drug dealing gun toting Haitian criminal.  So why vilify a guy in this article who has not been found culpable of ANYTHING?  Is it because he’s a white male cop?

posted by: Wow on January 29, 2010  6:22pm

Reichard has a clean 20+ year history with NHPD. What a shame to grasp at straws in order to come up with something on him. Some of the comments he’s made have been misinterpreted and yes, he has made some slight mistakes.  But to suspend him for them when others have done and are doing worse?  He was a great cop, sergeant, lieutenant and asst. chief.  More should strive to be like him!  Good Luck Pete

posted by: Ned on January 29, 2010  6:47pm

‘Prinz charged that Reichard threatened him because he wore flamboyant white shoes…’  White shoes after Labor Day!?

posted by: Dak on January 29, 2010  11:29pm

We wouldn’t have a zero tolerance policy then . The CChiefwas right and we will miss such a great cop!

posted by: cat2000 on January 30, 2010  12:16am

Any man caught in white shoes, not of the sportswear kind, should be promptly arrested.

posted by: Wolcott Bill on January 30, 2010  7:00am

We are missing the most relevant fact. Were the white shoes worn, before or after Labor Day.

posted by: kamb on January 30, 2010  8:22am

UNREAL!

Asst. Chief Reichard has an outstanding unblemished 20 years of service with New Haven. He gets mad at a reporter and tells a detective not to wear white shoes and he’s releived of duty!? . . . Yeah, great job Lewis.

...

What is this a witch-hunt? You ruined a guys career for almost nothing and your leaving in less than 30 days. It’s a ashame. Lewis did a lot of good but he also dropped the ball on selecting the right people for certain positions. The NHPD is now in worse shape (destroying extra duty and failing to place good people in leadership positions)than when he arrived.

Bon Voyage to all of you. Thanks for nothing.

posted by: robn on January 30, 2010  9:21am

The white shoe thing sounds like horseplay. The threats to arrest a journalist sounds like disregard for the 1st Amendment.

posted by: THE TRUTH on January 30, 2010  11:05am

Depending on exactly how the “threatening” email was worded this sounds a little weak to be taking a guys living and career away from him ...  If I was the chief I would of sat the two ( ass chief and reporter) down together in a room and hashed it out first.

posted by: R on January 30, 2010  11:47am

Good for Lewis, continuing to do right by our city. Please, please, please pick someone like you.

posted by: streever on January 30, 2010  12:16pm

Let me get this straight, those of you on his side think that threatening to arrest private citizens who have committed no crimes is “unblemished”?

If Reichard misused his position of power to threaten innocent citizens with arrest, then yes, he’s caused his own troubles.

How many of you want to pay for the lawsuits when he actually makes good on his empty words? How many of you want to deal with the fall-out of having a contender for Chief falsely arresting innocent citizens?

The comments are so out of touch with reality.

posted by: Know it all on January 30, 2010  5:01pm

...The best thing that happened to this department is the mayor getting someone from the outside…Good luck chief Lewis

posted by: STYLENE on January 30, 2010  6:49pm

@ streever….well said!

posted by: The real truth on January 31, 2010  7:32am

The reason some cops have unblemished records is because they are “the Golden boys” of the departments who run with the Clicks ,A group of higher positioned people who have the ability to squash any complaints against these certain officers/supervisors. You have officers who get in incidents and these papers blow them out of proportion then you get supervisors involved in domestic disputes with their other half and not a word is mentioned about them…Chief Lewis has put an end to this Good Ole boys network…He will be missed

posted by: River to State on January 31, 2010  10:30am

I have known A/C Reichard professionally now for over 15 years. I am not a police officer but have had the opportunity to work with him over the years. And I can tell you this, he is a great cop and a great leader. If these to incidents are the only things they can ” discipline” him on this is nothing but a smear campaign. Pete has served this city with honor and dignity for over 20 years. People are quick to judge our officers whenever they are disciplined, remember there are 2 sides to every story. Until now his record is spotless and to judge his entire career on 2 comments he made in haste is unfair. The media and the public hold our police officers to some higher standard, while this is not wrong we must remember they are human beings with emotions just like us the difference is they are exposed to the worst life has to offer in an inner city every day they pin on that badge and go out there to protect US. To all you people who want a warm and fuzzy police force get a grip. This is a poor inner city where crime runs rampant, you want officers who are tough yet can be compassionate when needed. The criminals and thugs would walk all over your “ideal” officers. You can’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. I am confident Pete will be back to work when this is all said and done, because that is the right thing.

posted by: jahad on January 31, 2010  11:39am

I’ve always had a great working relationship with Asst Chief Reichard and only know of his great commitment and follow-through. As a resident of Westville, he was always supportive to the community and had a connection to the residents. I hope this issue can be handled quickly and he can resume his post- he has always served his position well.

posted by: Anon on January 31, 2010  6:29pm

I totally agree with Streever.

Thank god for the email, because if it didn’t exist, and Reichard had threatened him only verbally, and later arrested him on a false charge, Kaempffer would have been in a very, very serious situation.

It’s no joke. It’s not funny at all. The arrest alone, even without a conviction, quite possibly would have ruined his career, not to mention, put him through hell. And what about the doubts of his editors and all that, he would have been ruined.

posted by: streever on February 1, 2010  9:08am

Thanks Anon/Stylene

I’ve met a lot of great officers from the NHPD—and also had a run-in with one or two who thought they were above the law. It’s a shame that Reichard is one of them.

Seriously though, those of you commenting who ARE NHPD, doesn’t it bother you that this man (despite his other good qualifications) would threaten to arrest a reporter?

It should bother you. It contradicts everything you are sworn to do.

You have a hard job, and one with a lot of responsibilities. You are the face of New Haven in many respects. No one expects any one to be perfect, but there is an extra layer of expectation on police officers. You have a serious position of power in our community, and we expect you to use it responsibly.

As appreciative as I am of all the good work that NHPD officers do (Reddish, Witkowski, Avery, Sweeney, too many to name, really) one can’t help but be opposed to the officers who throw their weight around & mistreat innocent people.

It really makes me wonder about the officers who are on here backing Reichard, if the allegations are true.

It brings to mind the officers who use their lights to get through a red light because they don’t want to wait—the officers who speed because they won’t get pulled over—the officer who beat me up because he knew he could get away with it—the Internal Affairs guy who threatened to arrest me if I filed my complaint—

there are plenty of bad apples on every tree. Don’t defend the conduct of someone who has clearly done wrong. You can acknowledge the good work he has done, while still admitting he screwed this one up.

Maybe Reichard will be fit to resume duty—I don’t know—but if so, I hope it will be a renewed sense of duty & obligation to the pledge he made, to protect this community.

posted by: Bruce on February 1, 2010  11:05am

Ditto on Streever’s comments.  Threatening to arrest a reporter for doing his job is a very serious abuse of power.  This is the USA, not Iran.

posted by: sunday on February 1, 2010  11:08am

Trust me their are lots of officers out their that will threaten to lock someone up because they ask a question. When a supervisor is called in and ask why this is happening,the officer alone with his partner will look the supervisor in the face and back the arresting officer lies. Of course because it’s the supervisor classmate and his boy he don’t have the ... to call officer “A team” into question. Now the pass IA was a joke they would never go against their boys in blue even after you presented them with evidence. Lewis you guys will be missed.

posted by: Anon on February 1, 2010  1:35pm

The people who are supposed to keep order have access to immediate forms of personal power, via their arrest powers and so on, that can also be destructive. They can be used to wreck havoc in people’s lives.

False charges ruin lives, but the officers who engage in them think nothing of them, like they are nothing. The affect ripples, touching so many things, jobs, income, tax revenues for the city, the happeniness and well being of dependants, the work of the person arrested and the lives and communities that depended on that work. It ripples into their futures forever, because even if not convicted, the arrest comes up in various ways in background checks and can form the basis of denying licenses, jobs etc.

It is breathtaking actually, and to find out, you know, in so many cases that this destruction was because a cop was in a bad mood and never gave you another thought after that.

And his fellow cops, the city, will all enforce his mistake, hard, at every turn, once its made, unless they act to prevent it.

It’s semantics if that is corruption or not. It is - whenever civil rights violations are committed or enforced deliberately, it’s corrpution. It’s a misunderstanding of the term to believe that corruption has to involve money somehow.

posted by: bon jovi on February 1, 2010  7:36pm

Mr. Reichard how does that sound to you.Mr.Reichard you went from being what you thought was untouchable to a nobody,got no job,car,badge,gun