Thomas MacMillan Photo
Bruce Bonner received a new sergeant’s badge just one day before he retires from the police force — and, he said, four years after he should have had it.
Bonner, a 22-year veteran of the New Haven police department, received his new badge in a City Hall ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. His promotion was the result of a legal settlement last month between the city and a number of cops who sued over the handling of a promotions exam.
According to the terms of that settlement, Bonner’s new shield and chevrons arrived one day before his retirement, just in time for him to lock in a sergeant’s pension and avoid changes to health care benefits that will kick in for active cops on July 1.
It was a “bittersweet” moment, said Bonner, who is 51. It’s nice to make sergeant, he said, but it doesn’t make up for coming to work as a patrol cop for four years, knowing you should be in a higher position. That’s what happened because of the way the city dealt with the results of a 2009 promotions exam, Bonner said.
Bonner was one of a group of African-American cops who sued the city after the civil service commission approved a promotions list from a 2009 exam for only one year, instead of the usual two. The commission voted to do so after one commissioner worried aloud that no Latinos had scored highly enough to be promoted to sergeant.
The case echoed the Ricci v. DeStefano lawsuit, in which a mostly-white group of 20 firefighters sued the city after it threw out the results of a promotions exam because no black firefighters scored highly. That case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled for the firefighters.
Bonner’s case, in which he was the lead plaintiff, didn’t end up in the high court. The city agreed to settle it last month, awarding back pay to five plaintiffs and agreeing to promote them to sergeant.
As cops milled about City Hall’s lofty atrium before Thursday’s promotion ceremony, Bonner reflected on his 22-year career, and the way it ended.
Bonner said he was recruited to join the New Haven police department by then-police Chief Nick Pastore, who made a point of hiring minority cops as part of bringing community policing to New Haven in the 1990s.
At the time, Bonner, who grew up in Hamden, was a cop at Southern Connecticut State University. One day in 1990, he was driving a campus cruiser on Whalley Avenue. Pastore pulled him over.
“You’re supposed to be a New Haven policeman,” Pastore told him.
They spoke on the phone the next day, and Pastore hired Bonner for the department.
“He was a man of his word,” Bonner said. “He was good to me.”
Several years later, Pastore put out the word that he wanted to diversify the motorcycle cop squad. Four new cops were assigned to motorcycles: a white woman and a Latino, an Asian, and an African-American man — Bonner.
His years on a motorcycle were some of the best in his career, said Bonner. “I was young, and it was exciting.”
Bonner has been less satisfied during his last few years on the job, since the trouble with the 2009 promotions exam.
“I still feel disappointed,” Bonner said. He should have been promoted in 2009, or 2010 at the latest, he said. “I had a lot of missed opportunities.”
Bonner pointed to Lt. Anthony Campbell, standing nearby in a white lieutenant’s shirt. Bonner and Campbell took the sergeant’s exam at the same time, Bonner said. Campbell scored higher, and was promoted during the year that the list was valid. Bonner remained an officer, thus missing out on the future promotions Campbell achieved.
“He’s chief of staff,” Bonner said. “Yesterday I was a patrolman pushing 911 calls. It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.”
Finally getting the sergeant’s badge doesn’t make up for coming to work for years, feeling everyday that “you should be somewhere else,” Bonner said. It doesn’t make up for seeing cops with the same number of years on the force moving up to supervisor positions, while you’re stuck with rookies who wonder why you were passed over. “What kind of slug are you?”
When it came time for his public remarks at Thursday’s ceremony, Bonner didn’t hold back. “This should have happened a while ago,” he said, after thanking his family and his fellow cops.
When minorities do well, they should be given opportunities, he said. “For them to try to move forward and not be allowed to is hurtful.”
Despite the disappointment, Bonner loved being a cop, he said. “I loved coming to work. This was a great job. I’d like to see more minorities have the opportunities I did.”
Asked after the ceremony about Bonner’s sentiments, Mayor Toni Harp (pictured) said, “I think the police force needs to look like the community it serves. The reality is young people need people they can look up to.”
“We’ve just got make sure we have a just and clear system, and that people can advance in it no matter their color,” she said.
!Contradiction Alert!
Quotes from Mayor Harp
"I think the police force needs to look like the community it serves."
"We've just got make sure we have a just and clear system, and that people can advance in it no matter their color."