5 Civilian-Review Appointees Advance

Devin Avshalom-Smith intends not just to hear cases of police misconduct, but to work toward building trust between the community and police, if he lands a seat on the Civilian Review Board.

He promised to bring this vision to the reconstituted police-monitoring board as he fielded questions from alders over Zoom at a confirmation hearing Monday evening conducted by the Board of Alders Aldermanic Affairs Committee.

The committee of alders questioned five candidates put forth by Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers for seats on the soon-to-be-revived Civilian Review Board. The committee voted unanimously to discharge all five candidates’ appointments, accelerating the final approval process to the next full Board of Alders meeting, next week.

Their answers reflected a variety of attributes they believe the Civilian Review Board (CRB) needs to succeed, from community roots and diverse experiences to the ability to serve as an ​“objective” arbiter.

The Board of Alders voted to create the new version of CRB in January 2019, following decades of activism led by Emma Jones. The CRB, comprised of New Haven residents, will function as an independent body reviewing complaints of police misconduct. Unlike a 2001 version of the board that ultimately stopped meeting (for lack of a quorum), the new version possesses subpoena power, enabling it to investigate cases without relying solely on police Internal Affairs reports.

In order to fill the 15 seats on the forthcoming board, a series of hearings ensued over the course of the summer of 2019 to review the candidates — several of whom were ultimately rejected.

The nomination process slowed until Black Lives Matter protests filled New Haven streets in June, seeking justice for the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and other Black Americans across the nation. In response to the protests, Mayor Justin Elicker announced that he would work with the Board of Alders to prioritize filling the remaining seats on the Civilian Review Board.

During questioning by alders Monday night, the five nominees — Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee, Avshalom-Smith, Melvin Counsel, John Pescatore, and Chris Peralta — emphasized their decades-long ties to New Haven communities. Nearly all shared stories of encounters with police officers, ranging from collaborative community projects to traumatizing confrontations. They stressed the notion of an objective approach to case review, noting that the board’s power will lie in the confidence it will need to earn from both community members and the police.

Prompted by Yale/Downtown Alder Eli Sabin, all five candidates committed to supporting a Memorandum of Understanding that would place the Yale Police Department under the Civilian Review Board’s jurisdiction.

If the five nominees are confirmed, they will join approved members Iva Johnson, Jayuan Carter, Jewu Richardson, Nina Faucett, Richard Crouse, Jean Jenkins, and Steve Hamm on the board.

Needed: Bias Checks

In his decades of experience as a pastor, Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee has often had to mediate disputes within the churches he has led. As a former chair of the city’s Board of Ethics, he has overseen the review of conflict-of-interest cases involving city employees and officials.

Ross-Lee told alders on Monday night that he would bring these experiences as an arbiter to the CRB.

Ross-Lee, a Westville resident, has lived in New Haven for nearly 19 years. He currently leads Immanuel Baptist Missionary Church on Day Street.

“One of the first things I learned as a pastor is that the issue is rarely the issue,” he said. He has discovered that intra-church conflict resolution tends to entail seeking out more information or perspective than either party is willing to provide.

Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton, who attends Ross-Lee’s church, asked him about the difficulties that the CRB would need to work through. Ross-Lee stressed ​“being as objective as possible” as a priority — and a challenge — when he envisions the board.

“You are most objective if you admit your biases,” he said.

Recalling his own experiences, Ross-Lee spoke of officers who stopped him because he ​“fit the description” of a suspect. He spoke of a ​“tense” interaction he once had with a new officer after he called the police. He also remembered once being stopped after accidentally running a red light; the officer, after checking Ross-Lee’s license, recognized the pastor’s name from the Independent’s comment section. That interaction turned out well.

“I do not take personal situations to generalize context,” he said. ​“I cannot hold one person responsible for what someone else has done just because they work for the same police department.”

Needed: A ​“Philosopher”

Devin Avshalom-Smith, the founder of the neighborhood activist group Newhallville Community Action Network, frequently collaborates with police to run food distribution events and neighborhood parades in Newhallville. In New Britain, where he went to college, he worked with Police Chief James Wardwell to establish a drop-off box where residents could safely dispose of unwanted medication.

But his experiences, like Ross-Lee’s, have been a ​“mixed bag,” he said. In New Britain, where he went to college, police drew their guns on him outside of his home.

Avshalom-Smith called in to Monday night’s meeting from the Starr Street house his family has owned for over 60 years. The house is two blocks away from the site where Yale and Hamden police shot at Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon in 2019.

Avshalom-Smith recalled driving to work past that street in the months following the shooting.

“I was afraid every day,” he said. ​“As a community guy, I don’t think I should have to feel unsafe. I kept thinking to myself, ​‘Maybe they’re gonna shoot at me.’”

Avshalom-Smith said he wants New Haven to have a CRB that isn’t focused just on case-by-case review; he sees the board as a possible site for ​“openly hearing what community members have to say” about big picture issues within policing.

A trained philosopher, Avshalom-Smith said his academic background would help him reason through scenarios with a value of objectivity, while his community ties would make him an empathetic arbiter.

“Every team should have a philosopher on it,” he said.

Needed: ​“The Average Person”

Melvin Counsel said his main qualification to serve on the CRB came from his commitment to neighborhood life in the Hill. He spoke about his experience serving on the Hill North Community Management Team and the Hill Development Corporation.

“Growing up here in the Hill all my life, I tried to stay on the right side of the law,” Counsel told alders. ​“I have a huge amount of respect for law enforcement, always have. However, that did not exclude me from being pulled over.” Police have racially profiled him many times, he said.

He was moved to serve on the CRB by the notion of ​“a seat at the table” for the community.

“I’ve been here all my life,” Counsel repeated. He said the CRB needs input from ​“just the average person that’s living in the community that needs a voice.”

“I think I bring that to the table,” he said.

Hill Alder Ron Hurt took a moment to address Counsel, declaring, ​“I feel that the Civilian Review Board has to be filled with ordinary people. Residents who are neutral.”

Hurt called Counsel ​“one of the trophies in the Hill.”

Needed: ​“Passion”

The recent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement motivated John Pescatore to want to serve on the CRB. He told alders about his experience attending marches this summer ignited by the police killing of George Floyd.

“I’ve just grown passionate,” he said. Amid the sea of people marching in Covid-era face masks, ​“it was really easy to feel the passion.”

“I’ve always had strong feeling this way,” he added, referring to police transparency, ​“but participating in those marches made me develop even stronger feelings about the accountability that citizens deserve from city officials.”

An East Rock resident, Pescatore serves as the president of the Canal Dock Boathouse, a nonprofit community boating center. He’s a rowing and cycling coach who has made it to the Olympics twice.

Through the boathouse, ​“I’ve worked with community members, young and old,” Pescatore said. He spoke of a love for New Haven that developed partly through his experience with Canal Dock.

Sabin asked Pescatore how he would ensure that groups of people underrepresented on the Civilian Review Board — including women of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, the homeless — would have a voice on the board.

“I have no expectation that there won’t be bumps in the road along the way,” Pescatore answered. ​“The board needs people who are open minded and accepting of everyone.”

When Hamilton asked him what challenges he foresaw for the board, he answered that ​“earning the trust of both sides” would be the hardest part of the board’s task. ​“If the officers of the police force don’t have faith in the [CRB] to do a fair job, then it won’t have a chance to be successful,” he said.

Needed: Reform Mindset

Chris Peralta said that when he was a teenager growing up on the border between Hamden and New Haven, Southern Connecticut State University police, Hamden police, and New Haven police all stopped him on the street.

“Every single time, they would pat you down and search you and that always stays in your mind. That’s something that settles in you,” he said. ​“As an adult, I still remember how I felt in that moment.”

Now, Peralta hopes to bring a mindset of reform to the CRB. He wants to see an end to ​“policing by the end of the gun,” he said, and more ​“policing by respect and consent.”

Peralta is the former chair of the Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills Community Management Team, and has also participated in other neighborhood committees. Peralta also said he would bring Latinx representation to the Board; among the nominees thus far, he would be the second Latinx individual appointed to serve on the board.

Hamilton noted that Peralta’s fluency in Spanish would be an asset to the board. She asked whether Peralta would be able to make the time commitment of the board.

Peralta promised to make the board ​“100 percent,” and noted that should something come up, he would cede his seat to someone else. ​“This is something that can’t be taken lightly,” he said.