Sam Gurwitt Photo
John Cappiello.
After 18 months in the interim position of Hamden acting police chief , John Cappiello received approval to officially step into the department’s highest office Monday — along with an extra $10,000.
Cappiello has served as Hamden’s acting chief of police since former Chief Thomas Wydra took a job with the state in the fall of 2018. On Nov. 14, Mayor Curt Leng announced that he was appointing Cappiello to serve as chief for a term of six months, with the possibility of extension for an additional six months.
Monday evening, after a long debate on the details of the appointment, the Hamden Legislative Council took the first step in approving Cappiello’s new contract in an 8 – 6 vote. Since it was the first regular meeting of the 2019 – 2021 council, and council committees have not yet been appointed, the council voted Monday as a “committee of the whole.” It must vote again at its Jan. 6 meeting to make the approval official.
The contract includes a $10,000 raise from Cappiello’s current $125,000 salary to $135,000. He will also get a $15,000 stipend for his work overseeing the town’s Traffic Department.
The town’s administration originally brought a contract to the council that would have given Cappiello a $148,000 salary, meaning a $23,000 raise. That contract would have included the stipend in the salary. After speaking with council members about the raise, the administration decreased the contract’s salary to $135,000.
“After seeing the work ethic and extensive experience, the actively demonstrated stability in leadership, during unquestionably challenging times, Acting Chief Cappiello has… showed me he is the right person at this time,” Leng wrote to the Independent. “We have numerous serious personnel, legal and police policy improvement actions that are currently underway and in many ways the key to their success at this important moment in our history is stability.”
Cappiello grew up in Hamden, and has served on its police force for 35 years, since he was first hired as a patrol officer in 1984. He worked his way up in the ranks from officer to detective to sergeant to lieutenant to deputy chief to, finally, chief. In his 18 months as acting chief, he has led the department through what council members said have been some of the toughest moments in the department’s history. Namely, Cappiello has been at the helm throughout the fallout from the April 16 shooting of Stephanie Washington by a Hamden cop.
“I don’t support a lot of people. I don’t support a lot of things, at times. But I do support him,” said Councilman Harry Gagliardi, to chuckles from his colleagues. “I support him 100 percent.” Gagliardi has been a frequent critic of the town’s administration, and often votes against it.
Many members of the council said they agreed that Cappiello is the right choice for the position. Most of the six members who opposed the contract said they did so either because of the raise, or because of the process by which Leng chose Cappiello, and not because they opposed Cappiello himself.
“You are chief material,” Marjorie Bonadies, one of three Republicans on the council, told Cappiello. However, she said, “I think it’s irresponsible to vote for a raise.”
In negotiations for the 2020 fiscal year, the council eliminated all raises that Leng had proposed for department heads, including Cappiello. They voted to keep his salary flat at $120,000, but when Leng vetoed the budget, his proposed $5,000 raise went into effect.
Patrick Donnelly.
Council members said that the town will feel the costs of the raise in other places than just in the salary line. The raise will increase Cappiello’s annual pension by $8,680, said mayoral Deputy Chief of Staff Patrick Donnelly, who served as the administration’s liaison Monday. Former Councilwoman Lauren Garrett, who spoke against the raise in the public input session, called it a “retirement gift.”
“I’m looking at a sweetheart deal for a guy I like,” said resident Stocky Clark in the public input session. “The chief — I like him. But a sweetheart deal.”
The administration’s last-minute change to the contract, however, significantly lowered the future pension cost to the town. Cappiello’s pension will be based on his actual salary, and does not factor in stipends. Rolling $15,000 into a stipend and lowering the actual salary by $13,000 reduced the chief’s annual pension payout by about $10,000.
Council members also raised the concern that giving the chief a raise will require them to then give raises to other department heads for parity — namely the fire chief and the public works director. Fire Chief Gary Merwede currently makes $125,000, as does Public Works Director Craig Cesare.
Donnelly told the council that the administration will consider parity among the salaries of its department heads come budget season.
Some council members also said they voted against the contract because it seemed that the appointment had ignored the work of a committee Leng appointed in the spring to search for a new chief. The Community Input and Transparency Committee had heard the input of community members and included those recommendations in an ad for the position. It was supposed to review applications and recommend five candidates to the mayor. However, Leng put the committee on hold before it could look at applicants, saying the committee will continue its work in 2020.
“I disagree with putting that committee on pause,” said Councilwoman Jody Clouse. She said that was the reason she voted against the contract — with no reflection on Cappiello himself.
The contract gives Cappiello a six-month term with the possibility of extension for an additional six months upon agreement between the mayor and Cappiello. It can last, at a maximum, until the end of Leng’s current term.
Donnelly said the committee will resume its work in the early part of 2020. It will select candidates, he said, to recommend for after Cappiello’s contract expires. If Cappiello is to be chief past Leng’s current term, he said the committee would have to recommend him, and Leng would have to choose him and negotiate a new contract.
“It’s Economics”
Athena Gary and Justin Farmer.
While Monday’s discussion partly belabored the details of the contract and the consequences of a raise, it also allowed Cappiello to give his broad-stroke views of the department and visions for its future.
Newly elected Councilwoman Valerie Horsley, who serves on the Community Input and Transparency Committee, said the committee had created interview questions for candidates. Since she had not yet gotten a chance to ask those questions, she posed a few of them for Cappiello.
She began: What will you do to reinvigorate the department?
“We have to get back to basics,” Cappiello replied. He said that some officers seem not to be focused on serving the community, and that he wants to refocus officers’ priorities on service.
How will you make sure to follow through? Horsley continued.
Make sure to hold supervisors accountable, Cappiello replied. And “make sure people understand what I expect of them.”
Once Horsley was done, and a few other council members had spoken, District‑3 Rep. Athena Gary took up the role of questioner. Her southern Hamden district has seen a high volume of crime recently. A 21-year-old was shot and killed there last weekend. The next day, there was another shooting a few blocks away.
Is crime up in Hamden? she asked.
Yes, Cappiello said.
In southern Hamden? asked Gary.
There are more shootings there than in other parts of town, said Cappiello, though car break-ins happen everywhere.
Why the uptick? asked Gary.
Cappiello replied that he thinks it has to do with the permeability of the Hamden-New Haven border. People are more mobile than they were 20 years ago, he said. “Newhallville is a very tough area for both sides,” and it hasn’t changed much in his 35 years in the department.
Gary offered her explanation: “Crime will continue to go up if the economics is not right.”
Cappiello agreed. “It’s economics, is a lot of it,” he said. In order to reduce crime in the area, he said, residents must become more committed to their community. He said he needs to get more people in the community involved in looking out for the area. Simply putting “a cop on every corner is not going to help,” he said.
“Where’s a rec center?” he asked. Where can kids go after school every day and have something to do where their parents know they will be safe?
Community investment, he said, is essential. He said that in his term as chief, he will continue to determine what community policing means in Hamden, and to implement the strategies that work for the town.
Though Cappiello stood before the council for over an hour, at times fielding tough questions, the discussion at many points highlighted his dedication and validated his 35-year career.
Majority Leader Berita Rowe-Lewis (pictured) gave an impassioned account of the support she said she and her community have received from Cappiello and his department. For her, supporting Cappiello was imperative, she said. “I have to. Because you guys have been there in the trenches to support us when we needed it. Sure, there is lots of work to be done, when it comes to diversity, the conversation and the training that needs to be had. Nevertheless, I think you’re positioning yourself in the right place to move forward with all the changes that are necessary to make Hamden a best practice town.”
