Thomas MacMillan Photo
Chief Esserman & Rev. Mathis face lawmakers Tuesday night.
When cops call in gang members under a new anti-violence program, and lean on them to put down their guns, how will they know they’re leaning on the right guys?
Will cops mistakenly target people who just happen to hang out with a bad crowd, but aren’t actually involved in crime themselves?
No, answered Chief Dean Esserman.
He gave that answer to questions put to him by members of the Board of Aldermen’s Public Safety Committee, which convened Tuesday night in City Hall to hear an update on an ambitious anti-gun initiative called Project Longevity. One concern that arose had to do with the implications of group responsibility — of punishing an entire alleged gang when one member fires a deadly round.
That’s a central thrust of the initiative, which launched in November with “call-ins” of 27 alleged members of the city’s most violent gangs. (Click on the play arrow to watch an excerpt from the kick-off press conference.) The call-in is the central feature of Project Longevity, which is based on an approach to violent crime that has been successful in Boston and Cincinnati. Another two call-ins are planned for late January. Cops expect over 40 alleged gang members to attend.
The theory behind Project Longevity: a relatively small group of people commit most of New Haven’s bloodshed and can be largely stopped through intensive research, prosecution, and the group-responsibility approach. Cops researched those people, identified their gang affiliations. Now they call them in to offer them a choice: Continue the shooting and face the full force of the criminal justice system. Or accept a helping hand and turn their lives around.
At the call-ins, cops promise that if any gang member decides to shoot someone, the whole gang will suffer the consequences — cops will go after the shooter’s associates for whatever offenses they can find.
That aspect of the program led to a question Tuesday night from West River Alderwoman Tyisha Walker: What if the cops ID guys who are just seen hanging out on the street with the real bad guys?
“That’s not enough” to implicate them, Esserman said. “We go back years and years.”
Identifying the main players involved in New Haven gun violence has taken a year of research, including digging through old files, Esserman said.
Several aldermen sought to clarify just what the consequences for a gang would be if a member perpetrates a homicide.
Only the alleged killer would be arrested for the homicide, said Esserman (pictured). But the alleged killer’s associates would be investigated and arrested for other crimes, for the “vulnerabilities they have,” Esserman said. The police will pursue whatever they have on them.
“They all get pursued,” he said. “If you’ve decided to be a member of a gang, you’ve made a decision that has consequences.”
The message is, “You better keep an eye on your brothers and sisters,” Esserman said. “What we want to do is use peer pressure,” which has been proven to work.
Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon suggested the police go after the girlfriends of gang members, women they might be staying with in public-housing apartments where they’re not on the lease. Such women should lose their housing, Colon said.
If a hypothetical gang-member’s girlfriend is part of any illegal activity, she will be prosecuted, Esserman said.
After the call-ins, those people who want help changing their lives will get it, Esserman said. The housing authority has set aside 20 Section 8 vouchers for Project Longevity participants, and job counseling is available as well. Some people need help with very basic tasks like getting a driver’s license or a birth certificate, he said.
You have to offer “both the tough hand, but also the helping hand,” Esserman said.
However, “disappointingly few” people ask for help after call-ins, he said. Only two participants telephoned after the first call-in, said Rev. William Mathis (pictured), Project Longevity’s program manager. One was looking for Section 8 help, the other for some employment support.
After Tuesday night’s hearing, Public Safety Committee chair Alderman Brian Wingate said he is hopeful about Project Longevity but still waiting to see what comes of it: “It’s new to me, so I’m being cautious about all things going on with Project Longevity.”
None of this will work if we keep letting these guys back on the street which is whats happening. Why wont Esserman address this issue or even bring it up? The guys they plan on "bringing in" all have HUGE rap sheets, does CT have a ten strike policy or is it twenty strikes?