Sam Garrett Photo
Garrett announces her mayoral campaign earlier this month.
Hamden should look outside its police department for its next chief — and not pick anyone quite yet.
So argued Legislative Council member Lauren Garrett, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor.
She took the stand Monday during an appearance on WNHH FM’s “Dateline Hamden” program.
“I think it’s got to be somebody from outside of Hamden. There have a been a lot of issues in the police department in the last couple of years. We’ve made the news way too many times,” Garrett argued. “I don’t think we can have a police chief from within Hamden take the reins effectively.”
Among the recent controversies embroiling the department:
• Hamden Officer Devin Eaton’s April 16 shooting at two unarmed people inside a car after he crossed the town line into New Haven;
• The fallout from a video released earlier this year showing Officer Andrew Lipford — who had a history of losing his cool on the job — following Hamden resident Victor Medina to his home, where Lipford and Sgt. Michael Sigmon arrested him at gunpoint. Lipford at one point told Medina, “If you do something that you’re not told you’re gonna get shot.”
The town has also been debating whether to create a civilian review board to monitor police misconduct and whether to create a new chase policy.
The search for a new chief began last fall. Mayor Curt Leng put the search on hold pending the outcome of some of these controversies. Garrett Monday agreed that “it would be very hard to bring in a chief right now while we’re in this turmoil,” especially pending the conclusion of an investigation into Eaton’s actions on April 16.
Some in town have promoted an internal choice for the job, Capt. Kevin Sampieri. Garrett said the town needs “more diversity in our police chief,” along racial and/or gender lines. (“I think a woman would be fantastic.”) Among the candidates who applied last fall: New Haven Assistant Police Chiefs Racheal Cain and Luiz Casanova and now-retired Chief Anthony Campbell.
During her radio appearance, Garrett called for community policing. Leng has, too. She disagreed with his quest to add three community police officers and two school resource officers to the upcoming fiscal year’s budget; she said the town can’t afford the positions. She called for incorporating walking beats into every patrol officer’s regular routine rather than creating specific walking beats. She also disagreed with his proposal to have officers interface with community programs at the Keefe Community Center. (Leng is scheduled to appear Tuesday at 11 a.m. on WNHH’s “Dateline Hamden.”)
In response to a listener question, Garrett said it’s not her job to decide whether the officer who fired his gun in the April 16 incident, Devin Eaton, should be immediately fired; it’s the job of the Board of Police Commissioners. She said she has watched video footage of the incident and didn’t like what she saw.
Click on the video below to watch the full episode of “Dateline Hamden” with mayoral candidate Lauren Garrett, who discussed her campaign, her personal background, and fiscal issues facing the town:
Community policing is not a golden bullet any more than looking for a cop chief outside the department.