Cops, Neighbors Canvass Hill In Wake Of Shootings

At a corner where two men were shot last Thursday, 10 Hill neighbors and cops gathered to go door to door to offer people reassurance and seek some sort of solution to the current wave of violence.

The group gathered at the corner of West Street and Columbus Avenue.

“We’re going around to make sure everyone is OK,” said Sgt. Justin Marshall, the neighborhood’s district manager.

The party broke up into three groups and set out, knocking on doors to speak with residents. (In order to maintain the confidentiality of those being spoken with, it was requested that no pictures be taken during this time and that the names of residents not be used.)

The group included two police academy chaplains, Angel Ramos and Maria Rodriguez, police academy chaplains. Ramos said he wanted to help let people know the police are there for them when they need help.

Howard Boyd, president of the Hill North Community Management team, spoke on making the Hill more ​“safe, healthy, and educated.”

After making the round Monday, Boyd said he was surprised by how open people were with the police officers. ​“Their presence made a difference,” he said. However, the residents also said it would make more of an impact if police officers come around to see them more often, not just after a crime has been committed.

One older couple told Boyd Monday that because of the recent spike in shootings, they no longer feel safe to go buy ice cream and walk around the neighborhood while eating it. They feel safer sitting on their porch eating ice cream from their fridge.

With all the federal Covid relief money going around, ​“the Hill needs to be rescued,” Boyd argued. He spoke of the need for a community resource center, since some people in The Hill have a hard time getting downtown due to Covid concerns on public transportation.

Boyd said he hopes to continue to work with Marshall to schedule walk-throughs, as he thinks the residents would be happy to see the same people checking in on them regularly.

Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez, another canvasser, said she learned about a ​“beautiful initiative” put into place to help local children. In moments of crisis, the Yale Child Study Center and the NHPD work together to stage interventions and help the local children that need it. They provide help by allowing children to talk to trained professionals about the issues that are worrying them. Rodriguez said while going around on Monday, she was happy to see that instead of just gathering information, the police offered parents help. One parent said that they were glad the police came to their door, because their 14-year-old child was distressed and needed to know that there was a way to get support. That parent was informed about the Yale Child Study program.

Rodriguez did say that she worried residents would be concerned about police being on their doorsteps without a call. ​“When people see blue, they assume there is a problem,” she said. However, she also said that she thought having familiar faces such as herself and Boyd helped to assuage some of those fears, and that they were able to have helpful conversations through that.

Going forward, Rodriguez said, she intends to continue to work closely with the community management team and keep in mind that they have useful resources, so that they can successfully plan for their districts and work towards a safer New Haven.