Christopher Peak file photo
Former Police Chief Anthony Campbell (right) with recruits at the academy in 2018.
Over the past year, the New Haven Police Department has worked in earnest to re-establish community policing, dismantle bias in its policies and practices, and hold itself accountable for mistakes. At the same time, one of the most frequent complaints we receive as Alders is: we called the police and it took forever for them to come.
These service calls are not being ignored but, rather, calling on a system that is overburdened to the extreme. Many factors contribute to our police shortage, some of which are outside our control or will take years to rectify. However, one factor is entirely within the immediate control of the city’s executive branch and the police union, and we need them to act now. We need a fair contract with the NHPD.
Currently, Grand Avenue business owners can wait hours for a response to drug sales or drug use that take place immediately in front of their establishments. Neighbors call police about middle-of-the-night parties so loud their homes shake past 2 or 3 a.m. and similarly wait hour after hour for help, if help comes at all. Open air drug markets get out of control on corner after corner because there are not enough officers to take regular enforcement at all the locations where they are needed. Families walk through these corners to bring children to school, exposing them to fights, lewd behavior, and drug activity – just to get to school.
While these examples come from the neighborhoods we represent, the challenges are felt citywide.
In 2014, our police department was fully staffed with 418 officers. On any given night in our Fair Haven neighborhood, one of the busiest in the city, between 8 and 10 officers were on duty. These officers walked, biked, and circulated in patrol cars responding to calls for service and engaging with our community.
Today the total number of NHPD officers is around 330 – and the difference is mostly in patrol officers. On any given night in Fair Haven, we are lucky to have three officers on duty. If there is a major incident that requires pooling of citywide police resources, and Fair Haven officers must be pulled to respond elsewhere in the city, we effectively have no police on duty in our neighborhood.
Where did all the cops go? The shrinking of our city’s police force occurred largely through budget cuts and attrition. Many of the cops who leave do so to serve other cities and towns, where salaries are up to $20,000 higher, healthcare costs are lower, education incentives are greater, and family-friendly policies such as paid maternity leave are in place. In just one week last spring, we heard of seven cops who resigned, including women and people of color. While our police department works to train up new recruits, we continue to hear of officers leaving.
Among the many challenges facing police officers is the instability of working without a contract for over a year, given that the current contract expired on June 30, 2022. The implications of the delay in settling the police contract are felt citywide, and especially in parts of the city with high call volume, such as Fair Haven.
In navigating this challenge, we are reminded of how much police do for all of us. Officers do not just risk their lives to take firearms off the street and engage in dangerous foot and car chases.
They respond to murders and overdose deaths and are the first to offer support to impacted family members. Cops interact with residents struggling with addiction and mental health issues.
They talk with the unhoused in back alleys and behind dumpsters. They work with the community to manage some of society’s most complex issues, including public drug use, public drinking, sex work, and encampments – all of which permeate our neighborhood at levels that feel like all-time highs.
COMPASS is often held up as a tool for reducing demands on the police department; and while this program is a helpful addition to the social service landscape, the majority of COMPASS responses are co-responses with police.
At every major incident and event in the city, police respond – and increasingly, they are underpaid, overwhelmed, and mandated to work 16 hours a day, day after day, to support and provide safety for all involved. This work takes place in the context of increasingly little support from the court system and, too often, little perceived support from the community. After all this, our police officers return to their families facing the job insecurity that lingers without a contract.
If we want the best police officers to commit to New Haven, and to protect us in the ways that we want to be protected, we must commit to them with a fair and reasonable contract that includes salary and benefits rivaling peer cities. With law enforcement shortages across the state, it is no surprise that recruiting new officers is a challenge and that officers continue to leave for roles with higher pay, better benefits and sometimes, lower volume of incidents.
Under the current contract, a starting New Haven officer earns $50,745. In Bridgeport, the same starting officer earns $69,118; in Hartford, it’s $63,591 and in Waterbury it’s $78,654. Salaries in suburban towns are also significantly higher than New Haven’s, and make fewer demands. It’s understandable that an officer might not choose to serve a community that (in 2019) faced 13 homicides, 321 robberies, 789 aggravated assaults, and 4,958 property crimes – when they can receive $20,000+ more to serve neighboring Orange, which faced no homicides, 3 robberies, 1 aggravated assault, and 370 property crimes in the same year.
A seasoned New Haven sergeant who supervises detectives on major incidents can transfer or retire early, take a position with less responsibility in Orange, and earn a higher salary. New recruits from New Haven and Waterbury can sit next to each other at a regional academy – and the Waterbury recruit will make more than a highly experienced New Haven officer, who may well be teaching their class.
New Haven was once a national pioneer in community policing and we can again be a leader in police-community partnership. Our NHPD is listening to how we want to be protected and trying to deliver on our demands. They establish walking beats, which are especially effective at connecting officers with the people they serve – but then officers leave and the beats can’t be staffed. There will be no real community policing without more police. This begins with an equitable contract that gives current and future police officers every reason to sign up and stay to serve New Haven.
Sarah Miller represents Fair Haven’s Ward 14 on the Board of Alders. Claudia Herrera represents Fair Haven/East Rock’s Ward 9 on the Board of Alders.
Thank you for the info in this opinion piece. I had no idea the disparity in salaries was so great. Leaving aside all the other issues and in light of current living costs, why would anyone join the NHPD when they can go just about anywhere and receive substantially more pay.