Thomas Breen photos
Changing of the guard: CAO Rush-Kittle (left); retiring Chief Dominguez.
New Haven’s embattled acting police chief is clearing out of 1 Union Ave., and the mayor is breaking from precedent in choosing whom to put in her place.
The acting chief, Renee Dominguez, announced her departure — originally planned to take place once New Haven found a new chief — in a press conference Tuesday afternoon outside police headquarters.
“Friday will be my last day of work,” Dominguez said, citing “negative” stories in the media about her predicament as influencing her decision.
“It’s the right time to go. There’s a lot of criticism. There’s a lot of negative media coverage. Politics, not performance, is being attacked. It is time to allow the officers to continue to move forward,” she said, with members of her command staff assembled behind her.
Dominguez at Tuesday's presser.
Mayor Justin Elicker announced that he has decided to name his chief administrative officer (CAO), Regina Rush-Kittle, to oversee the department starting Saturday. Rush-Kittle moved to New Haven last year to take the CAO job.
That is a break from precedent: During the last three chief searches, an assistant chief — who at the time was under consideration for permanent chief — served as acting chief: Otoniel Reyes, Anthony Campbell, Dominguez herself. All three in fact were then selected by the mayor for the permanent role (though Dominguez’s nomination was subsequently rejected by the Board of Alders).
Elicker held a 5:30 press conference outside City Hall to announce his plan. Rush-Kittle is not a certified Connecticut police officer but has served as a state trooper (including in supervisory roles) and Middletown cop. As CAO, she oversees the police, among other departments.
Starting Saturday, she will work full-time as acting police chief while deputy CAO Rebecca Bombero will step up to serve as acting CAO, the mayor said.
The mayor said on Tuesday that his administration has been in conversation with POST, or the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council, and that he believes Rush-Kittle is legally allowed to serve as acting police chief, even though she is not a certified officer.
Elicker said at the press conference that he bypassed Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson for the acting chief role because of the ongoing search process for a permanent chief: “I think very highly of Chief Jacobson. I don’t want to influence the process at all of who is going to be the next permanent chief of police. The potential applicant should not be in that job.” Elicker previously appointed Dominguez to serve as acting chief the last time he was looking for a permanent chief (and did nominate her until months later).
The application window has closed for the chief’s job. Elicker said nine people had applied as of yesterday. He said he does not know if that number had changed by the time the application window formally closed last night. (See below for video recordings of Dominguez’s and Elicker’s separate Tuesday press conferences.)
Top supervisors and district managers standing behind Dominguez at presser.
At her earlier press conference, Dominguez repeatedly thanked the rank and file for supporting her as chief and doing good police work in a tough political environment.
“They have lowered crime this year by 73 percent. We have less homicides than Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Hamden. They have done that … with the uncertainty of who is standing before them as the chief,” she said.
“It is because of them I am choosing to leave on Friday. They deserve not to be in the media in a negative way because they do so many positive things. … I have absolutely no regrets. You can’t work in this wonderful city with these amazing people and have any regrets. … I’m very proud of everything I have accomplished and we have accomplished together.”
Asked about her next steps, Dominguez replied, “I’m going to have the best job and be a mom for a little bit to my two kids, which they’re very excited about. I’m sure there will be something for me in the future, because I’m not done. I’m excited to see what’s next.”
Her tenure as chief has provoked controversy for a variety of reasons, including allegations that Black officers were being disciplined more strictly than white officers, that the top ranks of the department became all-white for the first time since 1994, that a militaristic approach to policing had replaced community policing, and that the department as a result was solving far fewer major crimes than other comparable departments. Defenders said Dominguez worked hard and performed well and was unfairly blamed for problems that preceded her and were beyond her control, and have affected departments nationwide. (It was inaccurately alleged that alders were seeking to have a Black or Latino chief installed; in fact many of the critics have supported a different white candidate for chief. Dominguez as well is white.) Elicker delayed announcing his nomination of Dominguez until right after the last mayoral election, and community protest followed.
Judge's Ruling Added Pressure To Leave
Dominguez had previously pledged to Elicker that she would remain in the job until he found a permanent replacement. They both stuck to those positions amid accusations that they were bypassing the city charter in doing so.
Dominguez’s announcement Tuesday comes roughly two weeks after a state judge ordered her to vacate the position of acting police chief.
That’s because, in a ruling issued in a court case first brought by Newhallville Revs. Boise Kimber and Donnarell Elder, state Superior Court Judge Michael Kamp found that the Elicker Administration had violated the city charter by keeping Dominguez in her “acting”/interim position for longer than six months, even after the Board of Alders turned down her nomination for the full-time police chief job last December. The mayor’s reading of the charter would have allowed her to stay in the acting role indefinitely. The judge found that the charter limits an acting police chief’s time in that temporary role to six months. (Click here to read the contested section of the city charter.)
Elicker said Tuesday the city will no longer proceed with an appeal of the judge’s decision, which criticized as “illogical” the administration’s legal argument for keeping an acting chief in that temporary role indefinitely. “There is no defendant at this point. The case is moot,” he said.
Asked about the legal basis for appointing Rush-Kittle as acting chief, Elicker said “we are comfortable” that he has that right.
Rush-Kittle, meanwhile, has been the city’s CAO since December. Before taking the City Hall “coordinator” post — which oversees departments like police, fire, public works, parks, and the emergency operations center — Rush-Kittle worked as a state deputy commissioner of the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. She also served three years in the U.S Marine Reserves, and previously worked as a corrections officer, a Millbury, Mass., assistant police chief, a state trooper, and the head of the state police department’s central district headquarters, among other posts.
The city is still looking for a new permanent police chief.
At the press conference, Elicker repeatedly decried the “politics” of people seeking to undermine Dominguez. He expressed no second thoughts or doubts about his decision to nominate her.
“I have been deeply impressed at her integrity, her honesty, her commitment to doing the right thing, for her work ethic, and her tenacity. She has shown in particular over these recent months — with political drama in the background, some people trying to undermine her — a poise and perserverance that I think all of us should strive to emulate,” Elicker said of Dominguez.
Bring back Luiz Casanova !!!