Thomas Breen photos
Asst. Chief Jacobson (right) supporting neighbors at a Fair Haven protest.
Jacobson, with daughter Kelli, at Monday's presser.
After a nationwide search, Mayor Justin Elicker has reached within the police department for a new chief, selecting Karl Jacobson to be the city’s next top cop.
The mayor made that announcement Monday morning during a press conference on the second floor of City Hall.
Standing alongside Jacobson, Acting Police Chief Regina Rush-Kittle, West Hills/West Rock Alder Honda Smith, and several city police commissioners, Elicker said that he has nominated Jacobson to be the next permanent police chief of the New Haven Police Department.
Now the Board of Alders must review and vote on the mayor’s nomination before Jacobson can officially step into the role. Elicker said he plans on formally submitting Jacobson’s nomination to the board on June 6.
After a “robust” search process, Elicker said at the press conference, “by far the individual that was the most qualified was right here at home, right here in front of our face.”
“He earned this job.”
Paul Bass Photo
Jacobson on South Genesee Street last week for a community vigil following the murder of 18-year-old Anthony Strother, whom he knew and worked with.
Jacobson has served as an assistant police chief since 2019, when then-Police Chief Otoniel Reyes picked him to lead New Haven’s Investigative Services Division. Before rising to that rank, Jacobson held leadership roles in the NHPD at Project Longevity, the Criminal Intelligence Unit, the Shooting Task Force, and the Narcotics Unit. He has long been a familiar face at police press conferences and community meet-ups alike, showing up to support neighbors at events ranging from an “occupation” of a problem bar’s parking lot in Fair Haven to a vigil for a murdered teenager in West Hills.
Jacobson came to New Haven’s police department 15 years ago after spending nine years with the East Providence, R.I., police force, and rose through the ranks. He lives in New Haven’s Upper Westville/ Beverly Hills neighborhood.
Most recently Jacobson spearheaded the revival of a pandemic-paused intelligence-focused effort to cut gun violence by focusing on the small numbers of young people most directly involved in criminal activity. This year New Haven has seen a drop in shootings; Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Hamden have all seen more homicides. He has developed deep relationships both in the community and in other local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies.
According to a press release put out by the mayor’s office on Monday, in his current role as assistant chief, Jacobson oversees the department’s patrol operations, the detectives division, SWAT, emergency services, and school resource officers, among other responsibilities.
Thomas Breen photo
Elicker (center) with Police Commissioner Darryl Brooks, Police Commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro, Acting Chief Rush-Kittle, and Jacobson.
Elicker spoke Monday of those community relationships.
“The thing that I am most impressed is example after example of his genuineness, his commitment to the community,” Elicker said. “He shows up after hours. He knows people’s names in the community, whether they are victims of violence, [or] the perpetrators. He knew Anthony Strother, who was shot and killed last week. I think that that genuineness is vital to the success of community policing.”
“He is community policing at its finest,” echoed Rush-Kittle, who is currently the city’s acting police chief and previously oversaw the department from her City Hall coordinator role as the city’s chief administrative officer. (She plans to return to that coordinator job after the city’s next police chief is confirmed.)
Through Project Longevity, the multi-agency violence-intervention effort, Jacobson said Monday, “I learned to knock on people’s doors and tell them I want them to be safe and stay out of jail.”
As chief, Jacobson said, he would aim to convince more New Haveners to be cops and to build police “legitimacy through procedural justice.”
“Then you solve homicides better. People adhere to the law,” he said of the legitimacy-policing approach, which emphasizes how police actions help determine public reactions to the force and its own behavior.
Jacobson also pledged to promote diversity within the department. Asked about whom he would support as assistant chiefs, he responded, “I’m going to look for a diverse group to help me through this journey.” He stressed the importance of having “diversity in the ranks,” and to surround himself with people unafraid to let him know if they think a goal or a plan he is pursuing is not a good idea.
Alder Honda Smith at the mic on Monday.
West Hills Alder Honda Smith attended Monday’s press conference and expressed support for Jacobson’s nomination. “He is a man of his word. Two, three o’clock in the morning, he answers the phone. He calls me to let me know what’s going on in the community.”
“I know he can be a great chief of police,” she said. “He believes in the people. … I believe in him.”
Asked her position on the nomination, Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers stated: “The nomination will follow the normal process and be reviewed by the Aldermanic Affairs committee, then move on to the full BOA. I look forward to the opportunity to hear more from the nominee on the direction of the police department including the plan to diversify the upper ranks.”
Monday’s announcement comes less than two weeks after former Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez retired following her own thwarted nomination for the top spot. The Board of Alders rejected Dominguez’s appointment last December, and, in late April, a state judge ordered her to vacate the role of acting chief after finding that the Elicker Administration was violating the city charter by keeping her in that interim position for more than six months.
When Dominguez stepped down, the mayor picked Rush-Kittle, the city’s chief administrative officer, to serve as acting police chief while his administration completed a months-long, consultant-supported national search for a new permanent police chief.
Elicker’s pick of Rush-Kittle broke with recent precedent of having an assistant chief helm the department as the mayor seeks out a new full-time chief. The mayor said at the time that he was bypassing Jacobson — who has spent the past year serving as the city’s only assistant police chief — because he knew that Jacobson was applying for the full-time role, and he didn’t want to unduly influence the search process by having an applicant in that interim spot.
At Monday’s press conference, Elicker said that 15 different candidates wound up applying for the city police chief job. He said that search process is now over, given his selection of Jacobson to be the next chief, pending confirmation by the alders.
You can watch the press conference in the above video.
Father, Daughter Hit The Books
UNH
Karl Jacobson , UNH ’22 M.S., with Kelli Jacobson, UNH ’25.
During the pandemic, while serving as assistant chief, Jacobson returned to school as well, earning his master’s degree in criminal justice at University of New Haven. One of his classmates was … his daughter Kelli. Kelli joined her father at Monday’s press conference.
Following is the text of a write-up about their joint studies, written by Renee Chmiel and published last December in UNH’s Charger Blog:
Karl Jacobson ’22 M.S. has been working in law enforcement for the past 25 years. An assistant chief for the New Haven Police Department, he says his time as a candidate in the University’s graduate program in criminal justice has enabled him to look at the field with a new lens and to further incorporate diversity into his work.
Jacobson, who completes his master’s degree this month, says the exchange of ideas in his classes and the interactions he has had with his classmates have been invaluable.
“I believe the information from the other students was helpful, and I feel the information I gave them about policing was helpful,” he said. “I was even in online courses with some of my officers and interim New Haven Police chief Renee Dominguez ’20 M.S. This brought fruitful discussions of our coursework to our work outside the classroom.”
Jacobson says his relationships with his professors were especially beneficial. He cites Lorenzo Boyd, Ph.D., Stewart Professor in Criminal Justice and Community Policing, and John DeCarlo, Ph.D., a professor and former police chief – both recognized experts in policing – as having been particularly impactful. He says his “Policing Fragile Communities” course, taught by Dr. Boyd, helped him get through a particularly challenging time for law enforcement officers.
“I was in this class during the protests related to the murder of George Floyd,” he explains. “This was a tough time in policing, but this was the perfect course for a newer assistant chief attempting to navigate the challenges facing the community and police officers during this time in our country.
“I remember one week we had protests in front of the police station that drew thousands of people,” he continued. “I was able to suggest tactics to peacefully get through the protests, and that week, I was writing a paper for Dr. Boyd on the Black Lives Matter organization. I believe all officers should go through this course with Dr. Boyd.”
Jacobson’s passion for law enforcement and service has already inspired one of his fellow Chargers – his daughter Kelli Jacobson ’25, a criminal justice major. Her dad has worked in the field for her entire life, and she too hopes to dedicate her career to helping people. Her goal is to become a park ranger, since she wants to combine her passions for criminal justice and environmental science, helping people and the environment.
“The stories he has always told at the dinner table definitely influenced my decision to be a criminal justice major,” she said. “My dad would always tell me all different kinds of stories, whether an action packed one with a car chase or how he helped someone that day. Over time, these stories had a major impact on me, and I knew I wanted to do something along the lines of what my father does. I am very inspired by my dad who has made such a big impact in many people’s lives throughout his time in law enforcement.”
A member of the Chargers field hockey team, Kelli has already demonstrated a commitment to excellence – and good-natured competition – on the field and in the classroom.
“It has been great earning a degree while my dad is too,” she said. “We are definitely able to bond over it, and, sometimes, we even get competitive about who has the better grades.”
Karl is excited to continue to share his passion for the field, as well as what he has learned during his 25-year career and at the University, with his daughter, as well as his fellow police officers. He hopes to inspire them to keep learning as they serve their communities.
“I am extremely proud of my daughter, who is a hard worker and a dedicated person,” said Karl, who aspires to become a chief of police. “I hope I have inspired her to always pursue her goals and dreams and that anything is possible. We cannot just acquire knowledge from school or real life, we must pass this on to make us better officers and people.”
Paul Bass contributed to this article.
Jacobson is the right person for the job and the right person for New Haven. But I'm sure the alders will have a meltdown and destroy another worthy candidate.