Deadline Glitch Sinks 6 Would-Be Cops

Six candidates — including three women, two of them African-American — were on their ways to becoming New Haven cops when an alleged bureaucratic back-up sent them packing.

The six candidates had received conditional job offers and been in the process of passing background checks and exams when they received a letter from Interim Police Chief Otoniel Reyes last week informing them the department couldn’t get its applications ready in time to send them to the state POST (Police Officer Standards and Training) Council academy in Meriden in July.

“We have just learned that we will not be able to meet the deadlines required by the hosting academy,” Reyes wrote. ​“Unfortunately, this means that we will not be moving forward with any further processing of any candidate who accepted a recent conditional offer.”

Reyes added that, because the department won’t be able to put together its own class of cadets before its civil service list expires in September, the candidates will need to reapply if they still aspire to become city cops.

Besides a lost opportunity for the officers, the decision means New Haven forfeits the money it spent recruiting and preparing them for the academy, and has to start over in the quest of refilling its depleted force. The six names appeared on an approved civil service list of candidates from which recruits can be drawn, but the list expires in September.

“We do not want to cause confusion since we were not able to currently move forward with a small satellite academy and at the same time, will begin the marketing of a new recruitment campaign,” Reyes wrote. ​“It is our sincerest hope that you will consider applying, testing again and placing on our new list so that we may have the pleasure of considering you again in the future.”

The six abandoned candidates are Nickesha Birch, Ericka Knight, Grace Pascale, Radim Kunz, Michael Dwyer, and Steven Herbette. The department has been trying hard to recruit more women and black and Latino candidates. Birch, Knight and Pascale are female; the first two are also African-American.

The POST academy had informed the New Haven department that it needed to confirm by May 31 that it would fill the seats being held for them, confirm the names of the recruits by June 12, and deliver their completed paperwork by June 24. Session #366 of the academy, in which the six were scheduled to participate, is to begin July 5.

Reyes: Too Few For New Haven Class

The decision to cancel their academy applications and withdraw their offers came on May 17; their polygraph and psychological exams were scheduled for May 21 – 23.

Acting Chief Reyes told the Independent Wednesday that the department couldn’t compete the background investigations in time. ​“It would be rushing them” to try to make the deadline, he said. ​“We always want to have a thorough process. We never rush it.”

He also said the department doesn’t have enough recruits available to run a class at the New Haven police training academy.

An officer who has worked regularly with POST for years told the Independent that the academy there routinely seats people even if their paperwork isn’t all in or background checks completed on time, ​“as long as there is communication” with the sending police department.

“They have seated people up to the morning of Day 2” of the academy, the officer said.

The six would-be New Haven cops had their names on a certified civil service list that became the subject of controversy raised by the Rev. Boise Kimber, a politically influential minister in town. Kimber objected when the name of his stepson, a candidate, was removed from the certified list. Kimber hired a lawyer to challenge a background finding that his stepson had failed to make rent payments in the past, and complained to city lawyers, top cops, and civil service officials.

Now the list is canceled. His son, like the six canceled would-be cops, will be able to apply again.

“They probably canceled the class based on my raising the issues of my son,” Kimber said Thursday. ​“I’m done with that. A lot of shady stuff was done.”

Asked about the decision to cancel the six candidates’ conditional offers, Mayor Toni Harp Thursday said she wasn’t familiar with the situation. Her chief administrative officer, Sean Matteson, who oversees the police department, said he expects a new test for entry-level officers to be given this summer. He predicted the list of ranked passing applicants could be certified in October and a new class launched at the city’s training academy in January.

Asst. Chief Racheal Cain noted that for the six candidates to have made it to the academy on time, not only would background checks need to be completed, but separate meetings of the Board of Police Commissioners and Civil Service Commission needed to take place to remove the names of candidates who had appeared higher up on the list, and then another BPOC meeting held to approve conditional hiring offers.

Like Acting Chief Reyes, Cain said the decision was motivated by purely by a desire to avoid ​“rushing it. I don’t want to put us in the position of having the potential of missing something.”

The police department currently has 108 vacancies. Instability over a union contract and better pay in suburban departments has driven officers to look for jobs elsewhere.

That staffing shortage has led to projections that the city will spend approximately $675,000 a month in police overtime costs, nearly twice what had been budgeted.

Would-Be Rookie Ready To Return

“It’s disappointing. But if it’s meant to happen, it will happen,” applicant Grace Pascale said of the sudden end of the process and the prospect of her fulfilling her goal of becoming a New Haven cop.

After having completed a background interview and initial physical and written exams, Pascale, who’s 26, had been gearing up for the psych and polylgraph tests scheduled for last week when she got the news.

She applied to the department two years ago, having wanted to work in law enforcement for years. A native of Madison, Pascale said she grew interested in the philosophy of community policing while studying for her associate’s degree in criminal justice. Then she saw firsthand how deeply ingrained that philosophy is in New Haven while going through the process of entering training.

“The experience I had so far was really positive. The officers I met, and watching the camaraderie and the way they work together, that’s definitely an organization I want to be part of it,” she said of her recent weeks at the NHPD. ​“I want to be part of … building a positive relationship with a community, doing something bigger than myself and having a bigger impact.”

For now, Pascale said, she plans to finish up her bachelor’s degree at Southern Connecticut State University in sociology and psychology. And when New Haven next puts out the call for new cop candidates, ​“I definitelly will reapply.”