7 Alders Criticize Chief

The alders that did not sign this should be ashamed.

Why aren't the rest of the aldermen signing this letter? Are they afraid that Esserman will retaliate against them?

Once again the alders are overreacting. Why was this not mentioned when Chief Esserman was hired? The behavior was evident prior to employment. Is the " Yale Community " upset by the discipline handed down. Do the Alders understand due process? If there is no past complaints documented in a grievance procedure it can't be used for any termination. You can't use prior employment issues. The Mayor knows this that's why she issued the letter. It's time to let it go with all the shooting and violence issues the alders should concentrate on those issue. Also did the Alders raise concerns about their fellow alder who was caught in a domestic with drugs and no one moved on him until after the fact?? If your own house including Alders who had DUI's not removed why would you move on the Chief??

The chief's behavior was, as he has acknowledged, wrong. More significantly from a political perspective, it was stupid. There was no plausible reason for going after an elderly usher, in a very public location, for doing his job. I worked with elected officials for nearly 30 years. By and large, they had a limited tolerance for wrongful behavior. Their tolerance for stupid behavior is lower.

citysavior,

This Chief's arrogant behavior was not 'mentioned' when he was hired because it was The Arrogant King John doing the hiring....

nuff said...

Would it surprise anyone to learn that:

During the incident, Esserman told the usher that he could have him arrested.

Esserman identified himself to the usher as the NHPD Chief, but the usher did not know for sure if that was true (at that point).

Esserman's holstered pistol was visible to the usher during the incident. He was wearing a polo shirt and baseball cap that had NHPD on it. He did not have "Access Credentials" visible.

No one from City Hall or the NHPD has contacted the usher to hear his version of events from that day.

No one from City Hall or the NHPD (including Esserman) has apologized to the usher (as of 12-27-14).

This leads to several questions I have about the handling of this incident:

Esserman and Harp claim he notified her "shortly after" the incident. How short is shortly, compared to how long it took to reprimand him?

Reyes said the email offered more details of the incident. What were they? Did they contradict Esserman's version?

How could Harp determine how to discipline Esserman, without speaking to the usher and other witnesses?

Do you think if the NHPD Internal Affairs received a complaint from a citizen about an officer doing what Esserman did to the usher, it would not bother to interview the usher and other witnesses?

Was Esserman on-duty at the bowl that day? If he was, why was the NHPD Internal Affairs and/or the Honorable Board of Police Commissioners not tasked with investigating the incident?

If he wasn't, does he often go out in public, off-duty, wearing NHPD style clothing, with a holstered handgun visible?

It has been reported, over and over, that Esserman has apologized for the incident. To whom has he apologized? Who are the "Officials" at Yale that he apologized to? The on-camera interviews I saw of him apologizing NEVER mentioned the usher, either specifically or generally.



Everyone dropped the ball. No investigation and allowed Esserman to get away with a flaccid and nondescript "Apology".

7 (out of 30) Alders Have the Courage to Criticize Chief Esserman
This is highly appropriate and welcomed on the part of this citizen. The only disappointment is – only 7 out of 30 have the personal integrity, ethical commitment, and political chutzpah to act in this manner.

"If the Police Chief is not in some way sanctioned for his inappropriate behavior, how can we legitimately sanction others on his force who may act inappropriately in the future?" the alders wrote. "The Chief's behavior also complicates his role as an adjudicator in any misconduct cases which come before him."

This has already been demonstrated. When Lieut Helliger recently behaved like a bully and physically abused a citizen by knocking his camera out of his hands (while she was off duty), the NHPD Internal Affairs investigation concluded that Helliger had displayed "conduct unbecoming a police officer" and violated a department order protecting the rights of citizens to record the actions of police officers.
Chief Esserman overruled his own IA findings and decided not to discipline Helliger. That was reckless, irresponsible, and showed Esserman's arrogance and disrespect for Dept procedures. He should have been disciplined by the Mayor for that action. (Her letter of reprimand was for his Yale Bowl behavior)
What's the purpose of an IA investigation if its' findings can be over-ruled by the chief?

Of course, he could not have disciplined Helliger because he had gotten away with a similar behavior. The costs of these actions are larger than what's obvious. How can the public have any respect for, or confidence in the NHPD? If the chief behaves in this manner, who in the NHPD can the public trust?

So, despite him doing an amazing job with the NHPD and community policing, increasing trust and has already been admonished both publicly and privately for the incident, aldermen now want more to happen? What-do they want to get rid of him for someone they "like". This is ridiculous, let's move on.

cp06,

Amazing Job???? Evidence please....

@Bill Saunders, here's your evidence:
Community policing including walking beats, standing with the families of victims of shootings, a very high solve rate for shootings (I don't know where the number stands right now, but it has been very good under him), reinstituting the special victims unit, winning grant money for other innovative community policing measures he's instituted and much more. Oh yeah, crime has been down too. And, anecdotally, I've only had good experiences with the police under him. This was not always the case.

Typical Esserman behavior. When will the departments that hire him learn? The way he treats the public is the same way he treats his officers. I've said it before, an ill say it again. He's nothing but a bully and a wolf in sheeps clothing. Mayor Harp you need to reevaluate your top cop, or open up the cities checkbook. Because eventually he's going to cost the city a lot of money when the law suits start rolling in.

There is the obvious, and then the manifestation of an overall approach that when interpreted allows a clearer understanding of the Police Chief's standing to serving New Haven. He is the Chief of Police, commanding a force of armed individuals, who are empowered and trusted to keep all who live and visit New Haven, safe. The question is "does Dean Esserman have his priorities in Order?" One can only hope that the "ideal" chief of police has his number one priority being the people who live, work, and visit, here. Chiefs of past eras, Ahern, Dilieto, Marone, Farrell, were life long New Haveners. They truly had a connection to the people of New Haven. All of their family, friends, associates, the majority of their life experience was here, and betrayal of their trust would be on par with betrayal of one's self. That's how strong the connection was between these Chiefs and the people. Sadly Dean Esserman is a "modern" Chief. He cannot be a political threat to a Mayor, as he is essentially a stranger. He will do exactly as he is told by management, a perfect model of a police chief for those that were never police officers, but "manage" the city. He has no intention of staying here; this is just another "stop over" in the progressive building of a resume that will ultimately take him to his goal, which is not to be the Chief of the New Haven Police Department. If one really wishes to understand where his priorities lie, review the Police Commissioner of NYCC, Ray Braddock. Commissioner Braddock is Chief Esserman's "Rabi", his mentor, his role model, and his greatest benefactor. It was from Braddock's influence that Chief Esserman was first hired here, as an Assistant Chief. His "police" credentials will not be reviewed. But he was tasked to create a structure and policies for the NHPD, to take it into the new millennium. He "allegedly" completed that task and left in triumph to his next job. As we all know the department went down in flames from his influence.

The end result was cops killing unarmed citizens (some mentally ill, other's for minor violations executed by choke holds from officers who had already cost other innocent citizen their lives by loaning their police guns to relatives, who then killed with that gun.), corruption so deeply confusing and deep rooted the FBI had to raid the New Haven PD headquarters. The deaths, and crippling of an unprecedented number of young officers due to truly terrible training and instruction, and the eventual surrender of control of the department to a group of west coast cops, who were going to try and correct the course of the department as set down by Dean Esserman, on behalf of Chief Pastore.

And now his sentiments are on public display. He does not want to be here. It is beneath his career goals. The longer he stays here the worse it will be for him, his family, and the public, who will suffer from an organization empowered to protect the people of New Haven.

Morale within the NHPD has been bad since 1990, with the arrival of the "Pastore" era. It has not been characterized as "good" since that time; 24 years. This is a shame, as pride in one's work translates into folks who perform to the best of the ability and this is shown in the day to day exchanges between the police and the public. Obviously this environment of chronic low morale and pride of service has finally returned to the creator of this malaise. At this point a solution may never arrive, so these events will continue. And even if this chief exits, recovery will not occur overnight.

Well CP06, you must look like an upright citizen, then.

Since I look the part of a 'marginalized citizen', my experiences with the Esserman NHPD are quite different......

I will leave it at that.....

And you are right, C3PO, Community Policing has expanded.

I don't know about walking beats elsewhere, but in my neighborhood this 'revived policy' amounts to a cop sitting idle in a marked car on the corner.

So, I am going to say, that is not great evidence of this 'community policing notion' you have put forth. Though admittedly better than under King John's reign, still not the engagement that happened in the early nineties. It is just a matter for Dispatch.

Under Esserman's reign, 'press ops' will continue to obfuscate true commitment, and 'less than acceptable' will continue to be the status quo.

I am fascinated at this.Here is a case of a Yalie getting hollered at after he is insulting to the chief and people are lining up,jumping up and down,writing letters in anger.But,let fights break out on the Green,public drug sales and use at the Kiosks,drunks sleeping on benches,threatening behavior,sexual assaults (myself and a wonderful young man stopped a sexual assault and an incident with a box cutter,after everything was over THEN the police walked across the street!!)all happening across from the police substation and not one person on the BOA has a word to say about it...I wonder what the difference in population could possibly be???!!!