Uma Ramiah Photo
Adger upon being approved last April as an assistant chief.
Less than ten months after becoming New Haven’s first female African-American assistant police chief, Petisia Adger put in for retirement Wednesday.
New Police Chief Dean Esserman had asked all three assistant chiefs — Adger, Tobin Hensgen, and Patrick Redding — to move on. He praised their service; he said he just wanted to pick his own team.
Hensgen and Redding did not express any problems with the request. Adger didn’t immediately respond. Word quickly spread through the African-American community about her displeasure with the request after she met with Esserman late last week. Two activists, Barbara Fair and Clifton Graves, held a press conference in her support Monday.
The city has seen three separate chiefs over the past three years. Each moved to pick a separate team of assistants. Previous Chief Frank LImon elevated Adger to the post just last April. It was an emotional moment for her and her supporters, because of the ground she was breaking as the first African-American female in the post. (Read about that here and here.)
Adger joined the force 20 years ago at the dawn of community policing in New Haven. She grew up in New Haven and became a detective just two years after joining the force, beginning a steady rise through the ranks. As assistant chief, she was responsible for professional standards.
She did not comment when reached Wednesday afternoon.
“Every member of this department will be honored for their service to our community and treated with dignity and respect that they have earned,” Esserman said when asked about Adger’s retirement Wednesday.
Separate from the questions of policy (a chief’s desire to pick his own team, what kinds of professional experience best makes an assistant chief or chief), the latest developments prompted people to praise Adger’s positive relationship with people in the community. New Havener Eva Geertz, for instance, wrote the following in an Independent news story comment thread:
“I don’t claim to have any knowledge whatsoever about what it takes to be a good cop or how to run the New Haven Police Department.
“I will say that last summer my little daughter and I met Ms. Adger at a block party; she was kind and gentle and helped my daughter up onto a fire truck and sat with her in the truck, helping her play with little doogies near the seats, talking to her about the boots and coats and stuff. She was a good egg, as far as I could see, and it made me glad to think that she was a cop, one of the people working to protect residents of New Haven. She is obviously smart, clearly compassionate, and has a good sense of humor. I liked her, and actually I always meant to write her a note to tell her what am impression she made on me. I don’t know why she’d be forced out from her position at the NHPD — when I saw she had been promoted, I was so happy for her — but the idea that she’s being forced out, without having done anything wrong, makes me sad and angry on her behalf.”
Really!
this is what is good for New Haven?
A local that has touched people ALL OVER THE CITY. She is not just an African American officer, she is a women officer, she is a New Haven lifer. She grew up here. To me growing up here is key. This city is so different than many. I really feel that the best of our officers are the ones that had childhood here. It is a bond to the people and this place that can not be recreated. A pride and a love!
this is a definite doink moment...was anyone really thinking when this choice was made???