Redding To Retire

After nearly 25 years on the force, Assistant Police Chief Stephanie Redding is moving on.

The mayor’s office announced that news Thursday. Redding’s last day will be July 2.

Redding said she is leaving to ​“follow other interests,” according to a press statement. She will continue to work with the New Haven Boys and Girls Club, United Way, and the Yale Child Study Center, where she will write grants to help children who have been exposed to violence. Redding has been involved in a collaboration between the police department and the Yale Child Study Center for 17 years.

Redding has twice taken the helm of the police department. She served two stints as acting police chief before Chiefs James Lewis and Frank Limon were hired. She was the first female assistant chief and acting police chief in the New Haven police department. Read more about that here.

“Stephanie Redding has always been there for the families of New Haven,” said Mayor John DeStefano, in the release. ​“She is a great cop.”

The release outlines the arc of her career:

“Redding graduated from the New Haven Police Academy in 1986. Upon graduation, she was assigned to Community Patrol Operations, where she worked as a Patrol Officer and later in the Mounted Patrol Unit. She was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in November 1994. As a Sergeant she served as a supervisor in both the Patrol and Communications divisions and was District Manager of the East Shore/Morris Cove district from September 1996 to June 2001.

“In August 2000, she was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant where her assignments included Deputy Community Patrol Resource Coordinator (second in command of Patrol Division) and Officer in Charge of the Family Services Division, which investigates matters relating to Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Juvenile Crime, Missing Persons, Hate and Bias Crimes, Child Abuse and Elderly Abuse. In August 2006, Redding was appointed the first female Assistant Chief of the New Haven Police Department, where she oversees Administration.”

City spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city plans to hire an assistant chief to replace Redding, but a ​“timeline for the hiring process” has not yet been established.