Harp Weighs Expanding Chief Search

Harp sounded really tired. She also said she wasn't going to Serfilipi's (sp?) forum. It seems like she is just counting on race-based affinity an get-out-the-vote effort amongst the black population

Weak leaders do weak things... Her indecisiveness and listening to the wrong individuals will be her legacy and her demise.

If the community has chosen Kenny Howell i dont see how hard it is to make a decision. We the people have made our selection and understand that he would be asset to this community. I still say Kenny Howell and thats the majority shouldnt it rule since it has to do with our well being. Kenny Howell for police Chief!

Don't interview anyone else. These are the top 3 that the Search Committee chose ... that's why we have search committee. Don't disrespect these candidates by looking elsewhere. And don't be swayed by individuals in the 'corners' of the African American community of which I am a member. We are much more than our race and I expect more ... from my chief AND my mayor.

Kimber thinks he is the one running New Haven and he is not. He needs to focus more on the word of God and stay out of politics after all who is he to judge anyone or did he forget that God is the only one to judge anyone. Remember that all men are created equal regardless of color or race

Clear sign of weak leadership. With all the scandals related to police violence in Chicago and Baltimore why in the world would she be seeking a leader from either of those cities. NHPD is toxic enough. God bless the New Haven community if she chooses the wrong person. 2 of the 3 selected have already had their leadership skills on display. I would think it would be a slam dunk decision. Who is in her ear that she can't make a decision and yet when you look at the history of those she has chosen thus far I too would second guess myself.

The message this sends to the NHPD rank and file is clear: you can serve for 15 or 20 years and risk your life for our City, but you'll never be good enough to become Chief. The message is heard by other departments as well.

Dennis Serfilippi
https://www.facebook.com/events/347098422640075/

This is awful to put these candidates through this. Here we go again with the BS police chief process in NH. The committee picked the finalists and that is where he Mayor should be looking for her next Police Chief. Those that did not get picked were not picked for a reason. Further, I am from the community in NH and I am so tired of Kimber getting involved where his loud mouth does not belong. He does not speak for everyone in the community and he needs to stay out of politics. According to the article Kimber is putting pressure on the mayor to pick Howell. If Kimber is supporting Howell then I don't want any part of either of them.

There is no indication in the article whose link is embedded in this article that Rev. Kimber is supporting a particular candidate for the Chief's position. That fact can only lead one to believe that the reporter here, Paul Bass, asked Kimber in a different setting (interview?) whom he prefers. My question is, why did Bass particularly seek out Kimber for his opinion on the matter.

The Rev. Mr. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

(Paul: Thank you for the comment. The reverend has taken a leading role in organizing meetings and urging the mayor to support Mr Howell as the next chief.)

Aside from personal opinions bashing Rev. Kimber within these comments, Rev. Kimber has not publicly stated he was for any particular candidate. If he has told Mayor Harp that he was for Chief Kenny Howell, that is his personal opinion. Is he not a resident of New Haven,CT like the rest of us? Does his spiritual beleifs or position make him exempt from sharing his own opinion about who should be chosen for Chief of New Haven? He attended the majority of the open discussions and forums, where the community spoke to each candidate, including those the Mayor did NOT attend. His opinion is based off of his personal experience with each candidate. Whether stated or not, we are ALL entitled to the first amendment.


I myself have been at each community gathering regarding this topic and Chief Kenny Howell is not only well qualified for the position, served in NHPD for over 21 years, an attorney, obviously the communities choice, but also he is the ONLY candidate that has already been a Chief. He knows how to protect and lead New Haven,CT as this is where is was born and raised.


My hopes is that as the very diverse community (not just African Americans) has openly shared their support and encouragement for Chief Kenny Howell, that she would take that into consideration. Not to feel "pressured" but to feel thankful that the community is speaking up collectively, peacefully and from all places and positions. If the majority want Chief Kenny Howell and more importantly feel they can TRUST him,why extend this process or "expand" it any further? We want Chief Kenny Howell for Chief of Police for New Haven,CT. The wait should be over by now

Foodnews: Poe's law applies. Are you being sarcastic? What community, what people choose Howell and how? I don't recall any vote, nor is the police chief an elected position.

@Paul,

I think "the reference" (Rev. Kimber) was GIVEN a "leading role."

[Paul: Excellent point! As usual. Thank you. And typo fixed.]

@Mr/Ms/Mrs. CTstandUP,

No one suggested that a particular person cannot have an opinon. The question is why is this particular person mentioned when other persons who have opinions are not singled out?

And before you claim that someone is "bashed," perhaps it would be good to understand the words written and the written word.

Kenny Howell was a Chief of a small town of 13,000 people and the demographics of that town were nothing like New Haven and he couldn't even keep that job. He does not even live in New Haven like the other candidates. I am from the community and have attended these forums and I have heard nothing about supporting Howell, but I have heard good things about all of the candidates from community members. Kimber does not speak for the community!!! Let the Mayor do her job.

We want Kenny Howell! Give us Kenny Howell, simple!

It's obvious from the Mayor's comments that more than the qualifications of the candidates is at play here.

I specifically recall after one community meeting the people who attended were able to write on a note card stating who they wanted for Chief. There was an overflowing pile who supported Chief Kenny Howell. Each "vote" was sent to Mayor Toni Harp. We all know there is no election process. This was done to show Mayor Harp who the people chose after hearing and speaking to the three candidates directly for themselves. Maybe you didn't attend that one and hopefully I was able to enlighten you regarding any "votes" that were in his favor.

Also, as I stated time and time again, we support Chief Kenny Howell not for personal reasons. Not because this one is for him or this one isn't. We support Chief Kenny Howell because He is well qualified, has served our NHPD for over 21 years, an attorney, compassionate,fair,consistent and is the ONLY candidate that has ever been a chief before.

There have been continuous open discussions within the community and once again the majority of the people have openly voiced their opinions that they want Chief Kenny Howell. Key word "majority". The 2 or 3 ppl on this comment thread that feel differently are entitled to their opinions. Say your peace and keep it moving.

It matters not how many people were in the town that he was Chief over.That is just yet another qualification that he has OVER the other candidates. So he was chief over a poplulation of over "13,000" and the other two candidates were chief over none. Thank you for putting emphasis on the numbers. That really helped prove my point.

Let's not fail to mention that he protected and served in NHPD for over 21 years rising up in the ranks. New Haven knows Chief Kenny Howell.This may be the population that Mayor Harp stated was "pressuring" her to choose him....as He has served
NHPD/our community half of his life.

We can all go back and forth about personal opinions or we can look at the facts. Chief Kenny Howell is the most qualified and requested chief for New Haven,CT .

I have worked side by side with each of these candidates. Each one is well qualified to run the department and all are capable of embracing the community. As a department however, we have gotten away from the anchor of community policing which is knowing the people by name and being open to their needs. We have barely any walking beats and that is mainly due to the numbers. We do not have the number of officers we need to be an effective community based department. The number of officers on the budget was cut by the mayor which is unconceivable. This was justified by saying crime is down, don't fool yourselves, the numbers are cooked before presented to the public. Robberies are one of the biggest problems in the city which is why New Haven is often listed as one of the most violent cities in the nation. What does all this have to do with the selection process for the chief? The problems mentioned above exist now and existed under Dean Esserman. That to me says a lot about Reyes and Reddish. I would never personally bash these gentlemen but the truth is the department needs restructure. It needs to be totally committed to the community policing program which was so effective under Nick Pastore. Kenny Howell is just the person to take on that task. The department is still plagued with clicks, and the "good ol boys" of the past. There is no consistency of discipline, there is hardly any leadership, and there is no morale. Three more staples lost in the constant shuffle of the chiefs on the third floor (The game of thrones). Was there a promise made to someone that he would be made chief if his camp supported making Campbell the boss a few years ago? Is that why its so difficult for the mayor to do the right thing in making Howell the leader the department needs or is she afraid because its an election year and there has been a swing in the demographics of New Haven? How insulting!

Award winning activist Barbara Fair organized this program with Rev. Kimber, but the NHI focused Kimber. I can't tell if this is sexism or just another way to frame a story.

@ CTStandup:

"Chief Kenny Howell because He is well qualified, has served our NHPD for over 21 years,attorney,compassionate,fair,consistent and is the ONLY candidate that has ever been a chief before"

There is an interim Chief right now who is running the NHPD and the other candidate was an Asst. Chief and had over 22years of experience I believe. All of these candidates are qualified in some form and all have protected and served and rose throught the ranks.

"We support Chief Kenny Howell because He is well qualified, has served our NHPD for over 21years,an attorney,compassionate,fair
,consistent and is the ONLY candidate that has ever been a chief before."

Who is the we you are talking about? Having a law degree will not keep crime down in New Haven. The community is not interested in how many degrees one has but how they can help New Haven.

As far as the community voting for Howell, we do not know who voted for who, this wasnt an election. It was a few menbers that showed up at a forum, which by the way I did attend. I listened to the comments from the people int the audience and definitely did not get the feedback that Howell was the choice. So please stop making statements that all of New Haven wants Howell. No one has seen the votes and besides not all of New Haven was at the forum. There were a few people at the forum and a lot were police officers.

Finally as you stated, "Say your peace and keep it moving". Obviously you cant take your own advice because you posted two lengthy posts. Again, let the Mayor do her job because the rest of New Haven is not paying attention to your false claims.

IF ANYONE HASN'T LEARNED ABOUT SECOND GUESSING ETC SIMPLY TAKE A LOOK AT THE BOE. MADAM MAYOR YOU ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE PERSUADED INTO TAKING A CANDIDATE THAT WASN'T QUALIFIED AND IT HAS NOW COME FULL CIRCLE WITH INCOMPETENCY MAYHEM ETC ETC. A COMMITTEE YOU DETERMINED TO BE COMPETENT SELECTED THESE THREE AS THE FINAL. IT APPEARS THAT TWO OF THE THREE ARE SUPPORTED PRIMARILY BASED UPON THEIR PERSONAL CONNECTIONS TO PARTICULAR BACK ROUND NOISE MAKERS. JUST APPOINT MR REDDISH. HE HAS DEVOTED HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE TO THE CITY . He has continued to live here even after retirement from the PD. When it would have been easy to sell his home and relocate to a lower tax base,to a community where everyone doesnt know his name he chose to stay.
He has been present and seen all the city has gone thru. He sees our youth and the complexities they face in school as well as out.

I hope that we don't bring an outsider into the role of Chief of Police, because only a native of New Haven is going to be able to approach our city with the knowledge, passion and fortitude to get down to the nitty gritty of change that is needed!

We must have someone who will be able to come in to the roll of Chief of Police without biases or political influence.

And my final comment Mayor Harp is that we don't want to bring an outsider in, coming from Baltimore or Chicago two of the most corrupt police departments ever! Please don't do it...

Your citizens are watching and waiting on you to make the right decision.

Knowledge, experience, ability to comprehend what is truly best for the city is what we want!

Former Chief and Retired Lt.
Kenny Howell is our choice! He has the department, citizens and our city as his number 1 priority and I feel he is your strongest candidate.

I think at this point, we all just want what is best for the city and its residents. We want a chief who radiates community policing. We also want a chief who is not going to bail before his time and get a payout from the city. We want our chief handcuffed to New Haven!

Otoniel Reyes couldn't be more manipulative and disrespectful to citizens and officers. The mere fact he wore a blue patrol shirt to this forum is a clear indicator to his pandering, manipulative ways. This is not the mannfor the job. He purposely wore a blue patrol shirt rather than his chiefs white uniform to pander to the community and make them believe he is a genuine cop. This is far from the truth.He wore a blue shirt because that's what the community sees most, that's who shows up at their door when help is needed. The only reason for this was to pander to the citizens to make them believe he cares about the citizens and that they can trust him and look at him like a cop on the street. This is a disgusting display of pandering and I know for a fact most officers in new haven do not want this man as chief. They also feel very disrespected that he would wear a blue shirt because they know the reasons behind it and how he treats the actual cops who wear blue everyday.

tcannon
I respectively agree to disagree .You can NOT speak for all residents of NEW HAVEN any more than I can. I believe retired assistant NHPD Chief ,active NHPS school chief, New Haven resident by CHOICE not for the job resident REDDISH is the best candidate for the job. He and retired NHPD lieutenant Howell came from the same police academy class where they were both groomed in community policing. Reddish has worked thru out the department including the academy ,Internal Affairs and Patrol. In addition he has stayed in NEW HAVEN thru it tumultuous scenarios as well as is progresses. There is no learning curve of who the new players and officers are. Howell has little repport if any with the existing rank and file because he wasn't there. This department is extremely young.
The reverend aka MR KIMBER has an opinion and it should carry no more weight then you or I as he is but a flawed human being as are we. NO ONE ever elected him to speak for them or to lead them. Further has absolutely ZERO experience in law enforcement and countless failed attempts at being an elected official. I will not continue to debate with you over the merits and qualifications of either candidate I know them both know there personal and professional qualifications and they are both great representatives of what NHPD has groomed but I stand firm that your personal opinion is just that. There are equally as many tax paying adults and up coming adults who support each and some who dont like either

I respect everyones opinion and do believe that my position is just that, my opinion-and of the that have disussed this topic at length. Ultimately, it is up to Mayor Harp so we will love it at that.

ALL VIEWS ARE RESPECTED.

Myself and everyone in my family want Howell. My son was inspired by Howell's answers and is now applying for NHPD I don't know all the details about any of this stuff. I just feel Howell was real with what he said. My household stands with Howell 100%

A valid Point he made and I wasnt in attendance but I read the whole article and the comments but Howell mentioned why havent any Police Explorer gone threw the program and have become Police Officer as other towns honor this program. These programs are great for show but there needs to be more work done to help the young people who inspire to be Police Officer that ate actually from the City. Howell has a heart mind soul and background that will make that happen

As Howell is tainted by association with Kimber and the corrupt mayoral cadre; he should not be considered.

Kenny Howell was one of the most dedicated cops in our city during his tenure. He is a brave and ethical young man with an unmatched work ethic. He WILL NOT be influenced by Kimber and does not need Kimber to toot his horn. His work and his life speaks for him. The drug dealers and thugs hated to see him coming and many changed their ways under his watch. He and his two brothers took care of an ailing mother and their own children as single parent dads. He knows every nook and cranny of this city and is immune to corruption. Crooks in and outside the police department will have a lot to fear if he is selected. Kimber is delusional if he thinks he can manipulate Kenny. Kenny's two big brothers, Michael and Randolph has his back and are themselves incorruptible. Howell is an American success story and would be a fine chief. Both his personal and professional life are examples of loyalty, responsibility, and dedication to duty.

@Conscience: The thought of incorruptibility may be comforting to believe but it is absolutely NOT TRUE.
POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY (Lord Acton)

I have lived in Newhalville all of my life and I remember when Reddish was running our neighborhood. He cleaned up the violence that was going on before he got there. I hear all this talk about Kenny Howell. Well, he was our district manager after Reddish left and let me tell you Newhalville got worse. All I know is that Reddish was a great district manager, he grew up and still lives in the ville and would be a great Chief.

@Conscience:

Further, Reddish was in charge of Internal Affairs under Esserman so what did he have to do with the lack of Community Policing. Blame the AC who was in charge of Patrol!!

@ Truthbetold:

I totally agree and what needs to be asked of these 3 candidates is who was ever been arrested and for what?

@Paul: Some of my comments were redacted and in the process, the comment that I directed it to was Cop4twenty, not Conscience.

Let's see, Kimber supports Esserman for a new contract but Esserman was forced out. Kimber supports Chief Campbell and Campbell abandons the city. Kimber supports and defends Birks, now she will most likely be fired because of a lack of leadership and knowledge of her job. Kimber wants all-boys charter school now that is being investigated by the Feds. Finally, Kimber supports Howell for Chief. See a pattern here?

Noone has confirmed that Rev.Boise made that statement as he has not went public with it. Toni Harp was delivered the subpoena two and a half weeks ago along with others. If she felt Rev. Boise was in a negative place in the publics eye, right along with her, then she strategicly made this statement to make it appear that Rev. Boise and Howell are associated in some way. Why has she not mentioned any other supporter of the other candidates? Especially if they were tied to something negative in the press.

This lady is up to no good and the more she attempts to do her dirt, the more I am swaying towards Howell. He really does appear to be the underdog pushing for change in our community. This is why so many people want him. This lady is crazy

@CityYankee: Wrong conclusion to eliminate Howell because Kimber may (source?) support Howell.
My comment pointing out that Barbara Fair set up this program with Kimber's cooperation was not published for some reason.
Fair and a number of other activists are in Howell's corner.
It was the NHI's pairing of Kimber alone with Howell that seems to distort reality.

I have lived in the newhallville ALL my life And I have ALways heard and seen Kenny Howell help on a personal level helping out in some way shape or form. You can speak for yourself but you cannot speak for the entire newhallvile area. Ive been for Kenny ever since I heard he was a candidate and especially after i learned more about him and the other candidates. Man he has been through everything I been through rised up and still inspiring so many! He was a light of hope when he was around...we need that back. Facts!

I was at the forum and after all of the candidates talked, one of the candidate's brothers stood up and said that everyone needs to stop judging my brother and holding against him what he did years over 25 years ago. No one asked what he did including myself. I should have asked but like everyone at the forum, I did not want to open the door. Seems fishy to me.

She should choose Reddish!!! Pick Reddish.

Howell was the only one that made me feel safe as I desire to enter into law enforcement as a lesbian He assured that the LGBT would have an equal opportunity to get in and rise up. I beleive him and hope our Mayor will give him a chance. Aside from everyones religious beliefs, Howell was the only one that shed light on a topic most are sweeping under the rug. Its not only blacks and hispanics that need equal rights, us that make up the LGBT community in new haven do also. I'm with Howell

Reddish should be Chief. Everyone talks about how they want someone from New Haven to be Chief and police officers that are from New Haven and represent the community. Well, that's Reddish. He was born and raised in New Haven, lived in Newhalville when he was young and lives there now. He lived in Newhalville as the District Manager of Newhalville. He knows the children in the New Haven Public Schools as Chief of Security. Howell left New Haven and now he wants to come back as Chief. Reddish knows what's going on in New Haven right now because he never left! GOOD LUCK REDDISH!!

I have lived on the same street as Reddish for many years and I always remember him using his snowblower to help me get out of my space as well as others. He has also used his snowblower to help out some who did not have one. I also see him picking up any trash on our street. Everyone knows him and he always speaks. I don't know the other candidates but I do not Mr. Reddish and I would love to see him as Chief not just because he lives on my street but because he hears the same gunshots and sirens we hear because he lives here. He doesn't run back to the suburbs and hide. He knows what we face because he faces it too. What more could you want in a Chief. THAT IS COMMUNITY POLICING PEOPLE!!

EVERYONE I KNOW WANTS HOWELL! GIVE US HOWELL! THIS IS A NO BRAINER!!! IVE LIVED IN NEW HAVEN ALL MY LIFE. THE PRESSURE SHE FEELS IS BECAUSE THERE IS A MOVEMENT PUSHING FOR HOWELL. THAT IS WHO WE WANT! HOWELL ALDAY! HE IS THE CHANGE WE NEED! PERIOD!

Wow! This is unbelievable! That is not fair to these three candidates that have went through this long process for her to say she is thinking about looking at people who didn't make the final three!How can she even do that?! The other people were obviously cut for a reason! What is the Mayor doing?! She is in her own personal crisis because of her own wrong doing!