Markeshia Ricks Photo
After a week of tensions between the community and police, Mayor Toni Harp told the city’s newest police officers that they should be prepared for more scrutiny from the public.
“After tonight you are no longer police recruits,” Harp said Friday night before swearing in 37 men and women graduation from the latest academy class (two of them bound for Hamden, not New Haven). “You are police officers. You are the public face of authority.”
The ceremony took place at Career High School an hour and a half after a protest and counter-protest wound up downtown.
Mayor Harp swears in the new officers.
Harp said that the men and women have become officers at an important time for the city. It is a time when the city is hiring officers in large numbers to decrease staff shortages. It also is a time when the city is receiving national recognition for community-based policing.
But she didn’t shy away from the high profile St. Patrick’s Day arrest of a 15-year-old girl, and the subsequent internal investigation of the actions of the arresting officer that sparked protests at the police department and City Hall.
“You may receive more scrutiny,” she said. “But please know, as you begin your assignments … you have the full support of me and my administration.”
They also had the support of many of their loved ones who packed the auditorium of Hill Regional Career High School.
Many of the new officers, like Marco Correa. could boast of having multiple generations of their family in attendance. Correa received his badge from his father, who is Bridgeport Police Officer Eddie Correa.
Being a police officer “is in my DNA,” Officer Marco Correa said. “The drive, the will and compassion for law enforcement — it is always something I wanted to do and I’m blessed to have a chance to do it.”
Grandparents Eddie F. and Rosa Correa and aunt Ana Garcia cheered him along with other members of his family .
Like classmate Correa, Officer Tiffany Ortiz received her badge from her father (both pictured), who also is a New Haven police officer. As she and her father posed for pictures, one of her family members called out: “Daddy’s girl!”
Ortiz, who was one of the class leaders, told her classmates, “From the very beginning, we all had the same goal: To be the very best we can be,” she said.
New Haven Police Academy Director Lt. Max Joyner said that over the 31 weeks of training, the new officers were pushed to develop to their fullest potential. He told the graduates that they had earned their badges that were pinned to the front of their uniforms by loved ones and beloved academy instructors, and that they were what Ortiz said they were.
“We only graduate the best of the best,” he said. “And they are the best.”
Bennie Ellis said when his son, Officer Ameer Williams (both pictured), was little, he wanted to be a bus driver. Instead he’s wearing a different uniform. Ellis could not have been more proud.
Williams said he grew up in New Haven, and the city needs more officers like him. “I think the city of New Haven needs police officers from New Haven,” he said. “We understand the community and the culture.”
Police Chief Dean Esserman kept his closing remarks short, reminding the new officers that the five guiding principles of the department — duty, honor, integrity, courage, compassion — were words that officers live by and believe.
He told the friends and family gathered in the auditorium, “Go home tonight, tell your neighbors and your friends everything is going to be OK because you have a police officer in your family now,” he said.
Here are New Haven’s 35 new officers in alphabetical order: John Brangi; Michael E. Calabro; Jonathan R. Caron; Joshua B. Castellano; Marco A. Correa; Marc A. Doherty; Devin C. Eaton; Jeton Ejupi; Robert J. Ferraro; Frank C. Grillo; Horatio S.T. Hinds; Timothy E. Janus; Bleck Joseph; Rimvydas Kandratavicius; Paulius Laukaitis; Jocelyn Lavandier; Richard A. Lennon; Jeremy J. Mastroianni; Jonathan M. Meade; Jean-Paul D. Millman; Roberto Ortiz; Tiffany L. Ortiz; Joseph A. Perrotti, Jr.; Mark A. Raimo; Kristin M. Ramirez; Samantha E. Romano; Mark A. Salvat; Steven J. Spofford; Stephen J. Sudac; John C. Truhart, Jr.; Matthew A. Vernik; Ryan C. Walker; Brandon P. Way; Ameer K. Williams; and Shane M. Wityak.
Hamden Police Department also had two graduates: Jay W. Hankins and Kyle D. Smpognaro
Police Chief Dean Esserman kept his closing remarks short, reminding the new officers that the five guiding principles of the department—duty, honor, integrity, courage, compassion—were words that officers live by and believe.
He told the friends and family gathered in the auditorium, "Go home tonight, tell your neighbors and your friends everything is going to be OK because you have a police officer in your family now," he said.
Snake-Oil being sold.The chief forgot this part to tell them.
THE NEW ORDER
Esserman is not cut from the same mold as his fellow Brattonites. For one thing, he was never a patrol officer: The son of a New York doctor, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1979, went on to law school and wound up as the general counsel at the New York Transit Police at the time Bratton took over there. For another, he never went through the NYPD proving ground - in 1991, Bratton and the NYPD commissioner at the time, Lee Brown, helped him get a job as deputy chief in New Haven, and it is Connecticut's police academy diploma that now hangs on his wall.He told some officers this.I want you up all night thinking about this joint," Esserman told his staff in a memorable pep talk he delivered when he became chief in Stamford. "I want you back in the morning before you need to be because you can't wait to get to work. I want you thinking about your job. I want you dreaming about it. I want it to hurt your marriage. I want it to be your jealous mistress. I want it to be your obsession." These days, he doesn't talk about policing as marriage-wrecker, but he's no easier on his officers. "If something goes down in the middle of the night," he says, "I will be there. And if it is cold and rainy, you better be wet before I get there. I don't care how hard you work. All I care about is results. Feel free to read the rest
http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/Brattons-Brigade.html