It Started With A Manhole Cover

This terric story is a perfect illustration of why we need Chief Lewis to stay longer in New Haven.

Excellent piece.

I hope the Chief continues to ramp up the traffic stops, not just so crime falls even more, but also for economic and cultural development -- if people feel safe leaving their house and walking or driving in the city, our economy and sense of community benefits.

"It started with a manhole cover..." and it will end if Lewis leaves town!

It took him time to build trust in both the officers and the public- and now that we're seeing actual, measurable changes, he's got to RENEW HIS CONTRACT!

New Haven Loves Top Cop Lewis!

I fully agree, ramp up the traffic stops big time and civilize this town. Double it again and we may have average streets compared to other US cities. As it is now I see a ton of crazed and angry people all over.

I agree with Nan. I hope Lewis stays longer.

It would be great if he'd start policing the police. I see an awful lot of them chatting on their cell phones while driving like idiots.

Paul, I think you have a typo here or else Chief Lewis misspoke. According to the official data the PD released earlier, there were approx 10000 traffic stops in 2007, and 15000 (up 48%) in 2008.

Given the level of traffic disorder in 2007 and 2008, issuing only 20000 tickets in 2009 is not enough of an increase -- the Chief had previously set a target of 25000, saying even that might not be enough to create a real change.

Can we hit 25000 (or better) in 2010?

Regarding the last comment -- looking at the crime log through last week, it seems we may still hit 25000 tickets given the figures here are apparently through the end of September. The language in this article is confusing - it says "through November" and "to date" and "through September" in the same paragraph.

The crime log lists about 10000 tickets in 2007 and 15000 in 2008.

<i>"Contrary to popular belief, crime doesn’t necessarily rise in hard economic times....Lewis said."</i>

So if Chief lewis is newly reforming NHPD tactics, how does one explain the steady drop in crime from 1990 to recently (prior to Chief Lewis' recent arrival)if it wasn't due to a robust economy?

Just askin.

This story doesn't tell us what this has cost taxpayers. How much more are we paying for this 12% drop in crime. Has police overtime gone up or down. How much does it cost per serious crime in 2009. How much did it cost in 2008. What percentage of crimes were solved this year. What percentage last year. What number of arrests ended in successful prosecutions. I am asking these questions as I feel less safe now than 2008. It comes down to one thing. Did more bad guys get incarcerated this year. This is the only statistic that counts.

@charlie: i'm not concerned with the cost at the moment: moreover, it's likely that simply doing things that weren't done before "on the clock" by definition creates a better VALUE for the citizen (if we are to look at it in such crass terms). as for feeling safer, that's largely in the eye of the beholder, in which case i'm glad to say i feel more than 12% safer than last year.

We went nuts when we thought "community policing" was out the window. But I think this chief is proving that he gets what community engagement is all about.

I also hope that all of the hood haters noted that one of the reason reported as contributing to a decrease in crime is "police have started hearing a lot more from citizens, even in neighborhoods where people fear retaliation."

Hood Rebel, the Chief set a model for that himself, when he kicked off the first 5 months of his job by going to several community meetings every evening. If all of our officers and community leaders got involved at that level, people would be even more willing to talk.

I want to echo the call for additional increases in traffic stops and street arrests. I've lived in several different areas in the country and after 10 years here, I still find it amazing that basic traffic laws never seem to be enforced here. A particular pet peeve of mine is double parking, but you could add to it running red lights, intentionally driving the wrong way on one way streets and, of course, the cell phones. This all adds to the safety of the city as well to the general feeling of lawlessness.

This article shows that we need to get Lewis to stay longer, or at least hire his twin brother/sister. This is good news in a town that, I agree, is full of anger and resentment, which breeds more anger and resentment. I was reading the comments on the Register after the recent shooting/car crash was reported, and I was shocked at the low, low level of "discourse" about the event. I felt like I was living in the most racist city in, the south, not in CT. I am grateful that NHI readers are more thoughtful and intelligent. We have to all work together, and not divide. We have to continue to help the police by reporting crimes, keeping watch, not allowing crime to fester and we need to behave like, dare I say, model citizens to show that we want this city to be all that it can be. I was also happy to hear that they money seized went to a youth program. We also need more of that kind of opportunity - get these kids to see earlier that there is a bigger, better world out there than they might know right now. Also, the traffic stops should continue, not just to get the secondary stash from people's cars, but also to continue to make people think twice about speeding, tailgating and running red lights here. The injured or killed in car accidents are victims, too.

Outstanding article, Paul. And thank you for including a link to Chief Lewis' powerpoint presentation of the crime statistics; as far as I can tell, the data are not available anywhere on the police department or city sites.

I second Nan Bartow and Jeffrey Kerekes in urging that Chief Lewis be appointed for a new term after his current term expires on Jan. 31 - even if he doesn't intend to serve the full four years.

Think back to where the department was two or three years ago, after the scandal in the narcotics unit and as PERF presented its lengthy catalog of shortcomings and 50+ recommendations, and compare that with where the department is today. Chief Lewis and his Assistant Chiefs and officers have done a superlative job.

There's still a lot of work to be done, of course - for example, non-fatal shootings are still much too high, there are still too many guns readily available in the city, there are still neighborhoods where residents feel unsafe, there are still problems reaching young people at risk and assisting released felons. But almost every PERF recommendation has been implemented, crime in most major categories has dropped substantially, and the city today is a much safer place than it was two years ago.

Let's hope Chief Lewis decides to stay on for at least another year or two.

KJ: The statute against talking on one's cell phone while driving exempts police officers. Your point on driving "like idiots" may have some validity, but keep in mind that officers respond to the vast majority of calls without lights and sirens, and are often, but not always, responding to calls to help someone when you see them driving "like idiots."

Police are a very small part of solving the issue of high crime rates in our society.

Children in this city, and in most other cities in this country, are growing up in places that are not conducive of childhood, in the sense that streets are unsafe to use, crime prevents normal curiosity from occurring and it stumps safe exploration of one's surroundings, which help to place people in the world and give them perspective, and the cultural and social isolation through class, income and race segregation (some of it by choice: people tend to live with other people who are like themselves, this is easily observable in history, but what I'm referring to is the involuntary segregation, which does exist today) that is prevalent in most inner city neighborhoods in this country has destroyed opportunities and potential for many young people. Conscious decisions were made after WW2 to disinvest in city neighborhoods in favor of giving tax breaks and subsidies to people who wanted to build and inhabit places that were purposefully zoned, organized and built inefficiently, originally inexpensively and illogically . The effects of these decisions are still around today in the form of mass amounts of vacant lots in inner city neighborhoods, boarded up buildings, and lack of jobs in places where people need easy and convenient access to jobs the most. The type of degradation that has occurred in these places since will never be solved by police. The solutions come from moving priorities around to favor a logical, efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and spiritually uplifting living arrangement organization over an illogical, inefficient, ugly, and spiritually degrading organized environment.
Basically this means we must reorganize existing suburbs to act more like towns, we need to rejuvenate our old cities and towns and we must abandon exurbs. We must create environments that mean something, and that encourage culture to flourish, instead of worshiping shopping, television, and electronics over fellow human beings. Children deserve better than the suburban wastelands of monoculture, depression, drug abuse and immobility; they also deserve better than crime ridden streets filled with speeding traffic and absent fathers. Grown ups deserve better than living pay check to pay check just to support their transportation needs to get to jobs that are too far from affordable or desirable housing.

The City and Chief Lewis have greatly improved the city's data systems and officers now more often report crime statistics directly to the community.

This is crucial for planning and, as the Chief points out, has helped the community address crime issues more rapidly.

I agree with Norton Street that abandoned buildings per square mile, not policing, are the greatest predictor of crime. This is well-documented. However, neighborhood reinvestment is unlikely until crime rates drop.

There should be a debate about whether more effective policing or other measures are needed to do this, or if it is really a question of broader urban policy issues -- my sense is that all three factors are crucial.

it's interesting that crime always seems to go down in a mayoral election year... I wonder if that's a coincidence

Anon,
To me, it doesn't make any sense to think that crime will reduce a sizable amount before people begin to reinvest in inner city neighborhoods. It was the middle class urban exodus those occured, and as a result, most jobs, shopping and civic activeness left along with this population, leaving only aging housing, inadequate retail and lack of easy access to jobs. This is what spurred crime, more than anything. So is it reasonable to think that the solution comes from anywhere else than the suburban middle class reversing the urban exodus? The question is then, how does this occur? Who takes the first steps, how do we make for a smooth transition, etc.?
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The city is planning a roughly 3.5 mile (I calculated it as 5,500 meters, does anyone know the exact length?) long loop around downtown. The point of mass transit has always been to carry people from heavily residential areas to places of work (i.e. from neighborhoods to central business districts). But because of our mutilation of many parts of downtown, the train station is an unpleasant walk from the north. Instead of adding a trolley here, efforts should be focused on making what is a geographically short distance and easy walk into an interesting and desirable walk. Although, it may make sense to have a shuttle that operates in the winter months.
If a fixed path transit line were put along Dixwell Avenue, do you think this would encourage more investment in Dixwell, Newhallville and lower Hamden?
This same amount of track could be used linearly on Dixwell Ave and it could extend from Broadway to Treadwell Street, and possibly as far as Mather Street in Hamden.
It is unwise to allow the type of social and cultural degradation through isolation and disinvestment that is prevalent in inner cities to continue much longer while we wait for police to counteract something they've been fighting against for several decades with little progress (which is because the solution does not entail police being the primary crime-fighting agent at all).