Reform Expert Michael Lawlor Approved For Police Commission Seat

Mike Lawlor is now officially a member of the city’s Board of Police Commissioners — and is ready to help translate national and statewide calls for change into actual improvements to how local law enforcement works.

The Board of Alders unanimously confirmed Lawlor’s appointment to the city’s police commission Monday night during their latest bimonthly full board meeting. The virtual local legislative gathering took place online via Zoom and YouTube Live.

The alders’ final confirmation vote comes roughly three weeks after the Aldermanic Affairs Committee interviewed the University of New Haven professor and top Connecticut criminal justice reform expert for the position soon after he was appointed to the role by Mayor Justin Elicker.

“What’s clear now is that the real action on criminal justice reform is going to take place on the local level,” Lawlor said during that committee hearing about why he is interested in serving on the city’s police commission.

From new statewide police accountability legislation to urban-centered surges in street violence to mass national uprisings against police brutality, Lawlor said, ​“local police departments are going to have to deal with the challenges that have been thrust their way.”

And he’s interested in throwing his hat — and well-earned perspective and expertise — into that ring.

Lawlor is Elicker’s second appointee to be confirmed for the Board of Police Commissioners. Earlier this summer, alders also voted in support of seating Yale Law School professor and nationally-renowned police reform expert Tracey Meares.

Lawlor is a former co-chair of the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee and a former state undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning who played a lead role in designing and guiding to passage former Gov. Dannel Malloy’s ​“Second Chance Society” legislation, which reduced the number of people in state prisons and helped ex-offenders reenter society post-incarceration.

He also helped craft ​“Project Longevity,” a federal-state-city law enforcement initiative that targets resources at young people most likely to be involved in or victimized by violent crime.

And he is a Morris Cove resident who has taught about criminal justice policy at the University of New Haven since 1995.

During his recent Aldermanic Affairs Committee interview, Lawlor outlined for local legislators the key challenges and opportunities he sees New Haven’s police department facing in the years ahead. He also praised the department’s history of innovation, responsiveness, and willingness and capacity for reform in the direction of establishing greater community legitimacy.

“I’ve had the opportunity to speak around the country on this topic,” he said. ​“The New Haven Police Department is one of the more progressive and advanced police department in the nation. There’s still a lot more that needs to be done. But it’s just a great place to test out some of these proposals that we see emerging around the country.”

During Monday night’s aldermanic vote, Aldermanic Affair Committee Chair and Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana praised Lawlor’s ​“Extensive experience” as making him ​“an asset to the Board of Police Commissioners.”

Training & Recruitment

During the late September committee hearing, Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez asked Lawlor about how he thinks he can contribute to improving police-community relations in New Haven, especially in the wake of the local, statewide and national mass movement pushing for a rethinking of the role of law enforcement in civil society.

“That partnership is so crucial to accomplishing all of the goals of city government,” Lawlor said. ​“If you don’t have the trust of the people in the community, a confidence in the fairness of the police, then everything begins to break down” and you end up with more crime.

Lawlor described establishing police legitimacy — building the trust of the people in the fairness and efficacy of local law enforcement — as ​“priority number one.”

Improving that relationship starts with recruitment and training, he said.

He noted that most police departments across the state rely upon the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) for training, and that the police accountability bill successfully championed by New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield this summer requires POST to ​“completely transform itself” starting Jan. 1. Some of those changes include making it easier for POST to decertify a police officer for racial profiling or excessive use of force, banning the use of chokeholds and strangleholds unless it can be shown that such measures are necessary to save a life, and prohibiting vehicle searches unless if there is probable cause that a crime has been committed.

New Haven is unique in that it has its own academy, and more control over how its nascent officers are trained, he said. Nevertheless, the police accountability bill does offer a template for how the local department might want to update its own training requirements.

Lawlor said that his department at UNH has also been quite involved in working with local police department to recruit young people of color to go into law enforcement in the towns or cities in which they live.

“I think many people are reluctant to go into law enforcement because of the bad reputation the profession has acquired, especially in the past few months,” he said. ​“I know from first hand experience that good cops are the best thing in the world, but bad cops are the worst.”

He committed to do his best to promote local and diverse hiring by the police department if he were to be approved to the police commission. He also said he would focus his attention on how best to retain officers who might otherwise be picked off by suburban police departments that pay better and offer potentially easier and less dangerous work.

“It’s a huge challenge and will take a lot of convincing and resources and incentives to get more people to commit to policing,” he said. ​“One of my priorities is to convince people that you can make a difference.”

He said part of the job of being a good police commissioner is formulating and enacting good policies. Another key part is to bring community feedback back to the board and to the police chief. He committed to upholding both of those responsibilities if confirmed.

Violence & Reform

Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton asked Lawlor what he sees as some of the key challenges facing the department in the months and years ahead, and how he envisions the department best overcoming those hurdles.

“The immediate challenge, and the most serious challenge are the shootings that have been taking place,” he said. This is not just a local issue, he said. Cities across the country saw a sharp spike in violence over the summer.

Lawlor said the reasons for this increase could be manifold. It could have something to do with the Covid-19 pandemic, associated mass unemployment and economic downturn. It could have to do with a loss of confidence in policing following highly visible instances of police brutality, including the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May.

“Whatever it is, it needs to be addressed,” he said. Lawlor pointed to his work in helping develop Project Longevity. He applauded that program’s connection of engaged, caring and trusted community members with local, state, and federal law enforcement who work directly with young people caught in a cycle of street violence.

If young people agree to participate, he said, then they’re offered a wealth of resources and support. If they don’t participate and are caught breaking the law, then law enforcement ​“comes down hard.”

“It’s that carrot-and-stick approach that is so effective,” he said.

Lawlor also said that the city will be tasked with implementing many of the reforms included in the police accountability bill passed in Hartford this summer. He predicted that that bill is just the beginning of what will likely by a significant increase in policy changes and state and federal funding for criminal justice reform starting next year, depending on if Democrats win control of the presidency and U.S. Senate.

Lawlor said that, when he worked under former Gov. Malloy, he was tasked with managing federal grants and developing ​“shovel-ready” reform projects that could be implemented when that money was made available. He said that experience should translate well into helping the city’s police department figure out how best to spend what could be a surge in state and federal grant money targeted at criminal justice reform in the coming years.

Praise For Social Worker Response Team

In response to a question from Beaver Hills Alder Jill Marks about police officers potentially hesitating to do their work out of a concern of community criticism, Lawlor singled out for praise a new city initiative that would send out social workers and mental health experts instead of police officers to certain 911 calls related to homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness.

The city recently allocated $100,000 in local funds towards studying the potential viability of such a community crisis response team.

“Sending in someone to a high-stress situation with a badge and a gun and able to use force is not always the best idea,” he said.

Lawlor said that ​“better-trained specialists” can often deal with 911 calls related to mental illness or substance abuse or homelessness in a more appropriate way than police officers with guns and badges and handcuffs.