As the police department prepares to promote officers to sergeants, 10 African-American cops are saying: “Halt!”
John Williams, an attorney for the 10 cops, who are suing in state Superior Court, filed a motion this month that would prevent the city from making promotions based on the results of the police department’s recent sergeants’ exam.
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday. Click here to read the motion and accompanying documents.
The 10 African-American cops claim the city’s Civil Service Board moved to limit promotions of off the most recent promotions list because no Latino cops made passed the exam.
The group’s case against the city is still outstanding. Eight other cops are suing the city in federal court for the same reason.
Meanwhile, the police department recently finished a new round of sergeant exams. Williams said his clients chose to file a motion to block any new sergeant promotions because that would “fill up the spots” before their complaint gets to trial.
Once the open sergeant slots are filled, “all we can get is money,” Williams said. Money is not enough to compensate the cops for being discriminated against by the city, Williams said.
In an affidavit accompanying the motion, Officer Bruce Bonner — one of the 10 plaintiffs — claims that Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova “stated a few days ago that the results of the most recent examination will be posted within the next few days and that it is the intention of the City of New Haven to make promotions to Sergeant off that list ‘very quickly’ and that if any of us attempts to enjoin such promotions the city intends to claim that there is an ‘emergency’ requiring immediate promotions.”
“The city will be responding in court to the motion for temporary injunction,” city Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden responded in a statement emailed by the mayor’s press office. “Until that time, suffice it to say that the motion lacks merit. Hiring and promotional decisions at the New Haven Police Department are done in accordance with the law and based on the broad public safety interests of all of the city’s residents, rather than the limited interests of a few individuals.”
This prompts me to ask two questions. "Can this city do anything right?" and "If the city can get it right, any chance the lawyers could leave well enough alone?"