Markeshia Ricks Photo
Police Chief Anthony Campbell
Alder leaders said the police chief took their remarks “out of context.” The police union leader called the chief’s remarks “disgusting.”
The chief, Anthony Campbell, meanwhile, stood by his remarks and said he is trying to alert city officials to a “crisis” before it’s too late.
That was the latest fallout from Campbell’s remarks about why he is retiring as police chief as of March 29 to take a new job in the state’s attorney’s office.
In an interview with the Independent Friday announcing his decision, Campbell said he is leaving because he, like other cops, worries that he’ll lose medical benefits if he stays.
He said the final straw came at a recent meeting with Board of Alders leaders. He told them he and three of the four assistant chiefs have been looking for other jobs out of fears that they’ll otherwise lose retiree medical benefits; he noted that 59 cops have fled the department over the past 13 months. He warned that if the top cops flee (one of them, Otoniel Reyes, still has to wait a year to qualify for retirement), no one with more than 11 years on the force will remain. The suggestion was made that in that case, New Haven might end up like Hartford and need the state police to come in and take over.
Campbell and Assistant Chief Racheal Cain suggested that the alders change the way chiefs and assistant chiefs are assigned medical benefits — by no longer tying them to those in the police union contract.
Campbell, who is 45 years old, said one of the alders present, Dolores Colon, told him: Fine. Take another job. Which he took as “disrespect” and a message to leave.
Cotto: Rank & File “Outraged”
Paul Bass Photo
New Elm City Local President Florencio Cotto, Jr.
The police union’s new president, Florencio Cotto Jr., said Monday that Campbell’s remarks “outraged” the rank and file.
“My members are outraged at the thought of the chief and his assistants attempting to negotiate a ‘sweetheart’ retiree medical package,” Cotto stated.
The police union has been without a contract since 2016. Negotiations over a new contract hit a wall. So it’s now before binding arbitration. The city is seeking givebacks including having retirees pay more for their families’ medical insurance.
Cotto argued that Campbell’s stand — in favor of having chiefs get separate, perhaps better medical benefits — disrespects the rank and file, “especially given the uncertainty of binding arbitration.
“It’s plain disgusting.”
Campbell responded Monday that he was speaking up for the rank and file too.
The chief, who rarely criticized people publicly, said he felt a need to speak out about this to focus the city’s attention on the exodus of cops and the need to offer all officers pay and benefits more on a par with those offered to suburban cops.
He’ll be “fine” with his pension and new job, Campbell said. His concern in raising the issue is the future of the department, from top to bottom.
That said, Campbell argued, the chief and four assistant chiefs do need to advocate for themselves.
“We are not part of the union. How is it that we fall subject to decisions that are made where we have no say, no input?” he said.
“We have no representation. I can understand that the officers may feel like the administrators of the department might have done an end run. They have someone fighting for their interests. We don’t. We had to bring for our own self-interest, for our five families, we had to bring our concerns to the table, for our interest, and the concerns of the city.
“When you’ve got five people running the organization, and both the chief and the three assistant chiefs who can leave are looking or have applied for other positions, that’s a big concern. If this is weighing on us so heavily that we’re strongly considering leaving, we at least need to give the alders the respect of: This is what we’re thinking.”
Alders: “Out Of Context”
Thomas Breen Photo
Dolores Colon.
Which brings up the second source of criticism aimed at Campbell’s remarks Monday: The leadership of the Board of Alders.
The leadership team issued a vague statement of condemnation.
It called Campbell’s retirement “unfortunate” since discussions about executive compensation had not yet concluded. It stated that the alders fully support police officers. Then it closed by stating: “[W]e will not allow partial comments taken out of context to blemish that perception or deter from the work we recognize our officers of all ranks do day and night to keep New Haven safe,” in an apparent reference to press coverage Friday and Saturday of Campbell’s remarks about Colon’s statement.
The statement does not specify in what way Campbell allegedly took Colon’s statement out of context.
Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers did specify when discussing the issue Friday with the Independent. She said she made clear to Campbell that the alders were taking the idea seriously. They couldn’t immediately guarantee changes to the chiefs, she said, because the issue affects more than the chiefs. Executive managers across the city have their benefits tied to union contracts even though they don’t belong to unions. So the alders, who are in the midst of helping to craft a five-year fiscal plan for the city along with the Harp administration, are looking at the issue more broadly.
Dolores Colon continued not to return calls seeking comment on Monday. No one has denied she made the remarks in the meeting; another participant in the meeting has confirmed them.
Campbell Monday said he considers it relevant to have revealed Colon’s remarks as part of his reason for retiring and raising the challenge.
He did praise Walker-Myers’ remarks at the same meeting: “She was very very clear. It was appropriate. It was professional,” describing the need to explore the issue more broadly.
Then, he said, he was taken aback when Colon told the chiefs: “I have to say this because if I don’t, I won’t be able to sleep at night. My ex-husband was a police officer. I respect the work you have done. You have given us phenomenal stats. But these stories you’re sharing with us make me feel you’re blackmailing us. You’re demanding we do something for you. If we don’t, everything will go to hell in a handbasket. …”
Campbell said Colon doubled down on the remarks after he insisted “no one is trying to blackmail you.”
“She then continued to make the point: ‘Listen, if you get an offer, take it, and just go. And if someone with 11 years of service [is in charge] and the state police have to come in and patrol us, so be it.’
“It was a direct rebuttal to the facts that both Chief Cain and I had presented to them. It was very clear that she wanted to make this message get across to me and Chief Cain.
“When I walked out of the room, my sense was: We gave it a shot. They said no. I have no problem that they said no. It was clear to me that if someone feels this way about the city, that they would say what they said directly toward us presenting the facts, then that says to me: We’re in a worse crisis of leadership than I thought.”
I don't see where they're getting this "no more than 11 years of experience" thing. I know people on the force who have much more time that 11 years and they are still active officers, supervisors and detectives.