Police Union Torch Passed

The leader of New Haven’s police union is joining a cop exodus to the suburbs, handing off the reins to a 12-year veteran officer.

The leader, Craig Miller, is retiring from the force Saturday after 20 years as an officer in the second year of his second term as president of the 325-plus-member New Haven Police Union Elm City Local.

The union’s executive board has voted 5 – 1 to have current number-two Florencio Cotto serve the remainder of Miller’s term which expires in May.

The two were part of a team that pulled the local union away from a criticized state parent union in 2014, then in 2015 ushered in a new era of leadership after more than three decades of Cavalieres (Lou Sr. and Lou Jr.) running the local.

Miller begins a new job Monday as a patrolman in North Branford. He leaves at a time when concerns over the future of the police contract, a subject of binding arbitration since November, has led more than 55 officers either to retire or to resign in just the past 13 months and often take jobs with higher-paying, lower-stress suburban forces. The police contract expired three years ago.

“It was a hard decision,” Miller said of his retirement.

He noted that suburban departments are routinely paying starting officers $10,000 or $20,000 more than New Haven’s $44,000 beginning salary, topping out as high as $80,000 to $90,000 compared to New Haven’s $68,000 patrol cap. Meanwhile, amid New Haven’s budget woes, the city seeks continued health concessions, including increased contributions for covering retirees’ family members.

As a result, young officers ​“are using New Haven as a training ground,” Miller observed during an appearance with Cotto on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. ​“It’s very discouraging for all the members.”

Unlike his predecessors, Miller remained out of the limelight as union president. He refrained from colorful quotes, often referring questions to the local’s attorney. He pressed concerns of the membership — from health givebacks to the decaying condition of cruisers — without leading protests against or publicly attacking the chief. He testified at the Board of Alders against a proposed new civilian review board, arguing that it violates the union contract.

“I’m sorry to see him go. North Branford has gained not just a great new officer, but a great human being,” Chief Anthony Campbell said of Miller Thursday.

Campbell attributed their issues-focused working relationship to mutual respect. They gave each other heads up about brewing problems, he said. They kept in regular communication.

“I respected where he was coming from bringing me the concerns from the body. I think he respected what I was trying to do creating more transparency and accountability for the department. We both agreed those two things were important for the department,” Campbell said.

In Miller’s final week with the union, the executive board did release a public statement criticizing the city for the Board of Education’s a $102,000 ​“hush money” separation agreement with a departing schools official and the Litigation Settlement Committee’s ​“frivolous” $35,000 legal settlement with an arrested teenager while battling the police union in binding arbitration. ​“The Harp administration would rather spend thousands of dollars in lawyer fees than settle our contract,” charged the release, which accused the city of ​“union-busting.”

“Police officers of all ranks and years of service are fleeing New Haven in droves,” the release stated. Click here to read the full release.

“Mayor Harp, Chief Campbell, and members of the Board of Police Commissioners all share with members of the executive board of Elm City Local, Inc. the hope a new police officers’ contract will be resolved and ratified soon,” mayoral spokesperson Laurence Grotheer responded in a written statement. ​“As a reminder, it was the overwhelming majority of the rank and file membership of the Elm City Local, Inc. that voted in favor of ending negotiations with the City, opting for the binding arbitration process instead.”

Who Answers At 3 A.M.

Cotto said he looks to ​“build on” Miller’s efforts. He said he learned a lot from Miller, including the need to remain available to members.

By keeping his cell phone on overnight, for instance. Miller said he would receive calls at 1 a.m. or 3 a.m. Asked why he didn’t turn it off to sleep, he said he needed to be able to respond immediately if an officer has a problem with a supervisor on duty, or if an officer is shot or has shot someone. Chief Campbell said that whenever an officer has been an involved in a shooting, he would promptly call Miller once he had notified assistant chiefs and the state’s attorney.

In the radio interview, Miller spoke of wanting to become a cop since he watched cops addressing problems when he was growing up on Waterbury’s South Main Street.

When he was 21, he worked on the Sikorsky Aircraft assembly line and lived with his family in an apartment owned by a Waterbury cop named Walter T. WIlliams III. Miller looked up to Williams. ​“You should be a police officer,” Williams told him.

Williams was shot dead on the job. After attending Williams’ funeral, Miller resolved to take up Williams’ advice and follow his childhood dream. He applied to New Haven’s force and landed a spot. On a subsequent visit to the D.C. memorial to fallen officers, Miller found Williams’ name and took a photo of it.

Over the years, Miller decided not to pursue promotions to detective or sergeant. He likes being a patrol cop, he said. ​“I like being out in the street. I like being out in the community. I like being involved with people” and with ​“other officers.” That’s why he applied to become a beat cop in North Branford rather than seek other ways to spend his retirement from the New Haven force, he said.

Over the years, Miller said, he did experience why cops can feel dumped on — sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally, like the time ​“a bunch of pigeons pooped on me” from atop a building at Winchester and Starr streets. He said patrolling New Haven for 20 years ​“is like putting in 35 years elsewhere” because of the high level of activity on the streets, not to mention the politics.

But he found the work rewarding, he said. He appreciated when parents come out of their homes to thank him for his work. He spent time in schools on anti-drug campaigns. he got along with people of all walks of life.

Cotto spoke of how he, too, dreamed of becoming a cop while growing up, in his case in Westville. His inspiration was his uncle, now-retired city cop Samuel Cotto. He remembered first considering the idea when his uncle picked him up form preschool while still in uniform.

Like Miller, Cotto said he enjoys patrolling a beat and saw no reason to try to climb the department ladder. He did get involved in union work. ​“Instead of complaining about it,” he said, ​“I wanted to change it.”

Click on the video for the full interview with Officers Craig Miller and Florencio Cotto of the New Haven police union, on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”