Policing Task Force Tackles Pot, Salary Competition

A task force commissioned to help shape New Haven community policing 2.0 still has important work to do in helping the police department shape recruitment and retention and a long-range strategic plan.

At least that’s what the the person who put the task force together, Mayor Toni Harp, told them Thursday evening.

The Community and Police Relations Task Force received a visit from Harp to their meeting at City Hall to hear her thoughts on their latest recommendations on how the police department could better recruit more New Haven residents in particular, and more minorities of all stripes in general.

Harp appointed the task force of cops, community activists, critics and supporters nearly two years ago after the controversial arrest of a teenager outside the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. They delivered their first set of recommendations to Harp last July, which included deescalation training, arrest diversion, and requiring officers to report misconduct by other officers. (Read more of that first report here.)

The task force has since delivered additional recommendations for recruitment and retention of officers. Some of those recommendations for recruitment include partnering with a local health center to defray the cost of the physical exam; outsourcing background checks to ensure fairness; updating the drug policy so it doesn’t penalize applicants who haven’t smoked marijuana in the past two years but in previous years exceeded the allotted amount. The task force also recommends that the prohibited drugs list be updated to include ecstasy.

Recommendations for retaining officers include making salaries competitive; addressing racial disparities in discipline; creating more education and mentorship opportunities; providing a ​“tip line” for officers to suggest improvements but also a ​“whistleblower” line too; and finding more ways to incentivize officers becoming homeowners in New Haven.

Harp told her task force that their latest recommendations were ​“really good work.” She said she has been talking with Interim Chief Anthony Campbell on how to start implementing some of them before another recruitment class gets underway, including consulting psychologists about the psychology assessment to ensure that it is culturally competent.

She said there are also plans to draft a new request for proposals for companies to conduct the psychological assessment, which hasn’t been done in years. The city also is looking at how it can make salaries more competitive so New Haven can stop losing cops to the suburbs.

Reefer Madness

She said the task force was on the money about the issue of marijuana, especially given that being caught smoking pot is an infraction on par with a speeding ticket.

“If that is the way in which the state sees this substance, we need to rethink whether using it in two years” is a reason to keep someone from joining the police department, Harp said. ​“I agree with you on that change and given that there was a move in that direction last year to consider legalizing marijuana, and that [legislators] will probably do it again this year, I think we need to take another look at our policy.”

Harp said it’s not appropriate to use the same metrics that were used 10 or 15 years ago.

“I like your report,” she told the task force. ​“I think you’re really on to something, and in some areas, I think you can take it up a notch.”

Task Force Co-Chairs Leroy Williams and Eli Greer said that now that the task force has received the endorsement of the mayor to keep working, they and other members want to help the department develop a long-term plan, though the work seems to be a moving target.

“Whatever happens in the world affects us whether it’s a bombing, or a shooting,” Williams said. ​“It takes us off track for a little while, and that it constantly comes up in the national news, and takes us away from what goes on here. Trying to keep us focused on what’s going fon here, staying focused locally can be tough.”

Sometimes the national becomes local, such as problems around policing and immigration that people were protesting even as the task force was meeting Thursday.

Greer pointed out that the police department, particularly through the work of Lt. Racheal Cain of internal affairs, has finally tackled its general orders to make them more cohesive, less redundant and even indexed. Greer said that with the help of a little pressure from the task force and the backing of the mayor, the police department is getting a full time IT person. Within four to six months, all of the general orders are expected to be available online.

Like the mayor, Interim Chief Campbell, who attended the meeting, agreed that it’s time to make some changes to the drug policy so that ​“our policies catch up with what the law really is.”

Salaries

He also said that the city has been in negotiations with the police union since July on a new contract. Part of those discussions include how to make the department more competitive, noting that ​“people vote with their feet.”

At one point last year, New Haven had lost 18 rookies it had paid to train to suburbs within two years of their leaving the academy. (Read more about that here.) Campbell said that number is now up to 25.

“If you can do the same job, sometimes at a scaled back version of the job for $25,000 to $30,000 more, in another town, where really in many instances you’re facing less risk, why wouldn’t you” leave? Campbell said. ​“I don’t blame people for that. Everybody’s got a family, bills and student loans to pay. So we have to be competitive if we want to get the best candidates and expect to hold on to them. We are the lowest paying department in the state, and we do, in my opinion, the most work. And it takes longer to reach top pay, which is not competitive with other cities.”

He said all of those salary concerns are being addressed to the benefit of residents and the department. He said he sees the role of the commission to ​“sharpen the department.”

“Personally, I think their role is crucial,” he said. ​“One of the biggest mistakes any police department, any organization can make is thinking you can sit back and come up with all of the answers yourself. You have to have outside, not only input, but also sounding boards.”

He said by letting the task force see the departments policies, vet what the department does, and provide feedback, it makes the department better.

“There’s verse in the Bible that says, ​‘As iron sharpen iron, so does one man sharpen another.’ I think that’s what this task force does,” Campbell said. ​“It sharpens us as a police department and refines and sifts through those things that really shouldn’t be there an it improves is so the quality can rise to the top.”