Paul Bass Photo
New Asst. Chiefs Velleca, Adger, Redding.
The mayor swore in three new top cops Wednesday — and set about building a “bench” of supervisors who can one day take over the department.
Parents and spouses accompanied John Velleca, Petisia Adger, and Patrick Redding as they took their oaths and officially became assistant chiefs of police in a ceremony at headquarters.
Maryelizabeth Munghan pins the badge on her daughter, Petisia Adger.
All three came up through the ranks of the department. That distinguishes them from the past two chiefs and three of the four past assistant chiefs New Haven has hired. Those cops moved here for the job, then moved away again after a year or two.
And that was a central point behind naming three New Haven cops to the number-two posts, Mayor John DeStefano said after the ceremony. He would like to see the department hire from within for top spots from now on.
“This is very much about the bench and very much about promoting from within,” DeStefano said.
A wave of high-level retirements has presented officials with a challenge and an opportunity: The department has a dearth of experienced supervisors to take top spots. At the same time, brass can cultivate a new generation of young leaders.
DeStefano spoke Wednesday about how the three new assistant chiefs could potentially run the department one day, and about how some other cops promoted in recent years — Anthony Duff, Thaddeus Reddish, Jeff Hoffman, Denise Blanchard — also seem primed to continued assuming more responsibility.
John Velleca Sr. (foreground) came early to snag a front-row seat.
One concern noted in the third-floor public space where the swearing-in took place has to do with how quickly to promote people — whether rising supervisors need more than a year at each post in order to learn it well before taking on new assignments.
For instance, Velleca, who joined the department in 1992, has been head of the Major Crimes Unit since last August. (The unit last week made an arrest in an 11-year-old double murder, as it launched a new “cold-case” team with the FBI.) As assistant chief, he will be responsible for overseeing that unit as well as the detective division and other investigative units. The plan is to fill his Major Crimes Unit post with a current sergeant once a candidate is promoted to lieutenant.
Adger, who has served on the force for 20 years, will oversee professional standards. She is the first African-American female to hold an assistant chief’s spot in the department’s history. She grew up in New Haven and became a detective just two years after joining the force.
The mayor congratulates Redding after administering oath.
Redding, with 25 years under his belt, will be in charge of patrol and operations. Redding’s wife, Stephanie Redding, previously served as assistant chief as well as two stints as acting chief before retiring. She was on hand for Wednesday’s ceremony, camera in hand. So was Adger’s mom, Maryelizabeth Munghan, and Velleca’s wife Lori, father John Sr., and mom Mary. (The three new assistants join Assistant Chief Tobin Hensgen, who oversees technology initiatives.)
A tradition of early retirements has also contributed to the shallowness of New Haven’s bench of prospective top cops. Last year the average police retiree was 48 years old.
DeStefano argued Wednesday that cops retire early because of perverse incentives in union contracts that, he noted, he personally negotiated in the past. He’s seeking changes this year to mitigate those incentives.
Under the current system, he said, it’s a “rational” decision for a cop to retire after 20 years, take a second job elsewhere, and start collecting his or her pension. He said he’d like to see a minimum retirement age established, a pension penalty for retiring early, and adjustments to the pension plan’s formula for cost-of-living increases.
The mayor might encounter resistance in negotiations with the police union; the contract expires June 30. Over two hundred cops staged an angry protest at City Hall Feb. 17 when DeStefano laid off 16 cops as a budget-cutting move. With longtime union President Louis Cavaliere retiring, a new union election contest promises to feature calls for a hard line in negotiations.
City aldermen recently pressed Police Chief Frank Limon and the mayor to hold off on filling the three assistant chief slots given New Haven’s budget crisis. Limon and DeStefano responded that the city’s actually saving money by filling the slots, because assistant chiefs earn less than captains and lieutenants, because the latter receive overtime.
Velleca takes the oath.
“They are sacrificing” financially by taking the number-two slots, DeStefano said of the assistant chiefs. Limon said that overall the department will now have 29 command-post positions filled, compared to 33 when a reorganization mapped by a consultant group called the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) took effect.
DeStefano cited that PERF report in his remarks Wednesday in order to reinforce why he felt the need to hire three more assistant chiefs. PERF was called in to examine the department after an FBI sting that led to the jailing of several cops on corruption charges. PERF conclude that the department needed stronger internal controls and oversight.
“Nobody in this city should have amnesia” about why the restructuring took place, he said.
In all, the police department has six budgeted captain positions and 22 lieutenant positions. After Wednesday’s promotions, only four of those captain slots are filled, and 16 lieutenants. City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts said the plan is to promote another captain and four more lieutenants. That would enable more cops to advance and start filling the bench — but also remain under full budgeted strength, in order to avoid raising taxes in a tough budget year.
It was great to be at the PD to see the swearing in of the new AC's today.My congratulations to all.
It was especially nice to see and hear the pride of the family members of each new AC especially Petisia's mom."Mommy" has every right to be proud of her for a position gained through hard work and dedication.
It is my belief that with the addition of the three that the NHPD will now be able to regain the respect of the citizens as well as the surrounding towns and head into the new future for everyone.