New Haven Independent

Casanova: Release Names, Boost Crime

by Paul Bass | May 19, 2008 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

Fair Haven’s top cop testified Monday that releasing the names of recipients of New Haven’s immigrant-friendly ID card would produce a crime “upsurge” in his neighborhood.

Lt. Luiz Casanova made the remark during testimony at the state Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) in Hartford. It was the final public session about a request to reveal the names and addresses of the 5,000-plus people who have signed up for New Haven’s immigrant-friendly municipal ID card since its launch last July.

Journalist Chris Powell and the Community Watchdog Project, a group opposed to illegal immigration, originally requested the city to release the names and addresses.

The city turned them down; Powell and CWP appealed to the state FOIC. Monday’s hearing capped some 28 hours of testimony.

Monday’s key witness, Lt. Casanova, has served as district manager in the Fair Haven neighborhood since 2005. The neighborhood has a high percentage of New Haven’s Latino immigrants.

Casanova (pictured) testified that the ID cards, along with a new general order prohibiting local cops from inquiring into citizens’ immigration status, have helped reduce crime in Fair Haven. Those two measures have made undocumented immigrants feel more comfortable to come forward to report crimes or offer eyewitness testimony, Casanova said.

The ID cards have also helped immigrants open bank accounts, which makes them less likely to be targeted by muggers because they’re no longer “walking ATMs,” Casanova said.

“Exposing these folks” by giving their names and addresses to groups opposed to illegal immigration would “destroy the trust between the community and the city government and the police department,” Casanova testified. He predicted “an upsurge in crime” as a result.

“All the positive work, the hard work, that was done would be destroyed,” he said. “All the trust we’ve developed with these folks… They would believe that we have put them in harm’s way… It would sever the trust we have established with folks.”

Louis vs. Luiz

Louis Gold (at left in photo) sought to portray Casanova’s account as “anecdotal” rather than “empirical.” Gold was handling cross-examination on behalf of his son, complainant Dustin Gold.

Louis Gold asked Casanova whether Latinos comprise most of the perpetrators and victims of crimes in Fair Haven. Most robbery victims are Latino, Casanova said; “the majority” of their muggers are black.

Gold pressed him for “raw data.” Casanova said he didn’t have any. He came to the conclusion based on monitoring and responding to crimes every day.

“I fail to see the relevance of all this ethnicity” questioning, city government lawyer Kathleen Foster objected.

“I’m trying to show there’s no [numerical] baseline” for Casanova’s statements about the impact of the ID card on crime, Gold responded. “A lot of what the good lieutenant is referring to is opinion, not fact.”

A further argument between Foster and Gold ensued about relevance when Gold asked questions about the city’s uniform crime reporting form. He noted that it lists victims’ race, university affiliation (if one exists) — but not immigration status.

“They’re claiming a public safety exemption based on crime. I’m trying to prove crime is not tracked based on immigrants,” Gold said. Therefore, he said, “claims about crime and threats” to immigrants lack credibility, he argued. “There is no empirical data.”

When it came time for Camelle Scott (pictured) to testify, Gold sought to poke holes in another security argument — that ID cards make immigrants less likely to be targeted for a mugging.

Scott works as a clerk in the City Hall office that issues the ID cards. She spoke of how the IDs can be used as debit cards, to pay for purchases at local stores and coffee shops. They also feed parking meters.

Gold asked how much money can be loaded onto the card. One-hundred fifty dollars, Scott replied.

So mugging someone holding an ID card “would be almost like knocking off a ‘walking ATM,’” Gold said, using the term invoked earlier by Casanova to describe how muggers view undocumented workers without bank accounts.

“If the cards are worth cash, then stealing the card or robbing the card could get the person cash,” Gold continued. “So potentially, instead of making someone safer,” the card could endanger its holder.

Scott responded that an undocumented citizen who uses the card to help open a bank account (it can be used as a secondary proof of identity) will be carrying around less cash than before. So the holder might have carried a lot more than $150 in his or her pocket before obtaining a card and opening an account.

Sherman D. London, the FOIC commissioner conducting the hearings, added another rebuttal: The ID cards have photos. So the mugger would be handing a card to a store clerk that has the victim’s photo on it.

Not so with parking meters, Louis Gold responded. “A stolen card could be used for $100 to $150 worth of parking.”

Scott’s testimony continued with a discussion of how one obtains an ID card. She said the city insists that people pay cash.

“Are you afraid to take checks from these people?” Gold shot back.

“No,” Scott replied.

A Journalism Critique

The discussion turned to news coverage of the ID controversy — or rather of the Community Watchdog Project. This reporter (that’s me) was called to testify about threatening or hateful statements pulled from the reader comments section of ID card-related news articles published in the New Haven Independent. Dustin Gold took over the questioning from his father at this point, criticizing a “Compost Heap” opinion article about his group’s role in this FOIC case.

Click on the play arrow to watch Gold’s cross-examination.

Then click here to watch the Independent “Compost Heap” commentary to which he referred. (The relevant portion begins about two minutes into the video.)

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Comments

Posted by: Cheri | May 19, 2008 2:38 PM

Paul, why does the CWP want the names of the people issued these cards...what do they mean to do with that info?

Although I don't necessarily agree with Casanova (that crime will go up if the names are released), I do think these folks should be given their privacy...

Also, if a card is stolen or lost, wouldn't the cardholder report this? Can't they cancel the credit/cash on the card? What's the big deal?

Posted by: facChek | May 19, 2008 3:20 PM

I still don't see that the testimony of both LT. casanova and Camille Scott of the city as being supporting documentation for the proposition that Immigrants will face physical harm as a result of the release of this information. All information held by the city of new Haven is public information, a birth certificate, marriage licences, death certificates, etc. for a fee of course. Why should this be any different? the testimony here does not make these points clear.
There is no data nation-wide which supports this conclusion. Illegal immigrants file state and federal income tax, show ID where buying beer or alcohol, display ID when making simple purchases by check or credit card... I don't get it..... There are so many instances where this card is made public by the user.

At this point it sounds more like fear of the potential for fear, or simply fear of fear itself, which has no known factual basis.

We NEED facts not fear.

Posted by: jeffreykerekes | May 19, 2008 5:11 PM

I support the Municipal ID program and testified at the hearing last year that while I support the program, we didn't have the money to start new programs. It is unclear where the money is coming for this program this year. Additionally, I was concerned about legal costs associated with this undertaking. We had a second promise to not worry about that.

Whatever happened to the free legal representation from the Yale Law Professors. They promised all of us to represent the City for free if there were any legal battles. This article reports that a city government lawyer, Kathleen Foster was there. We were promised, as part of the program, that all legal representation would be free. "The Yale Law School, through professors Bob Solomon and Mike Wishnie and the Yale law clinics, has pledged to represent the city in any legal battle over the ID." Where are Bob Solomon and Mike Wishnie??????

Posted by: this is some crazy s__t | May 19, 2008 9:42 PM

This just goes to show how little this whole proceeding has to do with the Freedom of Information Act. The presiding commissioner let it turn into a circus. He could've done a MUCH better job keeping the lid on things, and keeping the hearings focused on eliciting RELEVANT information. It's hard to imagine how ANY of the above clip of Dustin Gold's "cross-examination" is at all relevant to the Commission's analysis of whether the city met its burden of proof under the statutory exemptions.

Posted by: FairHavenRes | May 19, 2008 11:05 PM

The Freedom of Information Commission has done all the residents of the State a great service, regardless of how they rule in this case.

Dustin Gold is a 24 year old imp who has now revealed his true self, for all to see. He can no longer live in and through his website, his slanted view of the world, and through his hate group.

Some people, like Chris Powell of the Journal Inquirer, Dustin Gold, Veronica Kivela et al, believe that flag waving and patriotism is sufficient to mask their hate and distorted view of the world.

Thank you CTN for covering the previous hearings. Your coverage helped unmask the true character of Chris Powell of the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, CT. Dustin Gold, and their immigrant hate group.

Thank you to the State of Connecticut and the Freedom of Information Commission for "releasing" the true character of Dustin Gold, the Community Watchdog Project, Chris Powell, and the Journal Inquirer of Manchester Connecticut. This release of information has given us true knowledge of the shadowy world of ignorance, fear mongering, and hate.

I am sure Lou Gold is proud of his son, as the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Posted by: Fonseca | May 20, 2008 9:02 AM

Well put Fairhaveners!

Posted by: Hartford Johnson | May 20, 2008 2:26 PM

The list should be in the hands of Homeland Security, so they can enforce the immigration laws of this country.

The so-called FOIA defense is a red herring.

Where is the INS in this whole sham hearing?

Posted by: True New Havener | May 20, 2008 4:32 PM

That video is hilarious!!!

Unfortunately it is made less funny by the hate that emanates from Mr. Gold.

Can't you see how important I am -- can't you see it Mr. Bass.

Posted by: Sins of New Haven | May 20, 2008 10:56 PM

Aren't we entitled to Homeland Security? BCIS should step in and cut this nonsense out. Illegal is illegal. It's like being a "little pregnant" either you are or you are not (here legally).

Period.

Posted by: Chris Gray | May 21, 2008 2:44 AM

Louis Gold entered my life either on my first day of school at Amity Junior High School in Orange or, more likely, my first day at Amity High School in Woodbridge. Moreover, since he was in my home room and his name was Gold, he sat directly behind me with his jaw wired shut reading from Terry Southern's novel "Candy" all through the brief period there. He was hard to ignore but something in the clench jawed ferocity with which he read of the brutalization of the title character lead me to do just that until his mysterious removal from the police department and other ensuing events.

When I encountered him later in an elevator in a city building he told me he was working as a crime scene photographer, in a similarly clench jawed manner. It was probably about the time I changed from a jacket and tie into an anti-apartheid t-shirt on Sally Jesse (St.) Raphael while a formerly Connecticut-based Klansman and his son donned white robes. I don't suppose he much approved of my public posture any more than I do his.

Then, again, the first girl he fell in love with wasn't of Irish and Japanese heritage and he wasn't run out of North Haven because his family invited a builder in who would sell to an African-American school principal, after he'd first built our house next door. The only failure for which my father ever felt the need to apologize was folding to that pressure.

Race hatred has been the Bain of my life. For lack of it, I might never have had to even know Louis. The son worries me.

I gotta love Jeffery Kerekes for remembering another one of those innumerable broken or half-met promises by the Gown side of the Town/Gown divide. It has been a while since I've bothered to keep track.

Posted by: Chris Gray | May 21, 2008 3:04 AM

An interesting aside to the story of the formerly Connecticut-based Klansman is that I have a first-hand account of him upbraiding a Scout in the Troop he Troop Mastered, here, for racist remarks. Apparently he was faithful to the values of that uniform when representing it.

Posted by: What | May 21, 2008 9:06 AM

Chris, what the he-- are you saying?

Posted by: Chris Gray | May 21, 2008 4:12 PM

I suppose I can sum up by saying that my life experience has left me especially sensitive to hatred and I feel uncomfortable with it.

Posted by: What? | May 21, 2008 5:39 PM

Who has said that they hated anyone? If you oppose the ID card, are you assumed to part of some sort of hate group? If you or anyone else make that assumption, who is the hater?

Posted by: dragons | May 21, 2008 7:03 PM

oh people, let's not jump to conclusions that yale is an evil empire. this article from the advocate doesn't answer the question completely, but will at least give you something to chew on and consider that the answer is not as easy as you think:

http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=7952

Posted by: FairHavenRes | May 21, 2008 9:21 PM

What?

What? Have you not watched any of the coverage? Ted Pesinsky (sp?) claiming he could tell an ilegal immigrant by looking at them. These guys are a scarey group of people. Read some of their bios. Veronica Kivela got her start in political life fighting busing to integrate schools back in 1968. What a patriot, please......

Oppose the id, fine.

To hand over names and addresses to this group or anyone is just plain irresponsable. They want to target people with Spanish surnames (they tried to narrow their request at FOI).

Posted by: Chris Gray | May 21, 2008 11:05 PM

I make neither assumption.

I know that Yale's presence in the city dramatically improves the general quality of life for its citizens; though they are far from the good citizen they could be and seem myopic about this. If they had not asked me, through one of their experimenters, to kill someone for science when I was 16 years old, perhaps I would trust them more.

The only hate group I mentioned was the Klan and, even in that, I acknowledge that the leader I mentioned was known to act responsibly while representing the values espoused by the Boy Scouts.

The only hatred I referred to was from my neighbors when I was young and I have never felt hatred toward them. Years later I drove a school bus, we called the Rainbow for the ethnic variety of the students, in the same neighborhood.

Now, of the senior Mr. Gold, I have some little acquaintance and I would say that the ferocity I mentioned is quite akin to hatred, but I do not really know.

The cause Dustin espouses may be based entirely on the legality of a person's immigration status but it surely seems more based, as is the opinion of some members of my own family, on the fact that these new immigrants look much like the people from whom this land was taken, a memory too ugly for some to face squarely.

Posted by: Dustin W. Gold | May 22, 2008 11:38 PM

Chris Gray,

What in God's name are talking about? You make absolutely no sense. There are two sides to this debate, and then there's you.

Casanova: Release Names, Boost Crime

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