Campbell Lays Out His Vision For PD

Restructuring the police department, providing more incentives to retain officers, prioritizing a holistic response to domestic violence, and finally adding more community policing districts. Those were just some of the ideas that interim Chief Anthony Campbell told alders of the Legislation Committee Tuesday at City Hall that he wants to implement should his recent appointment to permanent police chief by Mayor Toni Harp be approved.

Campbell, 44, received a warm reception from committee alders who let it be known that they were happy that he was chosen even as they wanted to know what he would do to advance the mission of community policing. The alders voted unanimously to approve Campbell’s appointment and forwarded it to the full board, which is expected to use the unanimous consent function to give final approval as early as June 5.

Harp had selected Campbell to become the new chief after a search committee reviewed 24 applicants. He was among three finalists interviewed for the job; the other finalists were Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova and retired Assistant Chief Thaddeus Reddish.

Having served as interim since former Chief Dean Esserman resigned last September, Campbell told alders that he believes that the department is in many ways ​“top heavy” and it’s time to get supervisors at 1 Union Ave. back out on the street and in the communities.

Campbell said he has been working to reduce the number of sergeants in the office by getting promotions underway, with promotions for sergeant and lieutenant being the most recent. Having supervisory roles properly staffed not only provides a proper layer of accountability for the department’s young rank and file, he said, but also helps reduce overtime.

Campbell, who has been with the department 19 years, also said he would like to restructure the duties of the assistant chiefs to delegate some assignments and possibly create a deputy chief position, with hopes that it would prepare the officers who serve in those positions to be chief either in New Haven or elsewhere someday.

He said he’s noticed that previous chiefs had not always afforded command staff the opportunity to receive the training necessary to become chief, and he wants to change that. In fact, Assistant Chief Casanova is headed to a three-week Senior Management Institute for Police training in Boston, while Assistant Chief Tony Reyes is headed to a training with the FBI that the department hasn’t sent command staff to in six years.

“My long-term goal is to work myself out of a job,” said Campbell, who previously served as assistant chief of operations and administration. ​“I don’t think that you can find a better police officer than a New Haven police officer. Whether I’m here two, three, or five years, when I head to the next phase of my life I don’t want anyone to even think about looking outside New Haven.”

The Tightrope

First, the chief-to-be has to maintain the balance in a department that is now 452 officers strong but is regularly faced with the threat of mass retirements and the poaching of its recruits by surrounding police departments. Campbell said that 39 officers are currently eligible to retire. In February 2018, another 42 will be eligible and in December 2018 more than 50 will be able to retire.

When Fair Haven Alder José Crespo asked what could be done to incentivize new officers staying with the department, Campbell was ready with ideas. He suggested either raising the starting pay or eliminating the step for when an officer gets the first raise in pay. As it stands now, New Haven officers have the lowest pay statewide and don’t get their first raise until after they’ve been on the force for two years. They reach maximum pay in the fourth year, which is competitive with surrounding towns, Campbell said.

Campbell also suggested that the city increase starting pay for officers coming to the job with a college degree and incentivizing health and fitness as some department do by giving extra perks for officers who take and pass the agility test every few years.

“If we could get the pay raised a little bit so that we’re on par with surrounding municipalities, I think that would keep a lot of people from voting with their feet and going to other departments,” he said.

The other thing Campbell recommended is disincentivizing leaving before an officer has served three years. ​“You have to restructure the contract in such a way that there is a disincentive for them to leave,” he said. ​“Right now, if you leave the New Haven Police Department after two years, the only thing you have to pay back, according to the contract rules, is $4,000.

“Given the amount it costs to train a police officer, some departments are giving the officer $4,000 because they’ve saved $50,000 to $60,000 and they’ve got now one of the best-trained officers in the state if not in the country,” he added.

Campbell said if the city raised that penalty to about 50 percent of the cost of training, people would think twice before leaving the department, and once an officer has reached the four- or five-year mark, that officer becomes vested.

On the flipside of Crespo’s question, East Rock Alder Anna Festa wanted to know if New Haven police retirement benefits were up to snuff when compared with other departments. The short answer was: not anymore.

Campbell said when he started on the job, New Haven had a great retirement package. Officers could retire with 20 years, average the best four years to determine their defined pension benefit and also have medical benefits for their families. Now they need 25 years to retire, have a 401(k)/pension hybrid that pays out at 50 percent of their base pay and only covers medical benefits for them, and not their families.

He said the city has to look at ways to incentivize people staying with the department because when such a person leaves, ​“you’re not just losing that body but all the experience that you can’t replace with a new recruit.”

Finally, Campbell laid out a vision that included splitting two policing districts, Newhalliville/East Rock/Cedar Hill and the East Shore, into two additional districts with substations; establishing a family justice center; and ending a practice of every district getting two or three recruits from each graduating class. He told alders instead each district manager would have to make a proposal with neighborhood input about their resources and greatest needs and the districts with the greatest demonstrated need would get the recruits.

Festa had one last question: Would Campbell be stern enough to provide structure and discipline for the department?

Campbell said he gets the ​“nice guy” label because of his laid-back demeanor and his devout Christianity — the Yale Divinity School grad had plans of being a Jesuit priest before he decided to become a police officer. But he assured alders Tuesday that he’d have no problem dropping the hammer if he needed to do so.

“If you ask anyone who has ever been disciplined by me … they’ll tell you I’m firm but fair,” he said. ​“People need to know that I’m a laid-back guy but they shouldn’t take my kindness for weakness.

“When push comes to shove I will discipline you,” he said. ​“Everyone knows me as a nice guy who’s willing to take the shirt off his back and help but if need be I will tap into my Harlem roots … and make sure that people see that he’s a nice guy, but don’t cross him.”