Investigation Set On Black Firefighters’ Complaints

Black firefighters brought tales of discrimination to City Hall — and asked the Board of Aldermen to do something about it.

Thirty-five people, many of them blue-shirted members of the New Haven Firebirds, which represents African-American firefighters, brought their testimony to a meeting Tuesday night of the Board of Aldermen’s Public Safety Committee.

After hours of heated tales of woe, and responses from the city’s chief administrative officer, the committee voted unanimously to launch an investigation into the issue.

The Firebirds spoke of what they called systemic, longstanding discrimination against African-American firefighters, an absence of diversity in the department, and inconsistent disciplinary treatment, with minorities getting harsher treatment. The result: extremely low morale that is rapidly becoming a potential danger to the safety of citizens.

Firebirds Political Director Darrell Brooks said the appeal for an aldermanic investigation grew out of a sense of urgency — - including six complaints, including one he filed, with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) over the past two years. He said neither the union nor city officials have addressed the broader problem.

Prior to Brooks’ testimony, James Kottage, president of the firefighters union Local 825, laid the problem at the door of the fire chief and assistant chief.

“I need the chief’s office to work with the union. At the moment there is no flexibility. When I’m dealing with [Assistant Chief Pat] Egan, it’s his way, or the highway. He’s very harsh and uncompassionate,” Kottage said.

Egan and Chief Michael Grant were not present at the meeting. City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts spoke on behalf of the chiefs at the hearing.

Under questioning from Hill Alderwoman Jackie James (pictured), Smuts conceded the department faces problems, but refused to lay the blame at the door of Egan. He described a slow, agonizing process of administering exams for recruits and promotions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Ricci anti-discrimination case. He also said that while the number of CHRO complaints gives him ​“grounds for concern, patterns of discrimination in the fire department? I don’t see it.”

“I ask you to be very clear, sincere, don’t minimize it,” shot back James.

If no big problem exists, she asked, why is the aldermanic chamber filled with young black firefighters?

“I do have significant concern. There’s concern back to the 1970s, and we’re dealing with that legacy [of race]. I think there are difficult issues related to race in the fire department. I would say it’s not attributable to chiefs,” Smuts responded.

“Mr. Smuts is not serious about having a conversation,” countered Brooks.

Brooks, along with fellow Firebirds Michael Neal and Gary Tinney, stressed they do consider discipline important, but an exercise requiring clear oral and written warnings, followed by suspension and termination, if need be. That doesn’t happened, they argued.

Both sides rued a case in which it took six months to arrive at punishment for a small infraction back in November.

Brooks cited a white firefighter who received a day’s suspension for leaving the firehouse without proper notice, whereas a veteran black firefighter received 18 days suspension over what he described as a not following the rules of notifying higher-ups about what time he would arrive at work. Similar level of infraction, but wildly different punishment, Brooks argued.

When the harsher treatment falls on African-Americans and Latinos, Brooks said, it creates a ​“culture of intimation, a punitive atmosphere, created by the leadership.”

“My own way or the highway is the chief’s office thinking,” said Gary Tinney.

Smuts said that in recent years, the city has cut down overtime and expenses for worker’s compensation by a third. He suggested that might be contributing in part to the bubbling up of disaffection reflected at Tuesday night’s face-off.

Brooks said in the longer term the solution is to create a diverse pool of candidates who reflect the city. Doing this through the Public Safety Academy is high on the Firebirds’ to-do-list.

Brooks said that when the Firebirds endorse a mayoral candidate this year, that will be an important issue to consider.

“We’re going to make it clear to the person we endorse that we don’t want to see the chief’s office continue as is,” Brooks said.

“If we can create a pool of applicants who reflect the city, that’ll take care of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, during questioning at the hearing, James was nothing short of appalled that the department does not have printed guidelines for disciplinary procedure.

James asked what Smuts had done to show his commitment to solving this problem.

Smuts said he has wanted to hire more New Haveners, but ​“those were steps counsel advised we can’t proceed with [now].” He described the situation as ​“a stone wall on residency.” He also cited his support for the public service academy.

Smuts conceded that the high level of vacancies in the department are concerning, but post-Ricci, ​“We are still working on tests [for promotion] that won’t have disparate impact. We have trade-offs.”