Asst Chief Sharp.
More than four decades of New Haven policing experience is leaving the police department this month, with the retirement of two top cops who have clocked more than 20 years each on the job.
One of them, Assistant Chief Herb Sharp, served his last day in the role on Wednesday.
This was Sharp’s second retirement. He first stepped down in 2016. Then-Chief Otoniel Reyes pulled him out of retirement in 2019 to serve as assistant chief. He oversaw administration, including training, recruitment, and internal affairs
Chief Renee Dominguez said Thursday there are no current plans to replace Sharp. That leaves one assistant chief in place, Karl Jacobson. The department started hiring up to as many as four assistant chiefs at a time in response to a recommendation by a policing expert group in the wake of a 2007 corruption scandal. As of last month, there were three. But before 2007, the department traditionally had just one assistant.
Capt. Anthony Duff is also retiring. His retirement was announced Thursday at the department’s weekly Compstat data-sharing meeting. Duff’s last day is April 14.
Duff currently serves as the department’s public information officer. Dominguez said she is in the process of seeing who’s interested in the position.
Capt. Duff.
A popular former Dixwell district manager and archetypal community cop, Duff was shot and almost killed when responding to a shooting on Oct. 12, 2019. The department, and the city, rallied behind him. (Read all about that, and about his career, in this story.)