Seven city alders have sent a letter to Mayor Toni Harp to criticize a “pattern of misbehavior” by Police Chief Dean Esserman.
“[W]e need our Police Chief to have the utmost integrity and display leadership in how the police should interact with citizens,” stated the letter, which was prepared by Downtown Alder Abby Roth (pictured). Alders Anna Festa, Brian Wingate, Frank Douglass, Jr., Brenda Foskey-Cyrus, Carlton Staggers, and Latrice James cosigned the letter. (Read the full letter at the bottom of this story.)
The letter came in response to a Sept. 27 confrontation between Esserman and an elderly usher at the Yale-Army football game at the Yale Bowl. Esserman excoriated the usher after being denied entry without a ticket, summoned the usher’s supervisor, then threatened to shut the game down.
The episode came to light with the release by the Board of Alders of an email written by a Yale professor who witnessed the episode. Esserman (pictured) has since apologized for the encounter. Mayor Harp issued the chief a written reprimand and warning. (Read about that here.)
The alders wrote in the letter to Harp that they are “pleased with the reprimand.” They said they plan to attend an upcoming Board of Police Commissioners meeting at which the matter will be discussed further.
The letter cited a “pattern of disrespectful behavior” by the chief that “unnecessarily escalat[es] conflict and harms the the trust people have in the police.
“If the Police Chief is not in some way sanctioned for his inappropriate behavior, how can we legitimately sanction others on his force who may act inappropriately in the future?” the alders wrote. “The Chief’s behavior also complicates his role as an adjudicator in any misconduct cases which come before him.”