Limon: Let’s Explore Curfew

In a crime-weary pocket of town, adults appealed to the police chief to help keep kids off the street at 2 a.m. — and the chief embraced reviving the idea of making that the law.

The occasion was a gathering of 40 neighbors from Dixwell and Newhallville at St. Andrews Episocpal Church on Shelton Avenue near Hazel. It was the third in a series of neighborhood community ​“dialogues” with Chief Frank Limon organized by Community Mediation at the request of the chief to foster better relations between the police and residents.

Among the main themes of concern that had emerged in similar previous meetings in West River and the Hill were the prevalence of gun violence and the need for more police accountability. (Click here for a story of the gathering last month in West River.)

At Wednesday’s Newhallville gathering, neighbors spoke about the urgent need to address the problem of young people hanging out on the street late at night and in some cases causing violent crime.

Newhallville-based Officer Martin Podsiad bemoaned the fact that when he approaches smaller kids to befriend them, they get targeted as snitches or as too friendly to the cops

One longtime resident of Newhallville and mother of three (she asked not to be named or photographed) called ​“god awful” how many unsupervised kids around age 16 hang out on the street corners. She said unsupervised kids regularly hang out and carry on loudly until as late as 2 or 3 a.m.

“And the cussing!” she added.

She suggested that these children have parents at home; if they were home, they’d be bothering the parents instead of the neighbors, she said.

Therefore: How about a curfew?

Or, as another self-described ​“old school” woman of 47 suggested, why not work with the parents to keep the kids home?

“I like the idea of a curfew,” Limon responded in his summary of the evening’s brainstorming. If you had curfew in the home, of course, then one to be imposed on the street would not be necessary, he added.

Limon acknowledged efforts in the recent past in New Haven to legislate a curfew. ​“There’s been efforts in the past that failed. Maybe it’s time to resurrect that idea,” he said.

(Click here for a story on the spirited response of kids to the curfew idea proposed in 2006 by Dwight Alderwoman Joyce Chen.)

Without being specific Limon added that that in many middle American cities ​“after 10, you’re with an adult.” On the weekend, you have until perhaps 11.

Tale of 2 Neighborhoods

The Newhallville neighbors present Wednesday night stressed the need to improve relations with their beat cops. Neighbors present from next-door Dixwell, on the other hand, where violent crime has been less prevalent, said they already enjoy good communication.

“The kids are more connected to cops,” said Jasmine Gore (pictured). ​“They [the cops] can always find a better way to talk to kids, but it’s OK.” And unlike in Newhallville, she reported, Dixwell’s young people have places other than streetcorners to hang out, even if the Q House was closed. Dixwell now needs more jobs for kids, she said.

Dixwell District Manager Sgt. Donnie Harrison acknowledged that he heard a difference in the evening’s report of those from Newhallville and his district. He attributed the better relations to his close relationship to Doug Bethea and fellow Street Outreach Workers.

“Kids communicate with our officers,” said Bethea.

Harrison said it doesn’t hurt at all that Bethea’s drill team practices at the Dixwell police substation.

Harrison said that he also instructs his officers to ​“park and cruise.”

By contrast, Newhallville Alderwoman Edwards said, ​“I don’t see the visibility of walking officers” in her neighborhood

Harrison said he also regularly deploys two bicycle officers in Dixwell.

One of the Dixwell bicycle patrolmen, Officer Todd Kelley, said being on a bike makes him more approachable: ​“It’s almost like common ground.”

All of which made both Bethea and Harris skeptical of Chief Limon’s interest in a curfew.

Bethea said that in his view a lot of parents won’t allow you to dictate to them how to raise their kids.

Harrison put it more bluntly: ​“How do you enforce it?”

The session was billed only as brainstorming.

According to Community Mediation’s Brenda Kavanaugh, after next week’s similar gathering in Fair Haven (May 5 from 6 to 8 p.m.), there’s a break. When the dialogues resume in July, the aim will be for each district to take responsibility to focus on implementing one program or strategy such as a new youth program or an invigorated block watch.