Three months after the city laid off 16 police officers, prompting hundreds of New Haven’s finest to march on City Hall, police Chief Frank Limon is looking for federal funding to hire 21 new cops.
A proposal to that effect was officially communicated to the Board of Aldermen on Monday night. The matter was sent to committee in advance of a full vote by the board.
The chief’s submission seeks permission for the police department to apply for and receive $4.6 million from the federal Department of Justice 2011 COPS hiring program. That money would pay for entry-level salaries and benefits for 21 cops for three years, with the condition that the city continue to employ them for an additional 12 months thereafter.
“These funds would allow us the opportunity to re-hire officers that were recently laid off and to hire additional officers,” Limon wrote in his letter to the board.
Those “recently laid off” officers got the ax on Feb. 17 as part of dozens of budget-trimming layoffs that hit the city that day. The move prompted a march of police to City Hall, where they blocked of the street, sirens wailing, and demanded the cops be reinstated. The mayor refused to budge.
Aldermen Al Paolillo and Gerald Antunes tried to pass a measure urging the city to rehire the 16. Their colleagues refused to back it.
Since then most of the 16 have found work in neighboring towns; three have been rehired by New Haven.
Thomas MacMillan File Photo
Aldermen Paolillo (left) and Antunes.
On Monday evening, Paolillo and Antunes said they’re in favor of the new move toward federal funding for hiring cops. It’s a competitive grant, Antunes warned, and there’s no guarantee the department will get all the money it asks for.
But any money would be good. “It’ll help us with the finances of the city,” Antunes said.
“Obviously, we’re for this,” Paolillo said.