While this man led the limbo for a party of hundreds at an anti-crime, community-building “National Night Out” Tuesday, Bishop Woods neighbors and top police brass weighed in on the city’s progress with community policing.
The party at the Sunset Ridge Apartments was one of many celebrations of National Night Out (NNO), the country’s night out against crime, organized by the National Association of Town Watch, when more than 11,000 American towns, involving 35 million people, celebrate community togetherness as a major force in crime prevention.
Joining hundreds of residents of the Sunset Ridge Apartments were Police Chief Francisco Ortiz, Alderman Gerald Antunes, and the city’s chief administrative officer Rob Smuts. In addition to doing the hokey pokey and the limbo (organized by “Uncle Chip,” in the white undershirt to the left), they all had different takes on the city’s level of success with its community policing policies. (Click here for a story on last year’s party at the same locale).
“Frankly,” said Alderman Gerald Antunes who represents the Bishop Woods area, in which the celebration took place, “community policing is just not where we want it to be. The manpower is just not there. We need, in addition to what we have, two or three more officers for each of the shifts. That’s right. This policing district goes from the North Haven line down to Lighthouse Point, and the people working here are wonderful, but it’s just too few to cover the territory. And we don’t need foot patrol either. Here it’s more suburban. We need our officers in patrol cars or on motorcycles. I’m a former cop, and historically our manpower is way down.”
District manager Sgt. JP Kelly, (to whom Antunes is speaking) said when the next class graduates from the police academy, that would be thirty cops. “Figure three to a district, with ten districts, and we’ll get three.” That’s three in total, not per shift.
Police Chief Ortiz (pictured below) had something to say about that, but first he was taking genuine delight in the celebrations, which included face painting, hot dogs and burgers, dancing, and games. “These are apartment dwellers. Lots of the people don’t know each other. This is about the residents getting to know each other so that no child is anonymous; it’s about getting to know the officers, too, building relationship. I’m so pleased they’ve invited the police. That’s community policing.”
In fact, according to Joe Avery, the much-appreciated officer who is in charge of the city’s block watches (pictured here with Amy Dzurka, of Winn Residential Management, who organizes community life at Sunset Ridge), “This is a development with many people in transition, many who were moved out of places like Eastern Terrace and Brookside, which are undergoing razing and renovation. They are getting to know each other.”
“Community policing is, as you know, not just about police officers, it’s much more about the ‘community’ side,” said Ortiz. “But as soon as our new officers graduate, on September 7th, I can promise you there will be a lot more blue on the streets, and within 48 hours of graduation.”
For the first seven weeks, Ortiz explained, each rookie will be paired with a veteran officer on different shifts and different locations to get to know the whole city. But that’s not all. “They’ll go to the management team meetings to meet people, they’ll go to events like this to build trust. We work very carefully with them. We are keenly aware that this is, also, after all is said and done, a paramilitary organization. So all the new cops are on probation for two years. They’re good guys, they know it’s all about communication. If I have Spanish-speaking new cops, you can bet they’ll be in Fair Haven or the Hill where those language skills will come in. But we expect all of them to work hard. I tell the officers their shifts will be nights, weekends, holidays. That will be the way it is for them for years! That’s the way it is: Guys, I say to them no weddings, please, and fix your cars, no broken batteries. Punctuality and service. That’s the way it will be.”
And what was Ortiz expecting to bring back from his upcoming trip to North Carolina to see that model of community policing? “We’re already doing a great deal here, but the way they bring the entire moral authority of the entire community to bear on the drug problem and crime, that’s critical. That intrigues me. I’m pleased we’ve got all of law enforcement, including the U.S. Attorney’s office, and [City Hall’s social services chief] Kica Matos behind this. We put the bad guys in jail and the lower level guys, when we get them in a room and show them alternatives, if they need a job, or counseling, we’ve got to be sure we have the resources to give that to them. The North Carolina model has failed in places, you know, where it was not implemented right. This is not going to be a gimmick for us. It will be one more initiative among the many in this city, one more arrow in the quiver.”
Will the initiative be applied citywide or to a specific area as a kind of pilot, and if so, what area? “We’ll have to see,” said Ortiz.
But does the city have the resources to implement? The question was put to Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts as he chatted with Natasha Clay and her mother-in-law Jeanette Moore, a resident of Sunset Ridge, as baby Jaquasha Moore slept. “Look, we always need more resources,” said Smuts, “but there is already a lot going on with Yale Child Study Center and other partnerships. We’ve talked to all our partners, and they are all excited.”
Smuts, who is accompanying Ortiz on their trip this coming Monday, said, “We’ll see what elements might really work in New Haven and take it from there. But there is a commitment to do this, and to do it right.”
Jeanette Moore had some more immediate concerns: “There’s no bus service up here,” she said, “and with lots of elderly and handicapped people, that’s a hardship to walk all the way down to Quinnipiac Avenue and Smith. Especially in winter, especially since there are no sidewalks way up here, it would be very helpful to have bus service right up here. Apart from that,” she said, “this is a great place to live. Management has lots of activities and they care about you.”
A reporter said he would be sure to write about considering a bus stop at Sunset Ridge, so the CAO, who by then had to leave, might consider it.
And what was on the minds of these three amigos (left to right), Trevon Jackson, Sebastian Arcos, and Kennedy Obinna, age 15, 16, and 17 respectively? They were checking out the limbo and really enjoying the National Night Out, and Obinna said the neighbors were really good people. Arcos said he particularly liked the outdoor pool at the complex, although it closed early today, at 5 o’clock, to accommodate the festivities. And the only improvement to community policing that could immediately be done that Jackson could think of? If the pool, which he loved, might be provided with a diving board.