Community Walk Connects Cops With Kids

The only time Justys Graham wants to be in a police car is in the front seat, where Lt. Jason Minardi let him for a few seconds operate the sirens,the loudspeaker, and the flashing lights.

That was precisely the outcome that police officials were hoping for from an hour-long community walk organized by Daniel Hunt at the Eastview Terrace Housing Authority of New Haven family development on Eastern Street in the shadow of Bella Vista.

Hunt, a 21-year-old community-minded Board of Education student support staffer, has been organizing these walks with officials in neighborhoods throughout the city. Wednesday he gathered local officers along with the area top cop Lt. Jason Rentkowitz , Police Chief Anthony Campbell, and Assistant Chief Otoniel Reyes, along with Fire Chief John Alston Jr., who was bearing cool plastic fire helmets to distribute to the children. They all took a slow, conversational circumambulation of the public housing development Wednesday afternoon.

It was one of about half a dozen similar walks that Hunt has organized since the summer of 2017. The purpose, he said, is ​“community engagement and to build [positive, as opposed to negative] relationships with officers.”

After two shootings at the 127-unit development in May, property manager Julie Cossette said, the tenants called for more of a police presence.

Eastview Terrace — a development of initially 102 tidy townhouses, augmented recently by 25 more units for families displaced from Farnam Townhouses — once had its own dedicated full-time walking beat.

But staffing changes, along with the geographical challenge of this long, meandering policing district stretching from the North Haven border down to Morris Cove, have resulted in officers these days patrolling mostly in their cars. Beat Officer Brandon Way said officers try to have a regular presence there when possible by parking visibly while talking care of paperwork or other business.

Bearing modest kids’ toys and keychains, Hunt led the way on the walk along with Rentkowitz, who distributed fact sheets on tips to keep your car from being stolen and ​“munchkin deployment kits.” The latter were boxes of meatball-sized donuts the officers had purchased at Dunkin Donuts. The group set out greeting the many young kids playing on the green lawns and adults perched on chairs on their porches.

Spreading out over the rolling hills of the development, the officers went to homes where they spotted potential beneficiaries of their engagement and charm tour.

For example, Fair Haven District Manager Lt. David Zannelli greeted a little kid and the adults around her, squatted down and gave her a toy. ​“Thanks for saying, ​‘Hi,’” he said. He urged her and the gaggle of kids around her not to be afraid of officers.

Nearby Chiefs Campbell and Reyes got a warm greeting from mom Keva Suggs, who was minding her 1‑year-old Pleshette. She praised the Youth Police Initiative Program in which her now 18-year-old son Kevaughn once participated. ​“This is good,” she said of the visit of the officers. Residents ​“used to be scared, but not now.”

Suggs told the officers that Kevaughn had just graduated from Hillhouse High School. She praised the police youth program staff staying in touch with her son, checking in over the years. Then she commiserated, albeit joyfully, about the challenge of raising boys.

“Tell me about it,” said Chief Campbell. ​“I have three of them.”

As the serpentine line of officials made their way through the development, Fire Chief Alston became a bit of a star. Kids zoomed over on their bikes when they saw he was distributing the fire helmets, of different colors, to the kids.

He also bore swag for seniors: nifty rulers, which tell you proper temperatures to cook meals while helping seniors avoid burns in dealing with their ovens.

“Most of the calls we get from seniors are falls and then oven burns,” he said. ​“They sometimes forget to use the oven mitt or it becomes wet and loses its insulation,” he said. Thus the ruler could help you pull out the rack, if you attached the grooved end of the ruler to it, without causing harm.

The rulers were definitely cool. They did not compete in popularity with the fire caps.

The high point of the tour, at least for the kids, was when the promenade circled back toward the community house, where it had begun. There, as Lts. Zannelli and O’Neill rediscovered their frisbee-throwing talents, Lt. Minardi gave the kids a chance to sit in the driver’s seat of his cruiser and try out the devices.

Suddenly, a booming voice emnated from the car and sounded across the whole development: ​“Pull over, pull your vehicle over.”

Everyone, particularly the officers, stopped their frisbee playing and other fun. Then they laughed. ​“Yes, they can be in the front seat,” said O’Neill. ​“That’s the only time we want to see them” in cruisers.

Hunt estimated that the officers interacted with about 25 residents during their tour of Eastview Terrace and he pronounced it a ​“good event.”

Before the officers set off to meet residents, they were introduced by Eastview Tenant Resident Council President, Laura Harrell, who has lived in the complex for 11 years. ​“This time we’re doing it not because we’ve lost a soul, but so we don’t lose a soul,” Harrell said.

Next up on Hunt’s busy schedule is a July 18,community walk through the Hill North neighborhood. It is set to begin at 4 p.m. at the police substation at Hallock and Congress near the John Daniels School.