Allan Appel Photo
At first blush, Norman Israel didn’t seem like the perfect person to target for the flyers Keith Dixon and Neisse Perez were handing out on Ellsworth Avenue the other day.
Dixon and Perez were taking a break from learning how to become cops to walk along Ellsworth Avenue to find New Haveners who might want to become cops, themselves.
That’s when Dixon handed recruitment flyers to Israel (pictured in the red hat) and his friend.
“I’m too old,” said Israel.
“How old are you?” asked Perez, who is one of the seven women in the current New Haven Police Academy class; she is training to join the Hamden Police Department
“Six-two,” said Israel.
Then he added that he had another problem. “I can’t shoot. I don’t like to shoot.”
While the future officers schmoozed, Israel talked to his friend, checked out the flyer, and re-addressed Perez.
“I’ll give it [the flyer] to my son,” he said.
“How old is he?” she asked.
“22.”
“Perfect,” she said, and the recruits recruited on.
They weren’t alone.
The police academy has sent 15 officers-to-be throughout the city on a mission. New Haven is in the midst of launching several rounds of classes of police recruits to replenish the ranks. And it needs more of the new cops to come from the city itself. What better way to recruit cops than send recruits themselves out to do the recruiting?
Tiano with West Havener Lester Gooding who was doing painting on Ellsworth Ave. He said he would bring the flyer to his Macedonia Church of God in Christ Church on Sunday.
Recruits like Mike Tiano, whose lifelong dream has been to be a police officer. He’s now five weeks away from that dream coming true.
Officer Jacqueline Hoyte, who accompanied the recruits, said 42 are in the current class. Twenty-seven are headed for New Haven’s department following graduation on Aug. 5. The other 15 are in training for other police departments in Stamford, Shelton, Trumbull, among other municipalities in Connecticut. Hebron-born Tiano will go to work in Middletown when he graduates.
(Click here for a story about a previous swearing in of new officers. Click here for a story of how police rookies helped seniors out during Hurricane Sandy last year.)
Of New Haven’s 27 future cops in the current class, about 10 are New Haven residents, said Hoyte, a 14-year vet who works with Sgt. Anthony Campbell at the academy.
Click here for more info on the online-only application; the deadline to apply to the academy is June 28. Click here for review sessions about applying and for agility requirements. The first one convenes at the academy on Sherman Parkway June 18 from 4 to 7 p.m.
The recruits spent several days knocking on doors and handing leaflets in the recruiting mission.
At 10:15 a.m. Friday, the recruits climbed into a van driven by Officer Hoyte. When they arrived on Sherman, she deployed them in teams of two, in two groups, walking on either side of Sherman from Goffe to Whalley.
Recruit John Pysz (ictured) said his itinerary took him to a couple of guys who said they would love to apply. But there was a problem: they had felonies.
Connor Pennoyer (pictured) said one young man he came across was walking two friendly pit bulls when the recruiters came by.
He had just finished high school and a year of college and asked if he was old enough. Pennoyer told him he needs to be 21 by Dec. 31 of this year.
“His face lit up,” Pennoyer said.
“We don’t feel like salesmen,” said one of the recruiting recruits, “because were not carrying [selling] vacuum cleaners.”
Several people greeted on porches raised the age question. Recruits need to be at least 21; cops need to retire at 67. That would mean a 62-year-old woman who chatted with Perez and the other officers would have a short career, assuming she could do the push-ups to make the agility requirement.
She kept the hand-outs and promised to pass them on.
An informational session for potential New Haven police officers will take place in Fair Haven Thursday, June 20, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Computers will be present for people who would like to file applications after the session takes place. The event takes place at Columbus Family Academy at the corner of Grand and Blatchley avenues.