Thomas Breen Photo
Jacobson takes the oath Wednesday.
With a promise to build back community trust in local law enforcement by reducing crime while respecting the residents cops serve, Karl Jacobson was sworn in as the new chief of the New Haven Police Department (NHPD).
Jacobson made that promise — and formally ascended to that office — during a Wednesday morning ceremony on the second floor of City Hall.
Standing alongside his daughter Kelli, Mayor Justin Elicker, and now-former Acting Police Chief and current city Chief Administrative Officer Regina Rush-Kittle, Jacobson took his oath of office before a cheering crowd of dozens of fellow police officers, city employees, and community supporters.
The swearing-in ceremony took place the morning after the Board of Alders unanimously confirmed Jacobson’s nomination to serve as the next permanent police chief through Jan., 31, 2026. Jacobson has worked for New Haven’s police department since 2007, rising the ranks to assistant chief before being appointed as top cop.
“Our measure of success will not be the number of arrests we make or the number of traffic citations we issue,” Jacobson said on Tuesday, “but rather, our interactions with the community and the reduction of crime, fear and disorder in New Haven.”
He told the officers in the department that he’s committed to making sure they’re propertly “trained, equipped, supervised, and supported,” and he asks in return that they act with “integrity, courage, competence, commitment, compassion, restraint, and respect.”
To the community, he promised a police department that is “open, accountable, and accessible.”
He said he hopes to build back trust in the police department — particularly in the wake of the debilitating in-custody injury to Richard “Randy” Cox. That trust, he said, will be grounded in a reduction of crime and treating everyone in the city with respect.
Jacobson's daughter Kelli affixes a pin to her dad's police chief uniform during the swearing-in ceremony.
