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Two top New Haven cops — Chief Dean Esserman and Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova — are heading to Arlington, Virginia, along with Yale Child Study professor Steven Marans Wednesday on a mission of justice. Juvenile justice, in particular.
The trio is participating in a two-day “national summit conference on juvenile violence” held by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)‘s National Juvenile Justice & Child Protection Committee. The group has just named Esserman the chair of the committee.
Esserman spoke about his new mission in a conversation before leaving town for the conference.
What’s the big juvenile challenge now facing the nation’s police?
I’m very concerned about the criminalization of a whole generation of youth. I think every American police chief must be contending with this serious issue.
How’s it playing out every day in New Haven?
We work hard to have positive, strong working relationships with youth, like our [summer] PAL [Police Athletic League] camp. But I think youth just as often see police as someone to be afraid of.
So what happens as a result? How do they get criminalized?
They get labeled quickly. I was told when I went to law school by my professors that that beautiful statute in the law school lobby of the scales of justice held by the blindfolded statue is true. But more and more I wonder if the real statue has her peeking under that blindfold. She’s looking for a prior arrest record.
So many of our young people are labeled so early in life for the mistakes they’ve made. So I was honored when I was approached to be chair of the national juvenile justice and child protection committee.
Day by day, an officer has to keep people safe, obviously, and often very young people are committing the problem. In addition to long-range steps you’re working on, what kind of tools can the police offer officers trying not to “criminalize” those offenders?
Behind every problem are complicated realities. We’re in the business of relationships and trust. And I believe in a god of second chances. I think most police officers believe in giving kids second chances. We understand that often diverting them from the criminal justice system is the right decision. I want to bring that national conversation to New Haven. I think one of the
I think one of the things that attracted the IACP was the 22-year relationship with [New Haven police and] the Yale CHild Study Center focusing on children exposed to violence. That is a working relationship I have replicated in Stamford and Providence, wherever I became chief, and has been replicated in other cities.
What’s the goal of the two-day summit?
To continue the dialogue on juvenile crime and juvenile justice issues. Learning form each other best practices from all around the country. I hope we represent New Haven well and come back with ideas.