2‑Month ​“Permanent” Chief Pick Advances

Alders grilled Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez on the police department’s lack of diversity in its upper ranks. Public safety colleagues praised her for her integrity, work ethic, and compassion.

Then alders fast-tracked a decision by the full Board of Alders on whether or not to confirm Dominguez as the city’s first-ever female permanent police chief — for a term that would last all of two months.

That was the outcome of Monday night’s Aldermanic Affairs Committee meeting. The nearly five-hour virtual meeting — which concerned review of eight mayoral appointees, including Dominguez — took place online via Zoom and YouTube Live.

After hours of questioning Dominguez on issues ranging from community trust in the police to recruitment strategies to when she plans on moving to New Haven, the committee alders took no action on Mayor Justin Elicker’s nomination of the acting chief to serve in that role in a permanent capacity.

The no-vote was a procedural move that will allow the full Board of Alders to discharge Dominguez’s appointment from committee and take the matter up for debate and an expedited final vote during its next meeting on Dec. 6.

The committee fast-tracked the process because the City Charter requires the alders to vote on the police chief appointment within 30 days of the mayor’s submission of her nomination, which occurred on Nov. 10.

Two-Month Term?

Most of Monday’s hearing focused on Dominguez’s qualifications, policing philosophy, management style, and connections to the community. Aldermanic Affairs Committee Chair and Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana also raised a consideration that did not come up at Elicker’s celebratory City Hall press conference earlier this month announcing his pick of the new chief.

That is: The mayor has nominated Dominguez to serve as permanent chief only through Jan. 31, 2022. Not for the next full four-year term.

So even if she is confirmed by the alders on Dec. 6, Dominguez would serve in the permanent role for only two months before having to go through the full nomination process again if she wants a shot at a new, full four-year term in the job.

Why such a short term?

During a phone interview before Monday’s meeting, the mayor pointed to the city charter.

The charter requires the police chief and certain other city department heads to officially begin their new terms on Feb. 1 every four years.

Elicker pointed to another section of the charter that states that an ​“acting” police chief, fire chief or city coordinator can serve in that role in an acting capacity for no more than six months before the mayor has to submit their name to the alders for confirmation.

Even though Dominguez has really been running the day-to-day operations of the department since at least March, she didn’t technically become acting chief until June. Her predecessor, Otoniel Reyes, left the building in March and took a new job elsewhere, but he didn’t technically retire until June because he had unused vacation time. So according to the letter, if not the spirit, of the law, Dominguez has technically served as acting chief for under six months, not eight and counting.

Elicker did not publicly discuss any of those matters when he announced at a press conference that he was choosing Dominguez for the ​“permanent” spot.

Since Dominguez is currently filling out an unexpired four-year term started by then-Chief Anthony Campbell that ends on Jan. 31, 2022, and since she has served as acting chief since then-Chief Reyes officially retired in June, Elicker argued, he had to submit Dominguez’s name for confirmation now.

He said he plans on submitting her name to the alders again early next year for a new four-year term that would begin in February.

“Our understanding is we will need to go through the appointment process again,” Elicker told the Independent.

“The reason I’m appointing [Dominguez] now is because she’s ready to be chief. She’s shown that she is ready to be chief. However, we also need to abide by the Charter, and given that the six-month period for ​‘acting’ is almost up, it’s important that we go through the permanent appointment process.”

He repeated that he plans on submitting Dominguez’s name again in a few months for the alders to consider and potentially approve a new, full four-year term that would start in February.

“My expectation and hope,” he said, ​“is that the alders will view this appointment as an expectation that she will be the permanent chief not just for the next two months.”

Pension Grab Denied

During her confirmation hearing Monday night before the committee alders, Dominguez was asked a similar question by Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton.

Given that Dominguez has been with the New Haven Police Department for 19 years, and given that the term under consideration will last only two months, ​“What’s to stop you from saying, ​‘Hey, I got that money and I’ll move on to somewhere else with bigger money or more lucrative fringe benefits’?” Hamilton asked. ​“What’s to stop you from doing that?”

“I’m committed to the city,” Dominguez replied. ​“I’m committed to this police department. I don’t have any plans of moving on. I’m exactly where I need to be, exactly where I want to be.”

She said that, during her 19 years working for the NHPD, she may have had 10 different police chiefs.

“I want to stop that revolving door,” she said.

That stated commitment of sticking with the department, of rising through the ranks over the course of nearly two decades and of knowing the department inside and out, came up again and again Monday as Dominguez touted stability and continuity as two of the most important reasons for why she thinks she’s the best fit for the permanent police chief job.

“Continuity is something New Haven officers want,” she said.

Given that since joining the force in 2002 she has been a patrol officer, a detective, a field training officer, a sergeant, a district commander in three different neighborhoods, the head of the special victims unit, the assistant chief in charge of patrol, and the acting chief, ​“I am the continuity the community and the officers need,” Dominguez said. ​“I have come through the ranks of this police department. I am committed to this city.”

“We are in a new era of policing,” she continued. ​“There is not time to tread water and wait for a leader. I am your leader, and I have proven I am worthy of the title of police chief.”

“Community Policing”

Hamilton and Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez pushed Dominguez on her understanding of what ​“community policing” means. They asked what her plans are to restore that practice to a department that those two alders said has become increasingly distant from the communities it serves.

“I don’t see a police officer on my block” anymore, Hamilton said. ​“What is your plan to bring community policing back to my community?”

Dominguez argued that the ​“philosophy” of community policing is still alive and well in New Haven. Cops are well integrated into the fabric of each neighborhood through community management teams, the police athletic league (PAL), school resource officers, and the regular presence of officers at all types of community events, she said.

“What we’re missing are those walking beats,” Dominguez said.

She said the biggest reason why more officers aren’t regularly walking and biking through the neighborhoods they serve is because of capacity. In 2010, the department had 454 police officers, she said. Now the force is down to 323, out of a budgeted strength of 408.

“I am actively working on rebuilding the police department,” she said, with eight recruits already in a ​“satellite” academy, another 21 slated to go to the city’s police academy next week, and another full class scheduled to begin in February.

She said she plans on filling two police academy classes per year. ​“My goal is to have the department fully staffed in five years,” she said.

She also said she plans on reviving the city’s ​“citizens police academy” to build relationships with the community and give regular residents a better sense of the work of policing.

And she agreed with Downtown/Yale Alder Eli Sabin’s suggestion that the police department should host regular ​“community listening sessions,” and not just weekly press conferences, where residents can speak with the police about their top issues rather than just being spoken to via the press.

All-White Top Ranks

Hamilton and Sabin also pressed Dominguez on the lack of racial diversity among the police department’s upper ranks. For the first time in over a quarter century, the department does not have a Black or Hispanic person serving as chief, assistant chief, or captain.

“This is a process that starts with those in the academy, with our recruitment,” Dominguez said. ​“The more we are able to fill our lower ranks, the more promotions that happen,” the more diverse the upper ranks eventually become.

She said that ​“88 percent of our recruits are Black or brown” right now.

“It is definitely a goal to be able to make the upper ranks more representative of the community.”

Why have so many Black and brown high-ranking officers left the department in recent months and years? Sabin asked Dominguez.

Dominguez said that exodus is due primarily to when many officers were hired in the late 1990s. State and federal grants fueled the hiring of large classes of officers then, she said. Two decades later, many of those individuals are now eligible to retire — and they’ve chosen to do so.

For officers still in the department who have 18, 19 years on the job, she said, ​“We need those officers to stay. We need them to mentor younger officers, younger sergeants.” She said she plans on putting in place ​“a robust mentoring program” that not only benefits newer officers, but also gives veterans a reason to stay.

Are you committed to ​“appointing or elevating any officers of color to any of those top leadership positions?” Sabin asked, referred to three vacant assistant chief and captain roles.

“Yes, that is something we’re working on building towards,” Dominguez replied. ​“We are going to continue our diversifying of the police department.”

Moving To New Haven

Hamilton pointed out that city law requires the permanent police chief to live in New Haven. Dominguez currently does not.

As a parent with two young daughters and a husband who works outside of the city, she asked, ​“What’s your thought on relocation? Are you planning to relocate to New Haven?”

Dominguez said that she and her family have been talking about that very issue since Elicker first tapped her to serve as acting chief earlier this year.

“Yes, we will relocate,” Dominguez said. She said her sister already lives in New Haven, and her niece goes to school in New Haven.

“My children and my husband are not something that will prevent me from moving,” she said. ​“We are a package deal, and we will be coming.”

“A Person Of Integrity”

During the public hearing section of Monday night’s meeting, Dominguez’s public safety colleagues and some residents she has met in her various police roles over the decade urged the alders to approve her nomination.

“She is passionate about policing, passionate about community,” Newhallville community management team stalwart and Civilian Review Board member Nina Fawcett said. She said she did a quick informal survey of Newhallville neighbors about the prospect of Dominguez, who began her career on a walking beat on Winchester Avenue and later served as the neighborhood’s district manager, becoming permanent chief.

“We love her,” Fawcett said. ​“That is what we heard over and over again. … She started a very good thing here, and she developed a lot of good relationships.”

Newhallville Community Management Team Chair Kim Harris agreed. If and when Dominguez is confirmed, Harris said, ​“we look forward to [her] and her staff treating the community of Newhallville with a great portion of dignity and respect.”

City Board of Police Commissioners member Donald Walker said that Dominguez has ​“done a good job. She works hard. And she has integrity.” He praised her efforts to diversify the department so far, and recognized that that is ​“a process that takes time.”

Retired former Capt. Anthony Duff expressed his ​“whole-hearted support for Renee,” whom he has known since she first joined the department. ​“She’s wonderful with kids, with seniors, and very engaged with the community,” he said. He described her leadership style as ​“tenacious” and ​“transparent.”

Dominguez is a ​“consummate professional,” Fire Chief John Alston said. ​“She has a strong work ethic. She is a person of integrity. She is a tremendous practitioner of her craft … She’s a phenomenal candidate.”

“Interim Chief Renee Dominguez is truly an innovative, hard-working, tenacious, progressive, strong leader with integrity,” Project Longevity Program Manager Stacy Spell said.

“Racial Hierarchy”

Police accountability activists Barbara Fair and Catherine John offered very different takes on Dominguez’s track record and leadership, and they urged the alders to turn down her appointment as permanent chief.

Fair said that, while Dominguez claims that New Haven police are still committed to community policing, many in the community say otherwise. She also lamented the loss of cops of color from the department’s upper ranks.

“It’s really concerning to me that this department that I used to know so many officers, they’re all gone. And now we’re getting this almost all white, all military, all suburban police force. They don’t reflect our community.”

John, who runs the group Black and Brown United in Action, agreed.

She criticized Dominguez’s ​“efforts to establish a racial hierarchy at the New Haven Police Department” and her ​“blatant embrace of Blue Lives Matter and the Thin Blue Line.”

She pointed to a recent Board of Police Commissioners meeting where 14 officers were promoted, 12 of whom were white.

“Maybe that’s what community policing looks like to her,” John said.

John also argues that the immigrant community has lost trust in the police. She references the arrest Sunday of an officer who allegedly responded to a call from a 19-year-old Honduran immigrant, pursued a sexual relationship, and allegedly pressured her and offered her money to perform photographed sex acts that she didn’t want to engage in.