Newly appointed state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner to-be Ronnell Higgins.
Gov. Ned Lamont has nominated former Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins to serve as the state’s next top public safety official — describing him as the “right man to take on this job” and get to the bottom of a roiling state police ticketing scandal.
Lamont made that announcement during a Wednesday afternoon press conference in Hartford.
He announced that Higgins will replace James Rovella as the commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), a department of state government that oversees the state police. Rovella is set to retire next month.
Higgins currently serves as a vice president for public safety and community engagement at Yale. He spent a quarter century working for the Yale Police Department, including a decade as chief; is a graduate of the FBI national academy; has a law enforcement Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Haven; and earned a Master of Arts degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
Lamont praised Higgins as someone who “comes from a family of law enforcement.” His dad was a police officer. So was his wife.
He said Higgins has been rooted in the community he’s served, having been on the board of the Boys & Girls Club. He also said he’s a nationally respected policing expert who has been called in to Ferguson, Mo. and Minneapolis, Minn. to consult with local police departments after high-profile incidents of racially charged police violence. “He’s been involved in making sure that racial justice is a key part of building support for our police,” Lamont said.
Lamont continued on Wednesday by stating that Higgins is “going to be totally honest and transparent and get to the bottom of any stories out there about ticketing.”
That “ticketing” comment was a reference to a scandal that came to light this summer, when a report by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project revealed that state police troopers may have falsified tens of thousands of traffic stop records that had been submitted to a state program that keeps track of racial profiling data. That alleged underreporting may have skewed data to make it look as if more white drivers and fewer Black and Hispanic drivers had been pulled over and ticketed by state police. Lamont has tapped former U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly to investigate the scandal.
Colonel Stavros Mellekas, a deputy commissioner of DESPP and the head of the state police, will also be stepping down from his post. Higgins will be charged with identifying his successor.
During Wednesday’s press conference, reporters peppered Higgins with question after question about the ticketing scandal he’s now inheriting.
“I’m not read in on any investigations right now,” Higgins said. “I’m looking forward to learning what happened, how it happened, and how I can be a part of making sure that it never happens again.”
Rovella generally declined to comment on the state police ticketing scandal as it’s the subject of an ongoing investigation. “I don’t think very much of hindsight. What’s done is done, and we’ll move forward from there,” he added.
Lamont came to the defense of the state police. “I firmly believe that we have the best state police in the country. The best trained, most professional.”
According to a Wednesday afternoon press release, Higgins’ appointment will now head to the state legislature for review and a final vote.
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