Allan Appel Photo
Reunited: Yale Chief Campbell with newly minted Asst. Chief Rose Dell at Friday's swearing in.
The only two Yale College alums ever to serve as cops in the Yale Police Department’s 130-year history are now its two top officers — and for the first time, one of them is a woman.
Dell sworn in by New Haven Board of Police Commissioners Chair Evelise Ribeiro.
That history was made Friday night in an emotional swearing-in ceremony at Yale’s Whitney Center for the Humanities on Wall Street.
YPD Chief Anthony Campbell pinned the badge on new YPD Assistant Chief Rose Dell, the first woman chief in the history of the department.
They both previously served in New Haven’s police department in addition to attending Yale.
Back in 2008 when then-officer-candidate Rose Dell showed up for her first day of training at the New Haven police academy, then Sgt. Anthony Campbell was in charge.
“Do you remember me?” Dell recalled asking him.
“Of course I do,” Campbell responded. In the late 1990s they had both been undergraduates in Yale’s Berkeley College, two years apart. Campbell eventually rose to become the NHPD’s chief before he retired.
They now are the only Yale College graduates who have ever served in the YPD, although one other officer in the 93-member department has a graduate degree from Yale, said Campbell.
Friday night’s swearing-in-ceremony included the promotions of four other YPD officers. It unfolded before an affectionate crowd of 100 wives, husbands, parents, kids, fellow officers, friends, and admirers.
“Rose has broad experience and the best qualifications,” Campbell said, “and bridges the gap between the community, Yale University, and NHPD.”
In her 15 years at the NHPD, Dell rose quickly in the ranks from supervising the midnight patrol shift to becoming expert in crash reconstruction to district manager in Westville/West Hills to working in the department’s Internal Affairs Unit and helping to revamp a wide range of policies in areas of officer-involved shooting. She also spear-headed the implementation of the body-worn camera program, among other demanding tasks. She finished her NHPD career as a captain.
Dell’s new appointment was approved just on Tuesday by the NHPD’s Board of Police Commissioners, a requirement for all YPD officers. She will be in charge of the YPD’s Patrol Operations Division.
Dell said she intends to mentor YPD officers, especially the female ones, and help to recruit new cops.
Both Campbell and Dell said the appointment is a step in the direction of the fulfillment of the 30 by 30 pledge. That’s an informal but growing initiative among police leaders, agencies, and researchers nationwide to have 30 percent of police recruits be women by 2030, and to increase the representation of women in all ranks.
Currently the 93-member YPD has only 16 percent women in the ranks, said Campbell. That’s better than the 12 percent nationally, but still a long way to go to reach the 2030 goal.
“The greatest recruiters in a department are the other officers,” Dell said. So you cultivate the leadership of the ones you have and then “these are the ones who spread the word,” she added.
Click here for the swearing-in ceremony program in full, with summaries of Dell’s and the other promoted officers’ achievements.
Those officers include Gregg Curran and Raymond DeJesus who were both promoted to detective; Gabrielle Cotto, who was promoted to sergeant; and John Healy. Healy joins the YPD as captain after leaving the NHPD in 2022 at the same rank. At the NHPD he commanded the SWAT team and emergency services, and was the officer of the year in 2020.
Capt. John Healy with proud father John Francis Healy, Jr.