Thomas Breen photo
Chief Otoniel Reyes (right) with his three assistant chiefs Tuesday night.
New Haven officially has a new full-time police chief now that the Board of Alders has approved Otoniel Reyes for the job.
Alders took that unanimous vote Tuesday night at their regular monthly full board meeting in the Aldermanic Chambers of City Hall.
Reyes, who has been serving as the interim head of the department since the retirement of former Police Chief Anthony Campbell in March, received words of praise and recognition from the half-dozen local legislators who stood up Tuesday to support Reyes’ nomination for the position.
In particular, they singled out Reyes’ roots in this city, having grown up in the Hill neighborhood, as well as his his roots in this department, having served as a beat patrol cop, a crisis negotiator, a detective, a patrol supervisor, a district manager, and an assistant chief during his two decades on the force.
Amity/Westville Alder Richard Furlow.
“We have by no exaggeration the best police force in the nation,” Amity/Westville Alder and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow said in support of Reyes, “and it’s only fitting that one of our homegrown residents occupy this position. We have tremendous expectations for him going forward, and we trust that he will fulfill all of the requirements necessary to bring our police department to the next level.”
“As a fellow Hiller,” outgoing Hill Alder Dave Reyes said, “I’m proud to call him a friend, a brother, and I’m excited to be a part of this journey with him to see him grow future leaders.”
“He is a man of integrity,” Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo added. “A man who has been able to show that he has the experience. He’s risen the ranks.”
East Rock Alder Anna Festa implored Reyes and his three assistant chiefs to keep open lines of communication between the department, the alders, and the community they serve. “Community policing also entails transparency,” she said, “and with that comes communication with the board as well as with the residents of this city.”
Reyes’s appointment covers the last two and a half years of a term begun by Campbell. Reyes inherits a department that has shrunk in size as it continues to struggle with retaining officers fleeing to better paying jobs at Yale and in the suburbs. A new proposed police union contract, recently ratified by the union and submitted to the Board of Alders for approval (see more below), may help stanch that outflow with retroactive salary increases. The department has also overseen record lows in violent crime in the past half-decade, despite a recent bump in shootings this year.
Police Union Contract Submitted
Tuesday night’s full Board of Alders meeting.
Also on the agenda Tuesday night was a communication from city Labor Relations Director Thomas McCarthy about the proposed new police union contract.
Formally submitted to the full board on Aug. 23, the contract now advances to the aldermanic Finance Committee for a Sept. 11 public hearing before returning to the full board for a final vote. Per the timeline requirements laid out in the City Charter, the alders must act on the proposed agreement no later than their Sept. 27 full board meeting.
Click here to download the proposed order requesting that alders approve the new contract, as well as details on the contract itself.
As previously announced at a City Hall press conference after the police union overwhelmingly ratified the new contract, the union’s first in three years, the proposed labor deal cover six years, from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2022.
The agreement would grant officers an aggregate 13.5 percent pay increase over the course of the contract, with retroactive payments for the past three years being disbursed in increments: one-third within 60 days of legislative approval, one-third on July 1, 2020, and one-third on July 1, 2021.
It also includes the implementation of the Health Incentive Program as well as the Health Savings Account (HSA) plan effective Dec. 1, 2019, sets a new minimum retirement age of 52 years old or 25 years of service in the New Haven Police Department, and limits the number of employees who can utilize the sick time buyback for retirement during each calendar year to 20.
“The Agreement represents a collaboration between the City and the Union and is a valuable investment in New Haven’s public safety arena,” McCarthy wrote in an accompanying letter to Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers. “The agreement allows for the attraction and retention of quality officers through competitive salaries, incentives and growth opportunities.”