2020 Violence Worst Since 2012

New Haven in 2020 recorded the highest number of homicides, non-fatal shooting victims, and confirmed shots in nearly a decade.

Police brass revealed the numbers on Thursday and sought to put last year’s surge in violence in context — by looking at a regional (and national) spike in crime, an increase in prison releases and gang activity, and impacts of Covid-19.

Police Chief Otoniel Reyes offered those numbers and perspectives Thursday morning during the first CompStat meeting of the new year.

The hour-and-15-minute virtual meeting, which took place online via Zoom, was dedicated entirely to reviewing citywide crime statistics from 2020.

“Obviously this has been a very difficult time for the community last year,” Reyes said. ​“Not only did we see a spike in crime, but we did see an erosion in public trust when it comes to policing, at a national level.”

Reyes, who is retiring from the local police force in March after 21 years in the department and two as chief, singled out three violent crime numbers as particularly worrisome, even in the larger context of an overall drop in year-over-year crime in New Haven.

Those numbers were 20 homicides, 121 non-fatal shooting victims, and 274 confirmed shots fired.

The previous year saw 11 homicides, 78 non-fatal shootings, and 151 shots fired.

The 2020 stats represented the worst violent crime numbers since 2012, which saw 17 homicides, 92 non-fatal shooting victims, and 275 confirmed shots fired.

They still fell well below the banner violent year of 2011, which saw 34 homicides, 133 non-fatal shooting victims, and 427 confirmed shots fired.

While data never tell the entire story of the year in crime, police work, and police-community relations, Reyes said, a deep dive into crime statistics is a necessary and productive opportunity to think about crime in the city now in comparison to years past, and in comparison to other cities like Hartford and Bridgeport.

“I think New Haven has fared far better than most cities,” Reyes said in reference to the nationwide surge in crime amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. ​“Invariably, we do have to look at the numbers. Invariably, we do have to analyze the numbers, not just to see where we’ve been, but to see where we should be going forward.”

Click here to read the full end-of-year CompStat report.

Reyes: ​“Way Too Many Guns Out On The Street”

Much of Thursday’s presentation focused on changes in gun violence and other violent crime.

“As you see, crime tends to by cyclical,” Reyes said. ​“We have since 2012 seen a steady decline in shootings.”

Since the lows experienced in 2018, however, the city has seen homicides, non-fatal shooting victims, and confirmed shots fired spike.

The 274 confirmed shots fired number is not simply a reflection of more of the city covered by ShotSpotter, he said. ​“These are confirmed shots fired that we confirmed through seizures at the scene where officers collected evidence, or where detectives confirmed gunfire through evidence collection and witness accounts.”

Last year also saw the department seize 142 guns citywide (up from 137 in 2019) and make 144 gun arrests (down from 172).

“There are just way too many guns out on the street,” Reyes said. ​“It seems like more and more encounters that we’re having, people are armed. It’s obviously impacting violence on the street.”

Jacobson said that those gun seizure numbers were as high as they were notwithstanding the fact that the department pulled roughly half as many search warrants than it would normally do because of Covid-related slowdowns and limitations on visiting people’s homes.

“This is all street work, car stops, and stopping people intelligence has been done on. Normally we get a lot of guns in housing. This is a great graphic to tell that officers are working.”

And Reyes noted a significant increase in gang-related violence.

There were 73 gang-related shootings last year, compared to 41 in 2019 and 32 in 2018.

“That’s a significant number for us,” Reyes said. ​“What we saw this year was a significant spike in gang-related and group-related violence.”

“Perfect Storm” Of Prison Release, Limited House Calls

One of the most likely reasons for the surge in shootings and gang-related violence, Reyes and Jacobson said, is an uptick in 2020 of people being released from prison and back to the community on probation and parole.

Both the chief and assistant chief said that these releases were not necessarily early releases due to Covid. Rather, most resulted from a surge in gang-related arrests and convictions a decade ago, and people subsequently completing their sentences behind bars.

Reyes said that 142 people were were released from prison to New Haven in 2020 were involved in shootings, compared to 78 in 2019 and 54 in 2018.

“We saw a lot of those people over the last two years being released,” Jacobson said about people arrested for gang-related violated a decade ago. ​“They’re getting out. They’re older. But they still have these beefs.”

That was particularly true in the Hill neighborhood, he said.

“We see that this type of crime is the retaliatory stuff: ​‘I shoot at one person; he shoots back at me.’”

Reyes referred to a ​“perfect storm” of factors: a ​“higher than normal” release of people from prison who are ​“high profile in terms of the volatility they present to the community,” combined with a ​“significant decrease, and at times a complete stop, in terms of the supervision of these individuals.”

Jacobson (pictured) stressed the importance of getting back to the Project Longevity model of ​“doing the messaging, getting everyone to talk,” and targeting resources at people most likely to be involved in violent crime.

“In times of no Covid, there’s more messaging and less violence,” he continued. Slowly but surely, the department is getting back to the targeted, communication-based work that was so disrupted by the pandemic and by the state probation and parole department’s temporary halt on home visits.

“We’re meeting people in their backyards, socially distanced and talking to them.”

Hartford, Bridgeport Comparison

In comparison to Hartford and Bridgeport, however, New Haven’s increase in violent crime was not as sharp.

While New Haven had 121 non-fatal shootings and 20 homicides last year, Hartford has 225 non-fatal shootings and 25 homicides, while Bridgeport had 139 non-fatal shootings and 24 homicides.

Overall, Reyes said, New Haveners should be proud of the work that their police department did in the face of unprecedented challenges.

“We survived 2020 because of the people on this call, because of the leaders on this call,” he said. Reyes said throughout the year he sought to prioritize ​“stability and filling the ranks. Our focus was on stabilizing the department and providing proper structure and working on filling the ranks so that we can properly staff these districts.”

“Cops matter,” he continued. ​“We are reaching critically low numbers. I’m concerned that, if we don’t prioritize as a city public safety, that we’re going to find ourselves as a city continuing to go in the wrong direction from a public safety standpoint.”

When asked about her vision for the department once she takes over as acting chief in the spring, Assistant Chief Renee Dominguez (pictured) she will prioritize ​“taking the resources we have and filling the ranks, adding officers to the force. It’s going to look possibly like a restructuring.” The big question is, ​“How do we do what needs to be done to reduce crime?”

“We’re going to have to think about things outside of the box.” We’re going to focus on partnerships with other law enforcement agencies and with community members, she said.

“Can 2021 be worst than 2020? I hope not. But we’re going to get through it, and this transition is going to be a smooth one.”