Thomas Breen photo
New Hill top cop Sgt. Justin Marshall.
The Hill has a new top cop. For now.
At Wednesday night’s Hill South Community Management Team meeting at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School at 150 Kimberly Ave., Sgt. Justin Marshall introduced himself as the neighborhood’s new temporary district commander, replacing the recently retired Lt. Jason Minardi.
Marshall, a 35-year-old Meriden native, has worked for the New Haven Police Department since 2008. He is a veteran of the Army National Guard, where he served as a combat engineer and infantryman. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU).
After graduating from the city’s police academy in 2008, he served on a walking beat in the Hill on Truman Street, then in a two-person crime suppression car in the neighborhood, and then in the street interdiction union, where he worked on street-level narcotics dealing and other quality-of-life issues.
He served four years as a detective, one year in the robberies and burglaries unit and three years in narcotics enforcement, before being promoted to sergeant two years ago and returning to the neighborhood to serve as Hill North’s patrol sergeant.
The Hill South Community Management Team on Wednesday night.
As of Jan. 6, Marshall’s taken over as the district commander for both the Hill North and the Hill South police districts.
“I know that Lt. Minardi was your previous district commander,” he told the roughly 40 neighbors who showed up to Wednesday night’s meeting. “I know that most of you were very fond of him. He did a great job. I have big shoes to fill.”
Police Chief Anthony Campbell, who also attended Wednesday’s meeting, praised Marshall for his open and active communication with community members, Alder Dave Reyes, and all involved officers during and after last week’s officer-involved shooting in the Hill.
Because of staffing shortages in the department more broadly, Campbell said, Marshall’s “stay as a district manager is going to be longer than anticipated.”
Hill crime suppression officers Joshua Castellano and Jeremy Mastroianni.
A little over two weeks into his job as Hill top cop, Marshall already had quite a bit of local crime to report on.
Since the beginning of the new year, the neighborhood has seen four burglaries, four armed robberies, six motor vehicle thefts, and one larceny from a motor vehicle, he said.
“My major concern is obviously the robberies,” he said. Staff at Berney’s Pharmacy on Howard Avenue was held up at gunpoint, with $150 taken from the register. Another victim walking near Rosette Street was held up at gunpoint and robbed of $300 in cash.
Marshall introduced Officers Joshua Castellano and Jeremy Mastroianni as one of the two two-person “crime suppression: teams assigned to the Hill. He said the two have already pulled $350 in crack cocaine off the street in one traffic stop and $200 in PCP off the street in another traffic stop, and recovered a stolen automobile from Waterbury.
“If you are going outside during the nighttime,” he warned, “just be aware of your surroundings. If you can, walk with somebody else. And if you don’t have to go out at night, don’t.”
Marshall with Daniel Hunt.
At least one Hill South neighbor, Daniel Hunt, heaped praise on the incoming district commander, citing his experience in the department and his open communication during last week’s shooting .
“I think he’s going to be great,” Hunt said.