Police union head Sgt. Louis Cavaliere.
(Updated) City Hall turned down a last-minute offer from the police union to save 16 cops’ jobs following a raucous march by 200 cops through downtown streets.
Police Union President Louis Cavaliere made that announcement around 1:15 p.m. Thursday as he emerged from a pow-wow with the 16 cops inside the police substation on City Hall’s first floor.
Before that, Cavaliere and other union brass had spent more than an hour upstairs in Mayor John DeStefano’s office. Cavaliere said the union asked the mayor to hold off on the layoffs another two months while the two sides negotiate a solution that would save the 16 jobs. Cavaliere said the mayor rejected the offer.
Meanwhile, the city started the process of laying off another 40-plus city workers Thursday, all in an effort to close a $5.5 million budget gap in the fiscal year that ends June 30. A separate round of layoffs is expected in July to close next year’s gap.
At 1:25 p.m. the 16 officers headed to police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. to turn in their badges and guns.
They had thought they were showing up to 1 Union Ave. to do that at 10 a.m. Thursday. Then everything changed.
Instead, they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of other cops outside police headquarters at 9:30 a.m. They crowd gathered for a “solidarity” rally on behalf of the officers.
Officer Lou DeCrescenzo, center, lost his job Thursday. “It’s devestating,” he said.
Some of the cops targeted for layoffs teared up while hugging their fellow officers. Speakers like police union Treasurer Anthony Zona fired up the crowd. Zona warned that citizens should expect longer response times after the layoffs and echoed a call from his union president that citizens should perhaps arm themselves.
“People need to be prepared to protect themselves,” Zona (pictured above) said.
Union Vice-President Frank Lombardi criticized Police Chief Frank Limon when it was his turn to speak. The union recently held a no-confidence vote against the new chief.
“He should have been down here with us. The chief should have talked to the mayor,” Lombardi charged.
Officer Maurice Martin, who’s married with three kids, said he was called at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night and told to report to 1 Union Ave. at 10 a.m. on Thursday. He had been on his way to the union meeting.
“I’m at a loss for words,” he said. “You sacrifice a lot to be here.” Martin was one of several cops to refer to the department as “a family.”
Martin was embraced by many in the crowd. He grew up in New Haven and graduated from Wilbur Cross High in 1997.
Then, just after 10 a.m., all 200 cops rode elevators or walked upstairs to the station’s third floor to confront the police chief.
There they encountered Limon and city Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts. The press was not allowed in. The officials and the cops met for around a half hour in the “TASCA room,” where top cops usually meet to review daily crime trends.
Afterward, participants said the crowd aired grievances during the meeting. Officers said they wished the city had accepted the union’s alternatives to layoffs, which included having officers work for free one or two days between February and June 30, giving up vacation days, and/or having senior officers retire early.
Smuts said the city needs to reach a specific dollar figure in savings with the cuts but didn’t disclose what that figure is, according to Sgt. Richard Miller of the union executive board and Lou DeCrescenzo, one of the 16 officers facing layoffs.
Smuts adjourned the meeting, they said. (Smuts could not be reached for comment afterward.)
The 16 targeted cops said they weren’t asked to hand in their badges and guns at the meeting.
Thomas MacMillan Photos
After marching up to the chief’s office, hundreds of cops took to the streets and headed to City Hall.
Rather than being laid off as planned, they ended up back on the street with the crowd after the meeting. They marched at the front of the line as the hundreds of cops marched up Union Avenue toward Chapel Street. Their destination: City Hall. To confront the mayor.
Officers Martin helped lead the march. He was asked if he agreed with union officials that people should arm themselves at home in response to the layoffs. He said he considered that a “fair” idea.
“It’s already a shooting range out there” on the streets, he said.
Officers behind the wheel of eight or so cop cruisers followed the march, wailing their sirens.
The crowd arrived outside City Hall around 11:15 a.m. The cops said they wouldn’t budge until they get to meet with Mayor John DeStefano.
At 11:36 a.m., the mayor welcomed the union executive board into his office for a closed-door chat. The group included union President Louis Cavaliere, Zona, Lombardi, Miller, and Det. Renee Lunau.
At noon, police reopened Church Street to traffic. It had been blocked off during the protest.
Just before 1 p.m., Cavaliere and the other union heads emerged from the closed-door meeting and immediately huddled with the 16 facing layoffs. At around 1:15 p.m., Cavaliere emerged to talk to press.
Cavaliere said the mayor’s rejection of the union’s request for a two month delay in layoffs demonstrated a dangerous stance for the mayor. “It’s a brazen and cocky attitude that will come back to bite him in the ass.”
Cavaliere said the mayor had refused to negotiate out of a fear of what the other unions would think.
After more chants and applause by the police, cops headed back to 1 Union Ave., where the 16 officers planned to turn in their guns and badges.
Officer Seth Twohill said he was disappointed and planned to go home and start looking for a new job.
Officer DeCrescenzo said he felt “like I just lost my family.”
He said he had hoped the mayor would change his mind and delay the firings.
He said he also planned to look for another job. “I’ll look, because I have to look. But this is my family. It’s heartwrenching.”
Officer DeCrescenzo