InNewHaven and beyond, police see post-pandemic progress to forge relationships with community

Aug. 6—No one knows anything. No one saw anything. No one wants to get involved.

But in recent months, thing have been a little different, at least in New Haven. It's too early to tell whether it represents a sea change. But for people who spend their lives and careers trying to address violent crime, it's encouraging.

Police are getting some help.

On July 26, when police held a press conference to talk about the relatively quick July 18 arrest of Hommy Lugo-Rodriguez, 46, of New Haven on charges of murder in connection with the July 15 stabbing death of Robert Franklin Jr., 49, at Lloyd and Exchange streets in Fair Haven, Franklin's sister had some choice words.

"A lot of people say, 'snitching,' 'ratting,'" in a disparaging manner when they refer to cooperating with police, said Lakisha Franklin. But when her brother was killed, "that made the difference" and is a big factor responsible for the fact that the person who allegedly killed him was arrested, she said.

She said she was moved "that you guys loved Robert" enough to come forward.

"We hadn't even buried him," Lakisha Franklin said. "But the healing process can begin because the person is in custody."

Police Chief Karl Jacobson, who took over the department last year, knows things have changed some since then. It's in the numbers.

"All you have to look at is that we solved 10 of 14 homicides," Jacobson said Friday. "We haven't done that in my 17 years" on the police force. "Also, we're solving more shootings" and "we're getting more calls."

Police use-of-force incidents also are way down this year — to 133 from January through July 2023, compared to 481 during the same period in 2022, 203 during the same period in 2021 and 186 during the same period in 2020.

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A key factor in forging a better relationship with the community is what Jacobson calls "police legitimacy," he said. "If people see the police as legitimate, they're going to obey the law" and be more willing to work with officers.

Since becoming chief, much of Jacobson's energy has been put into increasing that legitimacy and the trust between police officers and the community, he said.

"I think I put a message out to the officers ... that we're going to treat the public with decency and respect — and I've fired people who didn't do that," Jacobson said.

"To build that legitimacy you need procedural justice," he said.

You build that four ways, Jacobson said. "You give people a voice"; you give them "treatment with dignity"; you employ "neutrality in decision-making" — making decisions, even at crime scenes, without any bias, even if you have past experience with the people involved; and you build trust, he said.

Jacobson and some of the people who try to work with police in the city's neighbors cite the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer — which spawned the Black Lives Matter movement and was among the low points in relationships between police and people of color — as an agent of positive change.

Since then — at a post-pandemic time when everything from mass shootings and school shootings to street violence has been spiking — "I would also say that the national feeling toward police has changed," Jacobson said.

"With a spike in violent crime, the community doesn't like violent crime, either," he said.

Sean Reeves Sr. didn't always work with police. As a young man, "I used to be a perpetrator of violent activities" who was convicted of felonies three times and was incarcerated three times, he said.

Now, as a more mature man who lives on Hazel Street in Newhallville and is a taxpayer, business owner, hopefully soon a homeowner and a father in the community, he does work with police.

He says he has to.

"Now that I'm a regular citizen, when I have a problem, who am I supposed to call?" Reeves said. "I have to call the police .... Now, I"m trying to figure out ways to solve this issue."

A lot has happened over the years to change Reeves' mind.

For one thing, his son, Sean Reeves Jr., an honor student and basketball star at Hyde Leadership High School, was shot on Aug. 10, 2011, at George and Day streets off Kensington Street; he died the next day.

Over the years before and since, "we've had a strained relationship" with police, in part because of the way people were treated over the years by police, Reeves said.

But he said he needs to have a relationship with police.

"I understand it isn't a perfect relationship that we've had, but we have to figure out how to have a relationship," said Reeves, who works with Connecticut Against Gun Violence and is a co-founder of S.P.O.R.T. Academy, which teaches youths life skills through the game of chess and incorporates sports as part of a life skills program.

He's also been active with Project Longevity and other groups in the community.

"Since George Floyd and the pandemic, the world has taken a different way of looking at things," Reeves said. "The world is concerned now because after the George Floyd thing, there's a lot more people being shot in schools — and it's not just people of color being shot, it's white people in the suburbs.

Over the past few years, he's gotten to know Jacobson. He thinks the chief is the right person for the job that needs to be done now.

"If you ask me, I think we have the best police chief to initiate the shift" that needs to take place, Reeves said. "I respect a lot of the work that he's doing, yes. He's a real chief that's tangible to local residents.

"If we don't learn how to work together, we're going to definitely fail, because one person can't do it alone," he said.

Not just New Haven

While trying to build bridges and forge relationships with the community is a big challenge in New Haven, "it's not just a New Haven thing," said Hamden acting Police Chief Timothy Wydra. "It's a national thing.

"What we try to do is continue to build trust with our community members, whether it's residents or business owners," Wydra said. "When we can gain trust with our community, it lends to all kinds of trust, including when there's a crime."

Wydra said help from community members was a key factor responsible for the June 6 arrest of Jenigh Ward, 18, in connection with the May 9 killing of Hamden High School freshman Elijah Gomez in broad daylight on a Monday afternoon near the Farmington Canal Trail and Treadwell Street, reportedly while Gomez was walking home from school.

In that case, the cooperation came from business owners, Wydra said.

"Having open lines of communication" and "getting to know each other, instead of police officers being like strangers in there," is a key to effective policing, he said.

"Every time we have an interaction, we want it to be a respectful, professional interaction," Wydra said.

He believes the Hamden Police Department's relationship with the community has gotten better.

"We've had people cooperate with us," he said, and "nationally, I think people are helping the police because people are tired of violence. People are tired of being victims of crime."

West Haven Police Chief Joe Perno said that what the department there is trying to do, "and it's had limited success, is to have some kind of relationship with the community."

The key is "just involvement," which can be difficult at a time when police departments are understaffed and resources are stretched, Perno said.

"It's rough when you have people go from call to call to call," Perno said. "Building relationships is tedious. ... Plus, it's a busy city. We don't really have time to chat as much as I would like them to."