The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Combating uptick in gun violence
State earmarks $25K each to New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford to boost crime fighting
MIDDLETOWN — State police are taking a holistic approach to preventing the summertime uptick in gun violence in the state’s cities with the most of these types of crimes, in collaboration with authorities in New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford.
These types of crimes typically increase in the warmer weather, when young people are out of school with more idle time, along with other contributing factors, Connecticut State Police Commissioner James C. Rovella said Tuesday.
“It happens every year. We wanted to discuss it early and we wanted to have some plan in place from the perspective of ‘how can we help?’ ” Rovella said during a news conference at police headquarters.
Gov. Ned Lamont joined Rovella, the chiefs of police of New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford, and other officials to announce the awarding of $25,000 to each of these three cities. The funds are intended to help pay for the immediate costs of adding local patrols above normal staffing levels in the hopes of curbing gun violence.
The initiative, a collaboration between state police and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, began in the spring, Rovella said. He and his staff met with every police chief across Connecticut to discuss summer violence and the sharp rise in crime.
New Haven and Hartford police requested the addition of state police detectives assigned to violence reduction, while Bridgeport asked for uniformed troopers to patrol certain areas alongside local police personnel.
Rovella drew upon Meriden’s Division of Scientific Services Director Guy Vallaro, asking him to ex
pedite use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, “a fingerprint system for ballistic casings that show up at all these crime scenes,” he said.
Specifically, he asked to have DNA and “criminalistic” requests from these three police chiefs on cases involving violent crime moved to top priority.
“They’re a tale of three cities, but they do have some underlying commonalities, and those commonalities revolve around narcotics and ... lack of manpower to their normal staffing levels — in some cases 75, and, in some cases, 100 officers short,” Rovella said.
“We’ve had a spike in New Haven, a lot of it related to groupongroup violence,” said New Haven Chief Otoniel Reyes. His officers, in conjunction with the FBI, recently arrested 25 of the most violent criminals in the city.
“We’re continuing to do what we need to do to mitigate this. We cannot do this without resources and we cannot prevent crime without funds,” Reyes said.
Efforts appear to be working. Last week, New Haven experienced a “significant drop” in these types of offenses, he added.
Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody said his department is cooperating with community stakeholders such as the Compass Youth Collaborative, and state and federal authorities in integrated approach to preventing gun violence.
“There are a lot of individual crimes — there’s not a lot of connectivity between them. They range from drugs to group violence,” Thody said.
“Our reaction as law enforcement is: There’s a spike, what do we have to do to quell that spike? We can’t just work in a silo. It has to be more collaborative,” he added.
Bridgeport Police Chief Armando J. Perez referenced two recent homicides perpetrated by minors, and expressed his gratitude to the governor and state police for the muchneeded influx of funding and other support systems.
“We’re going to make the arrests. We have warrants, we know who they are. How can I bring justice to those families? It’s so hard,” Perez said.
Beginning in spring, Lamont met with Rovella, the former chief of police in Hartford, to discuss the rise in crime during the summer months.
He referenced the collaboration between the state and Project Longevity, which employs “community involvement, social services, and focused policing to positively influence group dynamics,” according to its website.
“The first thing we’ve got to do is be responsive to our chiefs, and that’s what we’ve tried to do. As governor, my responsibility is to get the best people I can and get them the support that they need,” Lamont said. “To me, it’s doubly important — public safety for communities. That’s of paramount importance to us.
“We’re paying attention, we’re ahead of the curve right now,” said Lamont, adding the initiative is a preventative one.
The goal is to revitalize cities, “make them thriving urban centers where families know they can walk safely and their kids can grow up and be safe.”
Rovella said the goal isn’t to make mass apprehensions.
“We’re not into this to arrest full streetcorners or increase arrests. We’re into this for prevention and visibility, and increased levels of investigative services. We’re interested in the right people doing the shooting: those folks carrying the guns.”
Lamont said these boosts in staff are a temporary measure, and he intends to continue to collaborate with each municipality to determine their specific needs in the coming months.