Police chief: ‘Days are over’ for resisting change

Suburban police in lower Fairfield County know the people in their neighborhoods well.

But worlds don’t stop at the borders between municipalities, and they say it’s knowing those coming from neighboring communities, particularly minorities, that will make a difference in interactions between police and the public.

A group of local police chiefs, state prosecutors and the Norwalk Chapter of the NAACP held a virtual meeting Tuesday night and listened to concerns from residents about the relationship between communities and law enforcement in the wake of the George Floyd killing and others in police custody.

Hosted by Norwalk NAACP President Brenda Penn-Williams, the panel included Weston Police Chief Edwin Henion, Darien Chief Donald Anderson, Westport Chief Foti Koskinas, New Canaan Chief Leon Krolikowski, Norwalk Chief Thomas Kulhawik, Wilton Chief John Lynch, Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo, State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek, and the Rev. Jeffrey Ingraham.

“You’re not a diverse bunch,” one resident pointed out to the panel of police chiefs, who are white men. “How can you relate to the community that feels harassed?”

Kulhawik said this has been an issue during his three decades in law enforcement, and pointed out that most of those who joined the force during the 1980s were white males.

Police have tried to recruit a diverse workforce and promote diverse officers, he added, while also making it a priority to meet the community they serve.

“I made it my business to get out in the community. That’s what we’ve been doing for 25 years,” Kulhawik said. “I know we don’t look like some of the people. All I can be is me. You work from the heart, so to speak.”

Koskinas said it’s important for the police to understand their community and to recognize those who are passing through town.

“It’s getting to know your community better, interacting with them, getting to know cultural differences,” he said.

Many of those suburbs have been the scene of recent rallies, calling for an end to police brutality.

“At the end of the day, we want policy change,” moderator Monika Keen said in her opening statement. “We can meet, but what are we meeting for? We can march, but what are we marching for?”

Chokeholds have been at the center of the police brutality debate after high-profile deaths across the country.

“We banned chokeholds decades ago,” Anderson said of Darien.

But, he said, “it’s not an outright prohibition” if the officer is fighting for his or her life.

For two decades, he said, Darien officers have been trained on how to prevent a suspect from asphyxiating.

“I don’t think you can have an out-and-out prohibition on the chokehold unless you can use deadly force,” Anderson said.

Police chiefs statewide have called on all departments to change their policies regarding chokeholds.

The state organization of police chiefs also put a 90-day hold on accepting military equipment, amid national questions about the militarization of law enforcement agencies.

“I don’t believe any of the chiefs here have militarized police,” Kulhawik said, adding that Norwalk does have items such as an armored truck and a highwater rescue vehicle that were military surplus.

He also said Norwalk police have tear gas for use in situations such as a person barricaded. The regional special response team also has it, Anderson said.

“I think it’s a case of using equipment in an appropriate manner,” Kulhawik said.

Calls to “defund the police” are a “simplistic notion,” Ferencek said.

“I would strongly disagree with it,” he said. “If you defund the police, the police are not going to get the training they need.”

The training required to be a police officer in Connecticut is longer that most states and has won praise from others, the chiefs said.

But police are now dealing with people battling mental health and substance abuse issues, Kulhawik said.

“I think police can be funded and you can find money to properly fund social services and get the police out of issues that are not police issues, but social service issues,” he said.

Several questions from residents focused on police oversight, at the local level and beyond.

Kulhawik explained that the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies evaluates departments and holds them to a set of standards.

Prosecutors were asked to be more approachable, especially by defendants who want to fight to clear their names rather than be funneled into accelerated rehabilitation or a similar diversionary program.

“Anyone who wants to plead not guilty has that right,” Ferencek said. “When we explain diversionary programs, they do not have to take them.”

Colangelo said the COVID pandemic has changed the way courts operate, with prosecutors reviewing case files and deciding how best to proceed.

“We’re in uncharted territory with the pandemic in the amount of business and the way we handle business,” Colangelo said. “It’s going to be a while before we’re able to have a jury trial again and have one safely.”

Kulhawik and others called Tuesday’s session a good start, but agreed there is plenty of work to be done. It starts, they said, with conversation.