2020 most violent year in the city since 2013

Homicides, shootings, gunfire see ‘significant rise’ in New Haven

The year saw 20 homicides in New Haven, the most in the city since 2013, and 121 non-fatal shootings, up from 11 and 78 in 2019. There were 274 incidents of shots being fired, up from 151 in 2019.

Chief Otoniel Reyes and other officials considered the year-end crime statistics at the department’s weekly Compstat meeting.

That was a “significant rise,” Reyes said, citing the data. But he noted that, on the whole, crime has fallen since 2011, when 34 people were killed and 133 wounded, and since the heights of the 1990s.

Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson said the efforts of the department, as well as Project Longevity, to meet with those at risk of being involved in violence, had been disrupted by the pandemic.

Along with that, he said, a number of people affiliated with gangs and groups were released from prison after

past arrests, returning to the city with old disputes, particularly in the Hill neighborhood.

There were 73 shootings considered gang- or group-related in 2020, according to the statistics presented, up from 41 in 2019 and 32 in 2018. A total of 142 people were released back to New Haven this year, as compared to 54 in 2018, Reyes said.

“This type of crime is the retaliatory stuff — I shoot at one person, you shoot back at me because he’s their friend — it’s group- and gang-related. We have to get back to the Project Longevity model — do the messaging, bring everybody in, talk to them. When a group or gang drops a body after a call- in, go after (them),” said Jacobson.

“We know how to reduce this, and we’re going to get back to those practices,” he said.

Project Longevity is a program what works to prevent criminal acts and violence through interventions. It, for instance works to reduce violence by gang members and others by providing them with support and services, as well as making clear that joint local, state and federal law enforcement will occur.

Reyes said the gang- and group-related shootings are more preventable for the department, as compared to domestic violence incidents, which are more isolated.

“That is the slice of the pie that we need to work on, that we need to bring down, because that’s the stuff in past years we’ve been able to prevent,” said Reyes.

The department seized 144 guns and made 142 gun-related arrests in 2020, Reyes said, as compared to 137 and 172 in

2019. He noted that the department has continued to seize firearms year after year.

“There are just way too many guns out on the street,” he said.

In one example of the weapons found in the city, eight guns were seized and nine arrests made in early August in areas of violence that had occurred in about the two weeks preceding it, according to police. Two arrests made Aug. 2, police said at the time, helped “stop retaliation for the homicide” earlier that morning.

This year’s seizures and arrests were driven largely by street work, Jacobson said. Usually, the department seizes a number of guns through search warrants, but officers were only able to put together and execute about half as many search warrants in a coronavirus-influenced environment.

“I think that’s a resounding indication of the level of productivity that our officers maintained, even in the light of COVID, even in light of the social unrest to policing,” Reyes said.

Property crime was down 7.3 percent in 2020, according the department’s statistics. A total of 4,601 offenses were reported, compared to 4,965 in 2019.

On the whole, crime in the city was down 14.8 percent.

Reyes said the department responded to the needs of the pandemic in 2020, finding a way to continue to provide services despite the concerns associated with a new disease..

“It was a mental challenge for our cops. Our officers have families; they themselves may have some underlying medical condition ... they have children at home, they have elderly parents at home,” he said. “The grim reality of continuing to provide their day-to-day service while essentially putting themselves in harm’s way was a dynamic we had to deal with.

“I think, in terms of outcomes, we were still able to complete our mission and still effectively provide that service to the community without compromising health, but it was certainly very challenging,” Reyes said.

The department’s year-end crime statistics can be viewed on the department’s website.

Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo New Haven Police Chief Otoniel Reyes in August after a press conference on Wilson Street, near the scene of a shooting in the city’s Hill neighborhood where one person died and five were wounded.

Mary E. O'Leary/Hearst Connecticut Media file photo Police Chief Otoniel Reyes and Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson speak at a press event last year in which the chief said the police department has too few officers to fight an uptick in crime.

Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media The New Haven Police Department at 1 Union Ave.