Cop is first to be banned statewide under 2020 police reform
A New Haven police officer who resigned after being accused of coercing two women into sexual encounters became the first cop in the state to be permanently barred from law enforcement for general misconduct outlined under the provisions of a 2020 police accountability law.
The officer, Gary Gamarra, had his certification revoked last week by the Police Officer Standards and Training Council, effectively prohibiting him from serving as a police officer anywhere in the state.
Proponents of a wideranging police accountability law that went into effect last October said Gamarra’s decertification is an example of the law working to keep certain officers off the streets. The law, passed with mostly Democratic support, was drafted in response to nationwide protests against police brutality and abuse that were touched off by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
“I do think it is a sign to the public that when officers step well outside of the boundaries, that there are real repercussions for them,” said state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, who backed the legislation as co-chair of the Judiciary Committee.
The law placed tougher rules on police searches and the use of deadly force, required officers to wear body cameras and barred the use of chokeholds. It also allowed POST to revoke an officer’s certification for “conduct undermining confidence in law enforcement,” such as falsifying reports or engaging in racial profiling.
Previously, the council’s powers to decertify officers had been limited to cases where an officer was convicted of a felony, lied during the initial certification process or engaged in limited other specific violations.
According to a list of decertified officers maintained by POST, Gamarra is the first officer to be decertified under the general “misconduct” provision of the new law. The other three decertifications issued since the law went into effect, including the decertification of former Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez, were due to felony convictions, which were covered under the previous law.
The 2020 law also prevents Gamarra and other decertified cops from serving as private security guards.
Police Academy Administrator Karen Boisvert confirmed on Wednesday that Gamarra’s decertification was the first to be done under the expanded provisions of the 2020 law, though she declined to rule out the possibility that POST could have stripped Gamarra of his certification under the council’s previous authority.
“He would not have been able to be decertified under this particular element because it never existed,” Boisvert said, adding that Gamarra’s actions were “pretty straightforward under the misconduct” provision of the law.
According to police, Gamarra allegedly engaged in inappropriate sexual relationships with two women he met while working as a patrol officer in the Fair Haven neighborhood. Both internal affairs investigations began after the department received a tip from the Sex Workers and Allies Network.
One of the women said she felt “obligated to get into the car because he was an officer,” according to an internal affairs report, which added that the woman felt that Gamarra had “raped” her.
Gamarra initially denied having sexual contact with either women, according to internal affairs reports, before admitting to both encounters, which he said were consensual.
One of the vocal critics of the legislature’s policing reforms, state Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, called Gamarra’s actions “an egregious use of force,” while pointing out the provisions of the law allowing for his decertification made up just a portion of the 72page bill.
“The process with regard to this particular portion of that bill did work,” Fishbein said. “There’s a lot of other bad things in the bill, but I think if this bill was voted on just for this particular portion, it would have gotten a lot of support.”
Fishbein, who serves as a ranking Republican member on the legislature’s Judiciary Committee, noted that lawmakers voted this year to delay some aspects of the 2020 law related to the use of deadly force, to allow more time for police to be trained on the new standards.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said Gamarra’s removal is a sign that the law is working to remove bad officers and support “most of our officers who work hard and want to do a good job.”
“Despite a lot of the fear and rhetoric and lies that have been told about this bill, it’s working to provide the public with trust,” Duff said.
State police Sgt. John McDonald recently submitted his resignation on the same day the agency began the process of seeking to decertify him, according to internal affairs investigation reports.
McDonald, who had been on desk duty since a 2019 DUI crash that injured two people, pleaded no contest to two charges of seconddegree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. A judge also granted his application for an alcohol education program, which will dismiss the DUI charge if McDonald successfully completes the program.
McDonald’s resignation came amid a separate investigation into “malfeasance or other serious conduct” related to his use of a state police time management computer system, according to an internal affairs report.
Boisvert declined to comment Wednesday on POST’s review of the officer’s certification or the applicability of the 2020 law, citing the ongoing investigation.