Description
April 10 a clip was emptied along side 382 Greenwich [reference address = 91 Second]; Wed. Aug. 3 automatic weapons were fired in front of 158 Howard; shortly after midnight Sunday Aug 7, 2011 a clip from a high-powered weapon was sprayed across the side of a vehicle parked in front of 382 Greenwich Ave--an increasingly problematic property. This has been happening all over the city for far too long. Based on what I saw at 382 Greenwich early this morning, it would seem that these gunshots are not random--and that the criminals have much more powerful, more sophisticated weaponry than the police. The following data is disturbing:
http://www.newhavencrimelog.org/cl/types/167/firearms-unlawful-discharge/ (My apologies for posting this shortly before the city's Democratic primary...)
23 Comments
BB (Registered User)
What do you think the best solution would be here?
Elisabeth (Guest)
Neighbor who needs sleep (Guest)
What happened to routine patrols in problem spots? The 911 call got us three cruisers nearly instantly and a total of seven in a few more minutes. This leads me to think there are officers available...
Seems like policing time would be better spent being proactively visible in hot spots rather than search for all the shells with flashlights in the rain.....They could also just use See-Click to plan their nightly interventions!
BB (Registered User)
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Because of the Federal government’s intransigence on this issue, the “Local Picture” solution obviously is more complex and inevitably incomplete. But here’s where I’d start:
1.) Provide significant incentives for police officers to live in New Haven. (Years ago it was a requirement that police officers reside in New Haven, but this requirement was declared illegal.) Early this morning, after my wife called 911 re. the shooting on Greenwich Ave. & the police arrived, I immediately went outside and talked to the police. I only saw one other neighbor do so. Yet I’m sure there were people with a better view of the shooting who saw more and could have told the police more. With a resident police force I believe more people would have been willing to speak up. Unfortunately in many neighborhoods the police are viewed suspiciously as a foreign occupying army. And, in a sense, they are.
2.) New Haven’s prison re-entry program is a step in the right direction. However, as you can read in today’s [Aug. 7, 2011] New Haven Register, it’s had minimal impact on recidivism: http://newhavenregister.com/articles/2011/08/07/news/doc4e3ec602ab19e840260940.txt?viewmode=fullstory
As one of the interviewees in the article points out, job interview skills are worthless if no one will hire ex-offenders. A New Haven ordinance requires that a certain percentage of city contracts go to minority contractors. So why can’t there be an ordinance that requires contractors working for the city hire a certain number of ex-offenders who have “paid their dues to society” via prison time served, and now need a chance to change their lives?
3.) Neighborhoods themselves need to create more programs that connect neighbors with one another. Yale’s Urban Resource Initiative Greenspace is an excellent example of such a program, but requires outside funding which is increasingly scarce. And not everyone has an interest in plants. However, the upcoming Greenwich Ave. Labor Day block party [details to be announced] is an example of a neighbor-initiated activity that costs the city nothing and merely requires people to show up.
I view this post as merely the beginning of a discussion, and hope more readers will contribute additional, creative ideas and thoughts.
Chris Schaefer
joey (Guest)
BB (Registered User)
Neighbor who still needs sleep (Guest)
It is hard to remember back so far - but it seemed like when there were community policing foot patrols, we had less drug dealing and less armed violence. Not so long ago, we had police cars parked in the dead end of Second Street.
Interestingly, last night was one of the quietest nights of this hot summer in the neighborhood. None of the kids and teens were outside.....do they know something the police don't? When is the payback for the incident on August 7th?
charles (Guest)
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Thommye (Guest)
Chris,
Did you call the police when you heard the gun shots? The sooner the police are notified, the sooner they can get to the scene and PERHAPS have a better chance of catching those who are responsible.
There are too many people sitting back complaining instead of doing something as simple as picking up the telephone!
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
A frequent criticism of contemporary policing is that the police show up AFTER an incident: there seems to be very little crime deterrence. So the police dept. has morphed into just another "emergency service", similar to the Fire Dept. which shows up after a fire breaks out. Having a non-resident police force is only one contributing factor to this evolution. As Thommye points out, citizens also need to be much more proactive. Given current economic realities (which are going to translate into continually shrinking municipal services), neighbors need to take on more responsibility for their neighborhood. Everyone should have the police non-emergency number programmed on auto-dial into their phones: 203-946-6316. If you live in the "Hill" police district, you also should have Lt. Holly Wasilewski's number 203-687-0529. She's the district manager.
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Joey AE (Guest)
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
Has this issue been addressed at this location?
I agree with Christopher on the issue of resident police officers (and city employees more generally). If you look at Census data, it shows that the surrounding towns have a far higher % of population employed as police officers than New Haven does. This is in part because almost all of our sworn officers live in the suburbs. There is definitely a correlation between where officers do not live and where violent crime is common. Yale offers huge incentives to its employees and as a result a much larger share of them live within the city than city employees do.
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/serious_shooting_man_caught/
This heroic woman helped get another murderous thug off the street.
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
http://www.newhavencrimelog.org/cl/daily-report/2011-09-06/
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)
Closed Christopher Schaefer 4 Congress.Com (Registered User)