Dwight Chapel Policing District - LT Hassett

Please post here if you have more information about the shooting. You may post information anonymously.

Also post if you have ideas on how to reduce violent crime in the neighborhood, especially on this block. Is more lighting needed? Dwight sees somewhat elevated violent crime rates when compared to the city as a whole.

News excerpt:

"NEW HAVEN – A 29-year-old man was shot to death early this morning on George Street in the Dwight neighborhood, police said. It was the city’s fourth homicide this year.

"Officers went to the rear of a home in the 500 block of George Street at about 3 a.m. and found the man, whom police did not identify, suffering from multiple gunshots wounds, police said in a statement released just before 11 a.m. today."

Today between 5 and 8 pm there was at least one squad car sitting in the parking lot across the street from my house. During that time frame somewhere half a dozen and a dozen cars/ bikers/ kids on motorbikes sped past them one Winthrop Ave. The speeders were noticed by the cops who would hit the siren every time, but the cops did nothing. No one was followed, no one was stopped, they just sat there and kept hitting that siren every 10 or 20 mins. Not only are people driving dangerously, but this was really frustrating to observe! This lack of action gave the impression that those officers are lazy or unconcerned - either way that's unacceptable considering we pay their salaries with our taxes. As if this wasn't upsetting enough - the constant blaring of their siren ruined an otherwise beautiful spring evening. Did anyone else hear/ notice this?

The Boulevard is a major north-south thoroughfare within the city from I-95 to Whalley Avenue and beyond, but it is dangerous for all road users, including motorists, but especially cyclists and pedestrians due to high travel speeds and traffic volume. There is, however, ample room within the 48+ foot right-of-way to incorporate a two-way protected cycle track along the entire length of the Boulevard without significantly diminishing the car carrying capacity of the roadway. Doing so would calm traffic, vastly improve safety for all road users, and encourage alternative transportation options to driving for many commuters.

Should funding become available for this type of infrastructure, the Boulevard would be a worthwhile candidate since it traverses four city neighborhoods, several schools, and is a major roadway in need of traffic calming.

For more information on how a cycle track might work along the Boulevard, see below:
Complete Streets Request Form: https://newhavenurbanism.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/the-boulevard_cycle-track.pdf
Online article: http://newhavenurbanism.org/new-haven-urbanism/multimodal-transportation-planning/the-boulevard/

A lime green dirt bike has resurfaced this afternoon following a period of relative peace in the neighborhood. At one point the rider (see attached photo) abandoned the street for the sidewalk without any apparent reduction in speed which I'd estimate at 40 mph. I hope the photo helps.

This is a popular meeting spot for gangs of ATV / Motorcross Hoodlums. They are very well organized, meet here and then take off, terrorizing our streets. Last evening, around 7:30PM there were about 15 of them that took off into traffic on Ella T. Grasso Blvd. WOULD THE POLICE AND THE CITY PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE PEOPLE OVERTAKING OUR CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????

The amount of speeding and red light running at this intersection is obscene.

Cars are speeding past at rush hour more than 20 MPH above the limit, amidst crowds of pedestrians and other vehicles. The red light signal is not obeyed.

It is only a matter of time before a driver loses control and kills or injures several people, as has happened recently at similar intersections (like Crown & College). The very poor pedestrian visibility at the corners, inadequate lighting, and use of line crosswalks rather than the more effective zebra-style crosswalks, only makes matters worse.

Can some police enforcement be added here as a temporary fix, up until the time that the intersection can be rebuilt to a higher standard? Is it even possible to stop red light runners here?

Ultimately, the intersection should be redesigned, like many in other US cities have been, so that travel at more than 15 miles per hour becomes uncommon. I've posted details on similar issues in New Haven about how raised and tabled intersections have been widely used in cities like Boulder, Cambridge Massachusetts, etc.. They have been proven to be extremely effective - not to mention much more cost-efficient than regular police enforcement.

Given that this is in the heart of campus, if Yale University is serious about making sure that students, staff and faculty are not continuing to get injured and killed every year, it should consider pushing the city for a redesign as soon as possible.

I hope someone is investigating this blatant display of open drug dealing at this intersection. Traffic actually backs up on Friday Nights with so many "customers". I have had to drive home via a different route for fear of a deal gone bad and the ensuing violence. I know it takes time to build a case against these hoodlums, but this is out of control.

Cars illegally parked on Edgewood avenue mall

Resident concerned about drug usage in Edgewood Park and prostitution in area nearby.

During overnight hours (10p-4a ish) kids on foot sell drugs to customers who drive up in cars. Transactions appear to be set up over cell phones. This occurs by some trees at the sidewalk on the northern side of Dwight Street and to the west of the Dwight/George intersection. Around the corner from the F bus stop on George St, which is across the street from the Ronald McDonald house.

Yesterday on Seeclickfix radio Paul Bass pointed out that the police substations look more like fortresses than something inviting. Have there been thoughts about making the substation more inviting similar to the rose center?

This seems more in line with today's policing efforts. Maybe more glass?

Hi, I am writing to ask the police officer assigned to the new Stop & Shop on Whalley Avenue if he would spend some time at the south end of the plaza as well, near the laundromat.

Today, July 3, in the afternoon, round 3 or 4 pm, a woman helped a young boy pee on the sidewalk on Elm St, on that side of the shopping plaza.

There is a bathroom in Stop & Shop, not sure of the laundromat.

If it had been so, so urgent that there was not time to make it to the bathroom, this woman could at least have protected this little boy's dignity a little by finding a more discreet location.

It was flagrant, peeing in a big arc so that if you were had bicycled by on Elm you probably would have caught some on your shoe.

I was walking and couldn't go by on the sidewalk at all because of it.

The way this woman did this , I figured that it wasn't an ER, that she would have done it only because the bathroom was too much trouble to walk to, or because she thinks boys shouldn't have to use bathrooms at all.

it was really disgusting and I would appreciate it if the PD, who are always in Stop & Shop, and their security too, could make their presence known a lot on this end of the plaza too. the laundromat there attracts some bad behavior. Thanks.