Tag Archive: Crime

  1. City crime down 9 percent

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    Crime in New Haven is on the decline.

    Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and New Haven Police Department officials released audited New Haven crime statistics for the first six months of 2011 and discussed new crime prevention policies at a meeting Thursday in Fair Haven. They announced that overall crime for the first half of 2011 was down by about 9 percent from the same time period in 2010, despite that fact that the number of homicides so far this year is higher than any year since 1994.

    New Haven Police Chief Frank Limon said that the drop in crime was largely due to a decrease in the number of sexual assaults, burglaries and aggravated assaults. But with 26 homicides this year already, two more than in all of 2010, Limon said that the level of violent crime still remains “unacceptably high.”

    “The number of homicides is what concerns people most,” DeStefano said. “We can’t have it be normal that the homicide rate is so high.”

    DeStefano said that he estimates that around 70 percent of violent crime is the result of New Haven’s re-entry population, which Limon said typically has easy access to firearms and narcotics. The NHPD is working to address this issue by working with federal agencies to target street- and mid-level drug dealers and through a partnership with the Connecticut Department of Corrections, Limon said,

    But when asked if citizens should feel unsafe, DeStefano responded that only those that engage in specific behaviors like narcotics dealing or gang activity are at high risk. Limon agreed, adding that only a small percentage of New Haven neighborhoods represent the majority of city violence.

    To combat rising homicides, and to continue decreasing the overall crime level, DeStefano and police leadership also outlined two new initiatives designed to help the police department fight crime.

    “The key idea of policing the community is that the police and the community know each other,” DeStefano said. “If there’s not a level of trust, then it’s not possible to police effectively.”

    Assistant Police Chief Patrick Redding said that the new plan involves increasing the police department’s foot patrols, having officers patrol areas that district managers have selected as crime hot spots to increase police visibility in those areas.

    The department also plans on training between 10 and 12 officers to be bike patrols, which Redding said will start in about eight weeks.

    “The response we’ve had from the community has been nothing short of outstanding,” Redding said, adding that there will be at least one patrol per day in each district.

    In addition to patrolling more often, the department also plans to use more foot power to build a stronger relationship with New Haven residents, Limon said.

    Lee Cruz, a New Haven resident who works as the community outreach director for the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, said that there is evidence that a strong police-community relationship is the best way to reduce city crime.

    “Police working with people in the community is what reduces violence,” Cruz said. “Crime is going to go down not only because police are there, but also because of the community presence.”

    There is some empirical evidence that a relationship with Elm City residents helps the police, Limon said, explaining that citizen tips led to arrests for 17 of the year’s 26 homicides.

    Lynn Smith, who works for START Community Bank, said she came to the meeting to show support for the department’s new plan.

    “As a resident, I want to know who my local policeman is,” Smith said. “I think the police have taken the right steps to try and build a better relationship with the community, but the community has a responsibility to get involved too.”

    The decrease in crime correlates with the Yale Police Department’s annual crime report released last week, which shows crime that on campus fell by 11 percent.

  2. Armed burglary attempt at SigEp

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    An attempted armed burglary occurred at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on High Street late Tuesday evening, Yale Police said.

    SigEp brother Michael Jones ’12 said he discovered a man entering the house, and told him he would call the police, scaring him off. Yale Police Department Lt. Brian Logan said officers found a knife discarded in the backyard, which may have belonged to the suspect. Items from brothers’ rooms, including a checkbook, were also found in the backyard.

    “He tried to take some things and he left some things as he fled,” Logan said.

    Yale and New Haven police have already responded.

  3. City murder count reaches 22

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    New Haven saw its 22nd murder of the year when a man was stabbed at a house party in Westville on Nov. 21. The following day, the city was ranked eighteenth in the CQ Press annual list of the most dangerous cities in America.

    The homicide brings the murder toll far above 2009’s year-end total of 12 and is approaching 2008’s total of 23. In addition to the murder, six separate incidents of gunfire plagued the Elm City in the past two weeks. Four of the shootings left victims with non-life-threatening injuries, said New Haven Police Department Spokesman Joe Avery in several e-mails. The other two shootings sent downtown crowds running early Sunday Nov. 21 when the area’s nightclubs let out. Mayor John DeStefano Jr.’s and Police Chief Frank Limon have said thatt his type of late-night downtown violence is precisely what the city’s Operation Nightlife was intended to relieve. .

    New Haven Police Department officers responded to the emergency room at St. Raphael’s Hopsital at 12:10 a.m. Nov. 21 to find Josiah J. Alexander, 23, suffering from multiple stab wounds to the chest, Avery said in an e-mail. Alexander later died from his injuries.

    Detectives from the NHPD’s Major Crimes Unit located several witnesses to the murder and found and secured a crime scene at 15 Westerleigh Road in Westville, Avery said. Detectives then determined that a suspect in the crime, Daniel Petrillo, 21, resided at the house where the stabbing took place and that Petrillo was armed with a handgun.

    The SWAT team deployed and successfully apprehended Petrillo later that day, and he was taken into custody and charged with murder, Avery said. He added that the murder appeared to be related to an argument between the two men at a party at Petrillo’s home. The investigation is still ongoing.

    Approximately an hour and a half after NHPD officers responded to Alexander at the hospital, many others were called to downtown in response to two separate shootings, Avery said. The first, which occurred near the intersection of Church and Center streets was reported at 1:41 a.m., and the second occurred a block away by the Green soon after, he added.

    Although multiple shots were reported in public areas, nobody was caught and no evidence was collected, Avery said.

    Exactly one week later, at 1:41 a.m. Sunday Nov. 28, 19 year-old Javon Hailey suffered a gunshot wound in his leg at the site of the previous week’s shooting, Avery said. He added that the victim reported that he saw people running as we was leaving Center St. Lounge, heard a gunshot, and then realized he had been struck.

    The other three shootings in the past week occurred at a McDonalds in Fair Haven, 320 Edgewood nine blocks from Pierson College, and 312 Davenport six blocks from Yale-New Haven Hospital, Avery said in multiple press releases.

  4. Univ. may launch formal investigation

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    Yale administrators met Sunday night to discuss the University’s plan of action for responding to the controversial New Haven Police Department raid of the Morse-Stiles screw at Elevate Lounge early Saturday morning.

    In an e-mail to students Sunday evening, Yale College Dean Mary Miller said she and University President Richard Levin convened with college masters, deans, administrators and members of the General Counsel to “decide on next steps.” Miller wrote that a formal investigation may ensue, which the University supports and is ready to assist.

    “I think it’s important for students to know that this is being taken seriously by the University,” she added in a phone interview Sunday night.

    Five students were arrested in the raid, and one was treated for injuries at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Witnesses also said one student was Tasered by police.

    One of the University’s top priorities is to develop a coherent account of the night’s events, Morse College Master Frank Keil said. Several other groups on campus, including residential colleges and student groups, are similarly collecting information.

    “All the parties are trying to do the same thing,” Keil said. “Get our information cleaned up so there is no misinformation in going forward.”

    Yet many factual questions still remain.

    An NHPD press release from Saturday said the Alchemy/Elevate complex was overcrowded, placing occupants in danger. NHPD spokesman Joe Avery said in the release that the club has a capacity of 150 people, but that the compliance check showed 256 were in the establishment at the time.

    Despite this claim from the police, Jaya Wen ’12, an Ezra Stiles student activities coordinator, said she had been informed by the club owner that Elevate would comfortably fit 350 people and that the official capacity is higher than 350.

    “The owner told us [midway through the party] that we were nearing capacity, and in order to prevent us from going over capacity he would open up the back doors of Elevate that lead to Alchemy,” Wen said. “Both the club and the student organizers took necessary precautions to prevent overcrowding.”

    Morse freshman counselor Tully McLoughlin ’11 is spearheading one effort to compile accounts from the raid in order to find the truth. McLoughlin plans to forward the testimonies he collects to the Masters’ Council, deans of all residential colleges and Miller.

    “All the student responses are gathering perspective about the night from various eyewitnesses so we have as full a picture as possible,” McLoughlin said. “When Yale addresses the issue with the police, we want our knowledge to be as complete and factual and accurate as we can.”

    McLoughlin said Keil and Morse College Dean Joel Silverman fully support the initiative, and are encouraging students to file official complaints using full names for accountability. Students filing complaints are fully protected by the University, McLoughlin said.

    As for the University response, Miller wrote that Yale is carefully crafting a plan for whatever actions it may take in order not to interfere with the legal defenses of those students with pending criminal charges. Administrators, however, will be producing a memorandum to address several issues including questions of why cell phones were forbidden during the raid, she said in her e-mail.

    Both Morse and Ezra Stiles colleges have sent e-mails to their students explaining how to file civilian complaints against the police. Ezra Stiles College Master Stephen Pitti has placed copies of the appropriate forms in his office.

  5. Miller: ‘We are committed to pursuing an appropriate resolution’

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    Yale College Dean Mary Miller, in an e-mail to students Sunday evening, made clear that the University is on board with any forthcoming investigation into the conduct of New Haven police officers during the raid on the Morse-Stiles screw at Elevate Lounge early Saturday morning.

    The e-mail comes after a meeting tonight between college masters and deans and top administrators, including University President Richard Levin, to discuss the University’s continuing response to claims that police officers used excessive force during the raid.

    “I think it’s important for students to know that this being taken seriously by the University,” Miller said in a phone interview Sunday night.

    Read the full text of Miller’s e-mail below.

    To Students in Yale College:

    President Levin and I met tonight with the Masters and Deans of the colleges whose students were most involved in Friday night’s incident on Crown Street. The Secretary, Associate General Counsel and other senior administrators joined us to review the situation and to decide on next steps. Marichal Gentry, Dean of Student Affairs, was assigned to be the lead liaison with Denise Blanchard, Captain of Internal Affairs of the New Haven Police Department, who will be overseeing the process which may lead to a formal investigation.

    Dean Gentry will be reaching out to the Captain tomorrow to underscore that the University stands ready to assist in every way possible to advance an investigation. We will make space available on campus if that is desired and will facilitate the scheduling of any interviews needed by New Haven Police’s Internal Affairs unit.

    The fact that criminal charges are pending against several Yale students needs to be factored into the timing of University processes since we would not want inadvertently to interfere with the legal defense of those students. We will be developing a memorandum to address some of the issues raised by students, such as whether students should have had the right to use their cell phones while a police action is being conducted.

    We know that many students have experienced a very disturbing event. We have heard their voices, and we are committed to pursuing an appropriate resolution of the issues.

    Yours truly,

    Mary Miller

    Dean of Yale College

  6. Miller e-mails undergrads about NHPD raid

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    Yale College Dean Mary Miller sent an e-mail to undergraduates at 6 p.m. to give a statement about the New Haven police raid that occurred at the Stiles-Morse Screw early Saturday morning. Below is the text of her message.

    To Students in Yale College:

    I write to you regarding the events of last night on Crown Street.

    The masters, deans, and I know you have serious concerns about the reported behavior of the New Haven Police as the dance at Elevate was drawing to an end. We take these reports seriously. Let me assure you that all the students involved are safe.

    Collecting the facts about last night and figuring out the best way to respond to the larger issues will necessarily take some time, and we ask your patience with that. But we cannot and will not wait to have discussions among ourselves, share experiences, and offer support to one another.

    If you would like to share your observations with me and other administrative colleagues, please send them to Marichal Gentry, Dean of Student Affairs (marichal.gentry@yale.edu). We are collecting them in order to build a comprehensive picture of the events that unfolded. I have already been in touch with New Haven authorities, and I will be assembling a team of administrators to reach out to them.

    For anyone who wishes to do so, there are formal channels for filing complaints about police behavior and actions. Our experience is that the leadership of the New Haven Police will take any complaints very seriously and will conduct, in response to them, an internal investigation. If you wish to pursue this avenue, information is available on the New Haven Police web site.

    Your masters and deans are available to you, along with a wide array of other persons and resources, including Mental Health counselors at the new Yale Health Center, which is located at 55 Lock Street. You may reach a counselor at any time by calling 203-432-0123.

    I rely on you to turn to other members of the Yale community. I want to let you know that we are supporting the students who were arrested in every way we can. I know that you will be supportive of them and of each other. As always, the safety and well-being of our students is our paramount concern.

    Yours truly,

    Mary Miller

  7. Alcohol incidents up 27 percent in 2009, report says

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    Confirming concerns raised by Yale officials last year that alcohol problems were on the rise, 2009 crime statistics released by the Yale Police Department on Wednesday show a 27 percent increase in local alcohol-related incidents compared to 2008.

    Police recorded 163 alcohol-related incidents in 2009, up from 128 in 2008, according to the 2009 Campus Safety Report. In an interview with the News on Wednesday, Deputy Secretary Martha Highsmith, who oversaw Yale security in 2009, said the statistics suggest alcohol abuse on campus has escalated over the last five years.

    “There was a real spike in terms of folks finding themselves in trouble,” said Jonathan Holloway, master of Calhoun College and chair of the College of Masters. “We’re all very concerned.”

    Otherwise, the report provided mixed results on campus crime reduction: The number of burglaries on campus jumped from 51 in 2008 to 74 in 2009, but that’s still far fewer than the 103 on-campus burglaries reported in 2007. Sex offenses, meanwhile, fell by half last year, from 13 in 2008 to seven in 2009.

    Of the 163 alcohol-related incidents, 74 were arrests. Police made most of them on public property, such as streets and sidewalks adjacent to the University. Only 10 arrests were made on campus, down from 29 in 2008 and 33 in 2007. Off campus, police made 12 arrests in 2009, up from zero in 2008.

    In 2005, police made no alcohol-related arrests at all. But the arrests greatly increased in 2007 after state legislators in late 2006 passed stricter liquor laws that made it illegal for minors to posses alcohol on private property and for people of legal drinking age to fail to stop the possession of alcohol by a minor.

    In addition to the arrests, the University also handed down 31 disciplinary actions to students in 2009, up from 17 in 2008, according to the report.

    Although the alcohol-related crime numbers have increased in recent years, they are not entirely caused by Yale students. Highsmith said anyone caught on campus in violation of state liquor laws by the YPD — even those with no Yale affiliation — is counted in the report. She added that she knew of one individual without any ties to Yale who was arrested for drinking in a University parking lot.

    Last fall, a week before Halloween, at least eight students were transported to medical facilities from the Safety Dance at Commons. The YPD at the time created a new police detail to increase surveillance of panhandling and public drunkenness. Although the Yale Police chief at the time, James Perrotti, said the detail was not established to monitor underage drinking and alcohol purchases, many students interviewed at the time said they or their friends were searched for alcohol by Yale police as they walked around campus.

    Citations of alcohol infractions greatly increased during October and November weekends, according to crime log records. For instance, although Highsmith said last November that enforcement always increases in years when the Harvard-Yale football game is played at home, police cited three minors for possession at The Game last year while they issued only one citation during the entire month of November 2007.

    To tackle the rise in alcohol-related incidents, the Yale College Dean’s Office recently hired a student affairs fellow, Ben Flores ’10, to direct University efforts to curb illegal drinking.

  8. Mayor to universities: Buses encourage drunkenness

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    If Mayor John DeStefano Jr. has his way, the violence that hit the downtown area earlier this month could spell the end of one of New Haven’s storied institutions: the QPac bus.

    At a Tuesday press conference on the city’s recent efforts to contain downtown violence, DeStefano also took on liquored-up students and called for greater cooperation between the city and the universities that bus thousands of young people to downtown night clubs and bars each weekend.

    Standing at the intersection of College and Crown streets, the mayor said he questions the value of busing 2,500 undergraduates to the downtown area to party. Universities’ shuttles, though valuable because they reduce drunk driving, have become a license for students to get “fall-down drunk,” he added.

    DeStefano said his goal is not necessarily to get rid of the buses, but to work with universities to change undergraduate behavior, adding that he will not have a concrete plan until he speaks with university administrators about discouraging unhealthful drinking habits.

    “Frankly, [the universities have] stepped away from any responsibility for policing this behavior,” he said.

    Quinnipiac University spokeswoman Lynn Bushnell said in an e-mail that student safety is of “paramount importance” to the university and that it will work with the city on its future efforts to improve security downtown.

    “If there are steps we can take to further ensure the safety of our students as they travel in and out of New Haven, we would surely discuss that with the appropriate parties,” she said.

    In addition to Quinnipiac, Southern Connecticut State University, among others, buses students to downtown New Haven on weekend nights.

    Still, DeStefano said, the biggest problem is not the students, but the clubs they frequent, and he renewed his call for clubs to pay their share of “Operation Nightlife.” The initiative, which the city launched last week in response to a gunfight that erupted Sept. 19 on College Street, cost the city $15,000 in overtime pay this weekend, DeStefano said, equivalent to $800,000 in taxpayer dollars in a year. The clubs should share that burden, he said.

    By comparison, DeStefano said, the Crown Street nightclub Static, formerly known as Oracle, paid less than $1,000 in city taxes last year. Static could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

    Club owners have not exactly been cooperative, he said, and have had an “antagonistic” relationship with the city, often denying any responsibility for what happens when patrons leave their establishments.

    “This attitude is totally out of whack,” DeStefano said. “The clubs don’t get it.”

    Over the weekend, the city fire marshal shut down two bars, Humphrey’s East on Humphrey Street and the Pearl Lounge on East Street for fire code violations as part of Operation Nightlife. In addition, the NHPD stopped 15 people for underage drinking and seized eight fake IDs, New Haven Police Chief Frank Limon said.

  9. Downtown violence may close curtains on Qpac bus

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    The continued response to the violence erupting downtown this month could spell the end of one of New Haven’s storied institutions: the QPac bus.

    In a Tuesday press conference Mayor John DeStefano proposed several long-term measures in hopes of curbing rowdy behaviors in downtown. One of those measures is talking with local universities that operate shuttles to the downtown area. Though no definitive action has yet been proposed, DeStefano said, he plans to begin talks with local universities to discourage unhealthy drinking habits.

    “Frankly, they’ve stepped away from any responsibility for policing this behavior,” DeStefano said.

    DeStefano acknowledged the shuttle’s value in reducing drunk driving, but in recent years, he said, they’ve become a license for students to get “fall-down drunk.”

    The goal isn’t necessarily to get rid of the buses, which on peak weekend nights bring nearly 3,000 mostly-underage undergraduates to downtown, he said, but instead to work with universities to change undergraduate behavior. DeStefano said he expects the universities to be fully cooperative in these conversations, just as they have been in the past.

    “The problem is not that they’re on a bus; the problem is the behavior,” DeStefano said.

    Read more in tomorrow’s News.

  10. Second man arrested in last week’s gunfight

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    A second man was arrested Saturday in connection with the shooting on College Street that wounded two people a week ago, police announced.

    Cornell Tucker, 18, is currently being held on $1 million bond and will be charged with six crimes, including assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit.

    According to state judicial records, Tucker has also not yet entered a plea for two misdemeanors, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing.

    The first suspect detained in connection with the shooting, Cadell Harris, 26, was taken into police custody Friday morning, after walking into a local hospital with a bullet wound, police announced Friday. Harris will be charged with at least seven crimes, including assault on a police officer, illegal possession of a pistol and unlawful discharge of a weapon.

    Close to 2 a.m. last Sunday morning, police responded to a call to the corner of College and Crown streets in New Haven’s busy downtown entertainment district, where they witnessed a fight taking place. Police say a gunman fired at New Haven resident Ricky Hargett, 19, but missed, instead hitting Alfred Smith, 22, and Eric Evans, 19 — both also New Haven residents. The gunman then allegedly opened fire on police, ending in a gunfight in which a total of 30 shots were fired.

    For more, see tomorrow’s News.

  11. Crown Street gunman detained

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    The gunman who fled Sunday morning’s College Street shootout that left two men shot was detained Thursday morning, police announced.

    Police caught Cadell Harris, 26, because he walked into a local hospital with a gunshot wound, NHPD spokeswoman Joe Avery said Thursday night. An eyewitness confirmed Harris was at the scene, Avery added, and Harris is currently at the hospital. Police said that if they receive approval from the State’s Attorney’s Office, they will charge Harris with at least seven crimes, including assault on a police officer, possession of a pistol and unlawful discharge of a weapon.

    According to state court records, Harris has been sent to jail on numerous felony and misdemeanor charges, including assaulting a police officer and selling drugs. Police said Thursday that Harris has been arrested nine times for drug-related charges, adding that he was released from jail last April.

    The arrest followed Mayor John DeStefano Jr.’s announcement Tuesday that he will take “preventive measures” to stop future violence by increasing police presence, as well as lighting in the area’s streets, parking lots and garages.

    “I think, frankly, I was too tolerant of some of the behaviors we’ve seen on the street,” DeStefano said, adding that he will target public drinking and club promotions such as $1 pitcher nights.

    At about 1:50 a.m. Sunday morning, police responded to the corner of College and Crown streets and saw a mob assaulting New Haven resident Ricky Hargett, who had been celebrating his 19th birthday. Police said Harris allegedly opened fire on Hargett with a handgun at close range and missed. But Harris hit two other New Haven residents: Alfred Smith, 22, in the hand and Eric Evans, 19, in the pelvis.

    Harris allegedly opened fire on police as well, and the ensuing gunfight ended with up to 30 shots fired on the corner, as thousands of bystanders were leaving the nearby Crown Street bars.

    Both Yale and New Haven police announced this week that they will add extra police in the area during weekends.

    Correction: Sept. 22, 2010

    An earlier version of this article misreported that Cadell Harris has been arrested. He has been detained by police.