NEW HAVEN, Conn — Acting New Haven Police Chief Renee Dominguez and Mayor Justin Elicker were criticized this week by mayoral challenger Karen DuBois-Walton, who cited New Haven's uptick in crime as a reason.
The Mayor and Chief refuted DuBois-Walton's claims, including one about a lack of community policing.
During all of 2020, New Haven recorded 20 homicides. So far this year, the city already has 17 on the books.
"The police department right now is under an incredible amount of pressure," said Mayor Justin Elicker (D-New Haven).
DuBois Walton says Dominguez isn't employing the community policing approach the city needs to stem the tide and she wants the mayor to find a new chief.
"I think over time, with more mentorship, more experience in leadership and more foundational work around community-based policing, she may well be a chief again one day," said DuBois-Walton, outside her campaign headquarters on Whalley Ave.
Dominguez says every day since she stepped into the police academy over 20 years ago community policing has been a staple of this department.
"It is seen through the district managers and seen through the officers, who are in the community, even all the way up to the detective bureau where they are out at basketball games and they know the individuals and the individuals know them," Dominguez said.
And the chief says it was relationship building, through community policing, that led to an arrest following a Monday shooting on Valley St.
"We were able to book a suspect, Jaime Ramos, 12/30/2002, as the person responsible for the non-fatal shooting," Dominguez said, appreciative of the tips from the community.
"We’ve increased street outreach workers, we’ve increased individuals that are working with youth, we are closely collaborating with parole and probation to do custom visits," Elicker said of the City's efforts to respond to the crime crisis.
As of Wednesday morning, New Haven police had seized 100 guns and made 99 arrests off of those seizures in the first 6.5 months of this year. NHPD typically averages approximately 150 gun seizures for an entire year.
DuBois-Walton issued a statement after the Wednesday afternoon press conference at the police department that read, in part, "I hope that our police and this Mayor will continue to sharpen their focus on ways to prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place."
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