East Haven Police No Longer Under DOJ Jurisdiction

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

EAST HAVEN, CT – The town’s police department, after more than four years, is no longer operating under the watchful eye of the Department of Justice in an effort to right past wrongs.

Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. and Police Chief Ed Lennon made that announcement at a press conference on Monday morning.

The town fell under DOJ jurisdiction after four East Haven Police Officers were arrested as a result of the federal probe are no longer affiliated with the department.

Maturo said that on December 13th Federal Court Judge Alvin Thompson granted a joint-motion filed by the Town of East Haven and the Department of Justice to terminate the consent decree and dismiss the pending litigation between the parties following the town’s unprecedented success meeting and exceeding the requirements of a 48-month "Agreement for Effective and Constitutional Policing" aimed to address deficiencies raised by the DOJ in 2011.

Maturo announced, "Following on-site audits which concluded in November, Department of Justice officials confirmed that our Police Department had met and exceeded each and every benchmark for success specified in the 48-month 'Agreement for Effective and Constitutional Policing.'

Maturo added, "Thanks to the collective efforts of a number of individuals, East Haven is the only jurisdiction in the country to have met every requirement of a consent decree with the DOJ both on-time and under budget.”

Lennon, who served as the department's subject matter expert and "compliance coordinator" while a lieutenant in the department, recalled, "I remember working around the clock with command and patrol staff to schedule and hold all of the necessary training, re-write policies, and overhaul our data collection and reporting systems."

Lennon noted, "However, the process was as collaborative as it was transformative, and we learned early on that we had a 'partner' in the DOJ along with the full support of the Mayor's office and the Town Council. We were given carte blanche by the Mayor to do whatever was necessary to turn the department around. That support came with the backing of the Town Council which, in June of 2013, unanimously authorized the bonding of $2.5 million dollars to effectuate the reforms called for in our agreement with the DOJ."

Former Officers David Cari and Dennis Spaulding were each convicted of civil rights abuses in October 2013, while two others, former Sgt. John Miller and former Officer Jason Zullo, pleaded guilty to lesser, unrelated charges. Zullo was sentenced to two years in prison, Cari to 30 months and Spaulding to five years.

They were arrested in the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 2012, on an indictment charging that the four “conspired to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate various members of the East Haven community in violation of their Constitutional rights.”

The arrests were sparked by a DOJ investigation of the East Haven police, which began in 2009.

The DOJ agreement with the town, after the arrests, called for more extensive training for officers, including 32 hours of annual training for all officers.

It also ordered “bias-free policing,” stating that the “EHPD shall deliver police services that are equitable, respectful, and free of unlawful bias, in a manner that promotes broad community engagement and confidence in the Department.

And more interaction between the police and the community has helped heal wounds. The agreement requires monthly meetings with community groups so the police are hearing directly from the community.

The department also initiated the purchase of body cameras for officers.

Maturo concluded, "As I noted almost a year ago, there were many who doubted whether our community was capable of making the sustained changes contemplated in our compliance agreement with the Department of Justice. There were even some who rooted against us. Today, our department and our community are models of tolerance and respect. I am grateful to our residents for their trust and support on this long and difficult journey and I am proud to say, in no uncertain terms, that 'we succeeded.'"