by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent
While most violent crime stats are down, Victim Services Officer Nikki Curry sees on a daily basis that the city is caught in a “generational cycle” of loss and pain that numbers alone don’t capture.
Curry shared that perspective with top cops from New Haven (and Poland) during the city police department’s latest crime-data-focused CompStat meeting, which was held on Thursday at City Hall.
The CompStat data showed that, through the week ending Sept. 28, the city had seen 14 homicides so far this year, compared to 8 by this time last year. The data also showed that New Haven had seen 27 nonfatal shooting injuries, compared to 73 at this time last year; 221 burglaries, compared to 372 at this time last year; 556 motor vehicle thefts, compared to 777 at this time last year; and 78 confirmed shots fired, compared to 139 at this time last year.
Thursday’s meeting took place two days before the funeral of Career High School student Kaiden Phillips, who was shot and killed on Sept. 27 in Newhallville. He was the city’s second 15-year-old homicide victim so far this year, following Aaron Robinson’s shooting death in April in the Hill.
Curry described invisible scars passed down through the generations when families are affected by street violence.
“We’re reading all these stats of how crime is down, but we’re burying a 15-year-old this Saturday,” Curry said.
She noted in a Monday interview that trauma continues years later for families. Rather than hundreds of teenagers, teachers, and coaches being able to enjoy Saturday’s warm weather, she said, they gathered at Kaiden’s funeral to mourn his death. “It’s never one and done,” she said. “These victims are more than numbers.”
Curry spoke on Thursday about how Kaiden had lost his father in 2019. She also spoke about the “accidental” shooting death of 8-year-old New Havener Stacey Glasgow in March. She raised concerns about how these traumatic situations impact families and the community as a whole.
Officer Curry: “How many caskets and funerals this year of teenagers that we had to go to?” Credit: Maya McFadden photo
In her role with the police department’s victim’s services division, Curry helps victims of a variety of crimes, like major assaults, motor vehicle accidents, and robberies and shootings. She said Thursday that she hosted a successful “Survivors of Homicide” meeting through the police department a week before. She said at the meeting she heard from Hillhouse teens who opened up about their pain of grieving family members who have died by homicide.
“How many caskets and funerals this year of teenagers that we had to go to?” Curry asked.
Curry went on to speak about a September burglary at Friends Mini Market in Fair Haven where three young people were taken in by police for stealing vapes and money from the store clerk. Curry said two of the three alleged perpetrators were brothers who have three other brothers in the criminal justice system.
“In a lot of these reports that I’m reading with the victims, a lot of them start off missing school,” Curry said. “Reported missing person, run away from home. [They] start stealing cars, motor vehicle thefts. Then it goes up to burglary, then robbery, then assault, and a lot of them come from generations where their fathers are dead, their siblings are murdered, or they’re coming from the offenders.”
After Curry’s report Thursday, Police Chief Karl Jacobson said, “We do understand the logistics of ‘Yes, even though violent crime is down, we have lost some teenagers,’ and we’re working very hard with all our partners from Youth Connect, to Project Longevity, to CTVIP. That’s why we’re doing things with our officers, SRO’s [school resource officers] go out and talk to all these kids to make it a reality so that the kids realize that there’s no second chances when it comes to gun violence.”
“The Most Depressing Day”
Board of Education student representative Abdellah Aly was a classmate of Kaiden’s at Career. In a separate interview with the Independent, he said that he did not know Kaiden, but saw him around school “engaged, and pretty much happy with his surrounding/friend group.”
Aly recalled returning to school last Monday, two days after Kaiden was killed. He described going back to school after Kaiden’s homicide as “the most depressing day that even I have ever seen.”
He continued, “Many students could not hold it in after they found out, many wanted to leave and vent. Some huddled with each other grieving the unfortunate loss that has been endured. So far, Career and Edgewood from what I heard so far was hit the most. I came down to help support the students, faculty came to help, counselors tried to help too. Top officials, officers, and a support dog came as well. Our security was very much heightened that day (Monday). Teachers were also hit badly, they grieved for Kaiden. What has occurred should have never happened, I am not sure how everything was caused. So, in conclusion, it was a very, grieving and depressing day at our schools.”