by Laura Glesby The New Haven independent
According to incumbent Mayor Justin Elicker, New Haven should tackle crime through surveillance cameras, teen activities, and community violence interruption.
According to mayoral challenger Steve Orosco, the city should train police in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, collaborate with the state police, and maybe, if need be, enlist the help of the National Guard.
Crime and violence emerged as a recurring theme over the course of a mayoral debate hosted by the Democracy Fund on Tuesday evening.
About 50 people filled the Cooperative Arts & Humanities high school auditorium to hear from the two candidates on topics ranging from education to English Station.
Elicker, who’s been endorsed by the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party, is seeking a fourth two-year term as mayor.
Orosco, who’s been endorsed by the Republican Party and a newly-formed New Haven chapter of the Independent Party, is running for mayor after previously running for state senate and alder.
Tuesday’s debate was moderated by New Haven Independent editor Tom Breen, Inner City News editor and WNHH host Babz Rawls-Ivy, La Voz Hispana publisher and WNHH host Norma Rodriguez, and WELI host Vinnie Penn.
Elicker was required to partake in the forum as a participant in the Democracy Fund’s public campaign financing, which provides matching support for local political campaigns that cap donations from individuals or groups at $400.
Orosco, Elicker’s sole opponent, is not a Democracy Fund participant.
While Elicker has pointed out that the city’s violent crime rate has declined over the last several years, Orosco contradicted that narrative.
Time and again over the course of the hourlong debate, Orosco painted New Haven as a city “falling apart.” He took aim at Yale University as a “castle surrounded by collapse.”
And he singled out some of the city’s lowest-income, majority-Black and Latino neighborhoods (along with Westville) as “deplorable” sources of crime not only within city limits but in surrounding towns.
“The forgotten parts of New Haven,” he said, are “Fair Haven, Westville, the Hill — areas that are getting squeezed outside of the Yale castle.”
He claimed that residents who can no longer afford to live in Fair Haven, the Hill, and Newhallville end up moving to the nearest suburb and committing crimes there.
“Why do you think crime is going up in Hamden? Cause the ‘Ville is trickling in,” he argued. “Why is crime going into East Haven? ‘Cause of Fair Haven. Why is crime getting to the other side in West Haven? ‘Cause the Hill and these impoverished communities are getting squeezed out.”
(Violent crime has actually declined in West Haven and East Haven over the last four years, while it’s fluctuated in Hamden, according to state data.)
Orosco continued, referring to the aforementioned New Haven neighborhoods: “I’ve been to all of these worst corners of the city and they’re deplorable. They need to be taken care of,” including by addressing persistent mold problems in housing units.
Moderators Babz Rawls-Ivy (with Tom Breen): Newhallville is “one of the most vibrant and resilient neighborhoods in this country.”
Orosco and Elicker’s differences on crime and the neighborhoods most affected by it were partly reflected in personal comments from various debate moderators.
“I live in the poorest, most heavily-surveilled neighborhood in this city, Newhallville,” said Rawls-Ivy.
While residents of her neighborhood deeply mourn the impact of violence, Rawls-Ivy asserted that her community is not defined by crime. “It is one of the most vibrant and resilient neighborhoods in this country,” she said.
Vinnie Penn (with Norma Rodriguez): Regardless of overall trends, crime is “very real.”
Penn, meanwhile, directly challenged Elicker on statements that New Haven’s “streets are safer” under his mayoralty.
While the statistics may back up that statement, Penn said, “I don’t care about ‘Compared to 2018, 2022…’” He said that one of his kids recently witnessed a shooting downtown. “He was terrified,” Penn said.
“I don’t care about up, I don’t care about down,” Penn said; on a personal level, crime “is very real.”
“I care about crime being down,” Elicker said. “I care about the numbers just like I care about all the people.”
He deduced that the shooting that Penn was referred to was the murder of Dillon Cornelius. “We arrested three people” allegedly responsible for the shooting, he said.
“We lost a young boy this weekend,” he added. “I was talking with his grandmother. Kaiden Phillips.”
Elicker argued that the city’s approach to addressing crime is working. He mentioned the use of surveillance cameras to pinpoint the perpetrators, as well as violence interruption programs that de-escalate brewing disputes while providing community support for at-risk young people.
“How do you expect to eliminate crime when you defund the police?” Orosco pressed Elicker. “Five hundred surveillance cameras do not replace police officers.”
Elicker responded that he hasn’t defunded the police — that in fact, police funding has increased under his time as mayor (largely including wage increases in the newest police contract).
Orosco also pressed Elicker on vacancies in the police department. “I’m gonna keep on drilling this point down on fully staffing the police department,” he said. In February, the department had 63 vacancies out of 392 budgeted sworn officers.
Elicker responded that police department vacancies are a “challenge” for many cities in the country and that the department has increased compensation for police officers to attract new applicants.
Orosco additionally promised to require all New Haven police officers to obtain a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt.
“It’s the most important de-escalation process there is,” said Orosco, who is himself an avid martial arts practitioner. “When you have a jiu-jitsu instructor teaching these guys, the chances of having one of those lawsuits is very, very slim.”
National Debates Spark Local Safety Talk
Members of the audience on Tuesday night.
The issue of crime came up yet again in response to a question about how city leaders should respond to the president’s mission to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants.
“I am pro-immigration,” Orosco said. “My father came here from Trinidad — that’s what makes America a beautiful thing.” He said, however, that “federal law always supersedes local law” and that “there’s not much you can do” if a federal agency comes into the city.
Orosco claimed that ICE has actually raised its standards for arresting immigrants. “Now, ICE requires a judicial warrant where previously it was an administrative warrant,” he said, a statement that is not true.
He referred to a recent incident of rape in Fort Hale Park as “the direct result of soft borders.” Police reportedly linked the alleged perpetrator of that rape, who police said was undocumented, to an unsolved case of sexual assault in Texas as well.
“You can’t just go over the border, rape someone, and do it again,” declared Orosco.
Elicker argued in response that the New Haven Police Department responded appropriately to that situation. “Let’s be clear: New Haven arrested this guy, not Texas,” Elicker said.
More broadly, Elicker stated, “If someone is a violent person, we do not want that person, no matter who they are, in our city.”
But he expressed support for immigrants detained by ICE who are not facing allegations of violence. He pointed to 18-year-old Wilbur Cross High School student Esdrás Zabaleta-Ramirez as an example of “a good kid that had hope” who should not be targeted by immigration officials.
Later, the candidates were asked about how they would approach a hypothetical situation in which the Trump administration sends the National Guard to New Haven, as the president has done in cities like D.C. and Memphis.
Elicker responded with vehement opposition to the idea. “The National Guard is not needed nor welcome in New Haven. This is not how we use our National Guard,” he said, calling the Trump administration’s deployment of the military force a “political stunt.”
Orosco, meanwhile, expressed slightly more openness to the prospect.
“Do I believe we need the National Guard today? No, I do not,” said Orosco. The city should focus on increasing the local police department’s resources and collaborating with the state police, he said. “And then, if we still need help, then of course, we call in the National Guard if we need to.”