by Thomas Breen The New Haven independent
Police commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro: “We fully support this special order.”
Capt. Brendan Borer: Now in charge of day-to-day management of CI program, fund.
The command staff in charge of managing the police department’s confidential-informant (CI) fund will no longer also have the responsibility of auditing how that money is spent.
That’s one of the changes included in a new temporary “special order” that Acting Police Chief David Zannelli signed Wednesday to tighten up the policy governing a fund that former Police Chief Karl Jacobson allegedly stole $10,000 from before quitting and becoming the subject of a state investigation.
In addition to having the Assistant Chief of Professional Standards take over audit responsibilities for a program that will still be overseen by the Assistant Chief of Investigative Services, other provisions of the new policy include monthly instead of annual audits, the securing of the fund’s cash reserves in a safe in a room with digital access control and video monitoring, and monthly instead of annual replenishments of the fund — as overseen and signed off on by the Chief Administrative Officer.
Zannelli, Mayor Justin Elicker, and police commission Chair Evelise Ribeiro described those new CI-fund rules Thursday during a press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave.
Click here to read the new 11-page CI special order, and click here to read the related eight-page standard operating procedures (SOP).
The presser took place more than a month and a half after Jacobson abruptly retired after the city’s three assistant chiefs — including Zannelli — confronted him about stealing money from a cash fund that police use to pay confidential informants who help cops solve crimes. Jacobson allegedly admitted to stealing that money before quitting.
Zannelli, who was the assistant chief that was supposed to be in charge of the fund for the year prior to Jacobson’s resignation, has said that he and his colleagues repeatedly asked Jacobson for control of the CI fund, but that Jacobson consistently declined. Asked if Jacobson’s repeated deferrals were a red flag for him, Zannelli declined to comment. “Training was requested,” Zannelli said. “He [Jacobson] had maintained it as an expert for several years, but that’s as far as I can go.”
State police and the New Britain state’s attorney’s office are still investigating what went wrong.
On Thursday, Zannelli, Elicker, and Ribeiro unveiled a new temporary special order that, as of Wednesday, replaced the department’s previous CI general order — which was written in 2008 and last updated in 2016 with the goal of preventing the type of misuse that Jacobson allegedly committed.
Elicker said that the city is on the brink of hiring the independent Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), which also wrote the city’s last CI policy. He said the city plans to pay PERF $87,000 to spend the next roughly six months interviewing relevant city cops, monitoring how the city operates the CI program, and reviewing best practices for such programs before issuing a report that will inform the development of a new permanent CI general order.
Zannelli said that it’s best practice to review and update general orders every couple years, as opposed to the decade-plus that has elapsed since the CI policy was last changed.
Asked if Jacobson’s alleged theft was more a result of the former policy not being followed instead of problems with the policy itself, Elicker replied, “The policy was clearly not followed by the chief, but there [were] also not enough controls to ensure there was additional oversight.”
Another core difference between the past and new policy, he emphasized, is that “the group within the police department that is responsible for implementing the program is not the same group that is auditing the program.” Assistant Chief Manmeet Bhagtana will now be responsible for audits, as opposed to the Assistant Chief of Investigative Services — a role that Zannelli is still in even as he serves as Acting Chief.
Elicker, Zannelli, and Ribeiro said this newly signed special order should allow the CI program to resume after being paused for the past six weeks.
All three stressed how important the CI program is for cops’ work solving crimes. Elicker said that the CI program should be able to resume operations in roughly two weeks as the department gets up to speed on the new temporary policy.
Zannelli said on Thursday that, while the special order keeps the Assistant Chief of Investigative Services in charge of the CI program and fund, it also allows that assistant chief to designate the day-to-day management responsibilities to an Officer in Charge.
Zannelli said that he has tapped Capt. Brendan Borer to manage the CI program and fund’s day-to-day operations.
Click here to watch Thursday’s press conference in full.