No Search Yet For New Police Chief

by Thomas Breen The New Haven independent

One month after Karl Jacobson stepped down as police chief amid allegations that he stole money meant for confidential informants, Mayor Justin Elicker said he’s still “debating whether or not to do a search” to find Jacobson’s replacement — as Assistant Chief David Zannelli continues in the role of acting head of the department.

Elicker provided that update in a phone interview Wednesday about the latest with the top of the city’s police department after Jacobson’s abrupt retirement on Jan. 5.

The mayor immediately tapped Zannelli, the department’s assistant chief of investigations, to be acting police chief while state police conduct an investigation into Jacobson’s alleged theft of city funds.

The city’s charter allows an acting police chief to serve in that temporary role for no more than six months before the mayor has to submit their name to the Board of Alders for confirmation as permanent chief.

“I have a lot of confidence in his ability to get us through this time,” Elicker said about Zannelli, who has now been acting chief for 31 days. “He has been incredibly responsive to ensuring the department is [going] in the right direction. He’s very organized. He’s very communicative. He’s someone that is well known in the department.”

Close listeners to Elicker’s State of the City address earlier this week might have noticed that the mayor referred to Zannelli as “chief” instead of as “acting chief.” “I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Elicker told the Independent, as he routinely refers to assistant chiefs as “chief” in conversation.

“We’re continuing off the foundation that was set” by past leadership of the department, Zannelli said when asked in a separate interview Wednesday about how his first month in the acting-chief job has gone. Last year was a “hallmark year” in terms of reductions in violent crime citywide. “We’re not taking a victory lap.”

(The city’s first CompStat report of 2026, meanwhile, shows that, through Jan. 18, the city had seen no homicides and six confirmed shots fired so far this year, compared to two homicides and five confirmed shots fired by that same time in 2025.)

Zannelli said that command staff at the department has been supportive of him and one another in this trying time after Jacobson’s sudden departure. “Everyone’s banded together.” He noted that Jacobson “did a lot of good” in his many years with the New Haven Police Department, including as chief. “One mistake doesn’t define a person.” That said, “community policing” doesn’t come down to just one person — it’s a philosophy that has to be upheld by a whole department.

“It’s been a hard month,” he added, even as his colleagues and the community have stood by one another.

Asked for an update on the investigation into Jacobson’s alleged theft, Elicker said that “state police are still in an ongoing investigation.” The mayor said that state police have “interviewed a number of people in the [police department] building.” Elicker said that he himself has not been interviewed as part of that investigation.

When the Independent asked Zannelli if he’s been interviewed by state police on this matter, the acting chief replied, “We’re all cooperating with state police. Whoever needs to be interviewed has given an interview.”

A state police spokesperson, meanwhile, told the Independent on Thursday that “[t]here are no updates at this time, as the investigation remains active and ongoing.” The investigation is being overseen by New Britain State’s Attorney Christian Watson.

New CI Policy In The Works

Elicker added on Wednesday that the city is “close to finalizing an agreement with an organization that will help us to ensure that our confidential informant policy is tight.”

In the meantime, he said, “we’re close to finalizing a special order for a temporary confidential informant policy that has very significant belts and suspenders to make sure that it is impossible for anyone to misuse the funds.” He said he expects to be able to share more details on that temporary new policy in the next week or two.

The current confidential informant (CI) policy — first adopted in 2008 and last updated in 2016 — identifies the assistant chief of investigations as the one responsible for managing, approving and keeping records of all payments from the fund, as well as for preparing annual audits. (Zannelli, who previously served as assistant chief of patrol, stepped into the role of assistant chief of investigations in January 2025 after switching spots with Bertram Ettienne, who had been assistant chief of investigations since 2022.)

The mayor announced on Jan. 7 that the city had paused the confidential informant program and frozen the relevant bank account in the wake of finding out about Jacobson’s alleged theft.

Elicker described the importance of getting the CI program “back and up and running” as one of the main motivations for drafting a temporary new policy while a full new one is in the works.

“We have been doing our own review to understand what happened with the funds,” Elicker said when asked if the city has found any annual audits of the CI fund, as required under the current policy. That said, “we want to make sure that the state police have the space to do their investigation.”

Zannelli confirmed for the Independent that the police department and the police commission are “working on a new policy” for the CI fund and program. The current policy requires an annual audit, he said. “I wasn’t in position long enough to do [an] annual audit,” given that he stepped into the assistant chief of investigations role in January 2025.

That said, there are “a bunch of things we’re trying to update” about the policy; one such change could be, “instead of annual audits, perhaps have monthly audits.” He said the police commission and department are currently investigating best practices for such a fund, and should have a new draft policy ready for review soon.