Otilio Green, who has worked for the YPD for at least four years, was arrested by the Connecticut State Police after a joint state-federal investigation linked images and videos of child sexual abuse material to his phone number. After bonding out of State Police custody on Friday, Green was immediately detained by federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations task force.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced that Green will be federally prosecuted for possession and receipt of child pornography, on top of a state-level charge for possession of child sexual abuse material in the first degree.  

Green, whose profile is still listed on Yale’s staff directory as of Monday night, has been placed on paid administrative leave because of the arrest, Yale’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications confirmed to the News on Monday.

“Officer Green is prohibited from entering Yale police headquarters or any other university buildings or property,” the University spokesperson wrote.

Affidavits written by State Police detective Jonathan Carreiro and federal Homeland Security Investigations special agent Molly Reale each describe the investigation that prompted Green’s charges. 

Homeland Security Investigations — or HSI — and state police began investigating Green after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, a nonprofit that runs a “CyberTipline” which collects and investigates reports of suspected online child sexual abuse material, and then alerts relevant law enforcement agencies. 

On March 27, according to Carreiro’s affidavit, the State Police began investigating eight CyberTipline reports submitted by Synchronoss Technologies, a cloud backup platform. Synchronoss reported, which they are required to do per federal statute, that five images and 43 videos of suspected child sexual abuse material had been uploaded to an account associated with Green’s Verizon Wireless number. 

Carreiro reviewed the suspected files and determined that all of the images and 42 of the 43 videos fit the definition of child sexual abuse material. Since October 2024, Connecticut’s penal code has used the phrase “child sexual abuse material” instead of  “child pornography.”

Carreiro and Reale described the content of some of the files in their affidavits. The descriptions included videos of adults performing various sexual acts on undressed or half-dressed children between the ages of one and 14 years old.

“Based on my training and experience and that of my law enforcement colleagues, I know that some of the 43 videos in the CyberTipline reports are from ‘known series’ of child pornography,” Reale wrote. “That is, these videos depict a minor who has previously been identified by NCMEC.”

According to Reale’s affidavit, the CyberTipline reports provided IP addresses connected to Green’s Verizon account at the times he uploaded the material. Several of the IP addresses are registered to Green’s residence in Hamden. Two are associated with an IP address belonging to Yale University, Reale wrote.

On March 28, Carreiro filed a search and seizure warrant with the Connecticut Superior Court in Meriden, asking permission to search Green’s Verizon account. Carreiro got access to the account on April 1, and located the files flagged in the CyberTipline reports, 57 additional files of suspected child sexual abuse material and other media that connected the account to Green — including selfies, bills, screenshots of work schedules and a photograph of Green’s Yale work identification, according to Reale’s affidavit.

The explicit material was uploaded between January and March this year.

On Friday, Green was arrested on the job, according to a State Police news release, and taken to New Haven’s federal courthouse to be processed. He was released on a $100,000 “non-surety” bond — an agreement in which the arrested individual promises to appear in court on an assigned date, or else pay the bond in full.

Immediately following his release, Green was taken into custody by federal agents from the HSI task force, according to a State Police report. The task force was investigating Green for “related” federal child sexual abuse material possession charges. 

A federal prosecutor filed a motion on Friday to keep Green in custody while he awaits trial. A detention hearing to consider the pretrial detention is scheduled for Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would prosecute Green for charges of possessing and receiving child pornography.

Green’s federal charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. His state-level first-degree charge of possessing child sexual abuse material — a Class B felony — can be punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, according to Connecticut’s penal code. 

Green is scheduled to be arraigned for the state-level charge on April 16 in Meriden, Conn. He is slated to appear before a federal judge in Bridgeport on April 17.

The post Yale Police officer charged with child pornography possession appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In the library, the officers found the suspect seated at a desk carrying money, with a supposed firearm visible in their pocket, Yale Police Department Chief Anthony Campbell wrote to the News. Upon taking the individual into custody, the officers determined that the weapon was fake.

YPD Lieutenant Jay Jones, who supervised the arrest, said that the arrestee was “probably not” a Yale student or affiliate. YPD Chief Anthony Campbell clarified that the department has “no information regarding any Yale affiliation.”

“The 28-year-old individual was taken into custody without incident,” Campbell wrote to the News on Thursday evening. “The investigation remains active and at this point the person’s identity remains unknown.”

According to Campbell, the arrestee was charged with breach of peace in the second degree — a catch-all charge for social disturbance — and with brandishing a fake firearm. He added that further charges might be added depending on the result of the police department’s ongoing investigation into the incident.

Students seated on the top floor of Bass, adjacent to Room C80A, reported that around 1:40 p.m., a person seated at a wooden cubicle was arrested. According to Kierstin Gehres ’27, who was seated across from the cubicle where the arrested individual sat, the officers entered Bass through the tunnel from Sterling Library and approached the individual. 

Campbell wrote to the News that a responding officer observed “what appeared to be a black handgun” sticking out from the individual’s pocket.

“The item was immediately secured, and a second similar item was observed in the opposite pocket,” Campbell wrote. “Both items were determined to be realistic-looking facsimile firearms” — convincing copies of the weapons.

Campbell noted that officers learned that the individual was also in possession of multiple live nine-millimeter cartridges and a four-inch folding lock blade knife.

After taking away the false weapons, the officers escorted the individual out of the library. Officers were spotted surrounding two police vehicles parked on Alexander Walk, the path between Beinecke Plaza and Berkeley College, at approximately 2 p.m. A third police car was parked at the end of the walkway, on College Street. 

Officers escorted the individual to a police vehicle. The police cars left the area at approximately 2:10 p.m., with one driving along Alexander Walk towards York Street and the other towards College Street. 

Thursday’s arrest marked the second YPD action on Cross Campus in two days, after officers took into custody an individual allegedly attempting to break into Berkeley College with a cloned ID card. Jones said that this frequency of on-campus arrests is not unusual for the campus police. 

The Yale Police Department was founded in 1894.

Olivia Woo, Jerry Gao, Baala Shakya, Yolanda Wang and Karla Cortes contributed reporting.

The post Individual arrested in Bass for carrying two fake weapons appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Yale Police Department officers apprehended and arrested a 28-year-old individual, who is not a Yale student, on Cross Campus after tracking a cloned ID card that they had used to gain access to the  residential college, Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell told the News on Wednesday. According to a probable cause report filed by YPD Officer Tristan Keikel, Yale Security had monitored the cloned card since March 28, when it was used in conjunction with a bicycle theft from Morse College.

Upon detaining the individual and searching through their bag, the responding YPD officers found a mini tool set, a box cutter and bolt cutters, and a Husky wrench. Officers then searched for the cloned ID in Berkeley College. They eventually located it in the trash can of a basement bathroom in the college, according to the probable cause report.

“Detective [Eric] Bailey swiped the duplicate ID we found in the bathroom,” Keikel wrote, “which security confirmed it was in fact the duplicated card that was flagged.”

Upon arresting the individual, YPD detectives asked them if they would go to the YPD headquarters for questioning, to which the arrestee declined and asked for an attorney, according to the report. YPD Detective Gregg Curran then told the arrestee that “further law enforcement action would be taken” if the individual were to enter Yale-owned property again, the report says.

At the individual’s arraignment on Thursday, the judge, Brian Fischer, ordered the arrestee to stay off all University properties.

Prior to the arrest, the cloned ID was swiped at three locations on Wednesday, according to the report: a gate into Berkeley South, a Berkeley entryway and the Berkeley dining hall. Because Yale Security had disabled the false ID when they began tracking it, the individual tried to swipe multiple times at each location. They eventually entered Berkeley after another person swiped in and let them through.

YPD Lieutenant Jay Jones told the News on Thursday that it was not common for the YPD to learn of an ID being cloned.

“This case is the only one I can think of, and I’ve been here 33 years,” Jones told the News on Thursday.

The individual bonded out of detention on Thursday afternoon. They are scheduled to next appear in court on April 24.

The post Arrested Berkeley trespasser charged with burglary, possessing burglary tools appeared first on Yale Daily News.

H.B. No. 7260, or “An Act Concerning Excessive Reckless Driving,” was introduced in the state legislature last Wednesday by Attorney General William Tong. If approved by the Senate and House of Representatives, the law would herald a slew of penalties for reckless driving that would take effect from Oct. 1, 2025. In Connecticut, any driving over 100 mph is considered reckless. 

“There’s no reason that anyone in the state should be driving over 100 mph,” Mayor Justin Elicker said at an April 1 press conference urging lawmakers to pass the proposed bill. “It’s no joke. It’s dangerous to our community [and] threatens our [residents’] quality of life.”

Elicker invoked the memory of 21-year-old Dajsha Knight and 19-year-old Madison Hilker, who were killed in a fatal crash in July 2024. Just weeks ago, the NHPD arrested and charged the two men allegedly responsible for causing the deadly three-car-collision — a product of reckless driving.

According to data gathered by the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, crashes in New Haven have notably been on the decline. Elm City residents witnessed 5,388 crashes in 2024, a notable decrease from the 6,818 that took place in 2023 and 6,947 that occurred in 2022. 

Elicker pointed to the impact of increased local enforcement and local legislation in stimulating the decline. The Board of Alders, for instance, approved and endorsed a comprehensive 365-page proposal justifying the installation of speed and red-light cameras at traffic violation flashpoints based on crash data in May. The plan, which was submitted to the Department of Transportation in December, is still pending deliberation on the question of speed camera implementation. However, 10 to 12 intersections should soon see the installation of red-light cameras, according to NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson.

Yet, officials emphasised that this legislation is simply not enough. 

“The Judiciary Committee is [often] circumspect about adding penalties,” Senator Gary Winfield said at the press conference. “[To be] at the point where we are talking about adding [them], you know that we are very serious about the issue in front of us. There is a speed problem in this state.”

H.B. No. 7260 would specifically require repeated offenders to have their motor vehicles impounded for 48 hours upon their second violation. To reobtain their property, they would have to assume responsibility for all towing and storage charges.

According to Attorney General Tong, the measure intends to remove reckless drivers from the streets, who have “forfeit[ed their] right to drive on our state’s roadways.”

Defending the increased severity of the penalties, Tong emphasised that city officials are “at [their] wits’ ends.”

At the press conference, city officials concurrently advocated for municipal and state lawmakers to pass two other bills — S.B. 1284 and S.B. 1389 — that target New Haven’s endemic issue of street takeovers. 

Street takeovers refer to the phenomenon of individuals in cars, dirt bikes and ATVs seizing control of a block or intersection at night to engage in reckless driving.

Once again referring to the July 2024 crash, Chief Jacobson highlighted that the individuals apprehended by the NHPD had been present at takeovers earlier in the night, which allowed their identification. He emphasised similar links between such activity and violent crime — takeovers, according to Jacobson, have resulted in two individuals being shot.

Law enforcement have engaged a multi-jurisdictional task force to address the dilemma, seizing 65 vehicles, issuing 32 arrests, and arresting five. 

“In New Haven alone, we only have limited numbers of officers that can respond to a large group of individuals that come through our city and our surrounding cities,” said Elicker in the press conference. “So having a lot more officers [from different jurisdictions] enables us to pick off people as they go through our towns [to] make these apprehensions. But we need more help.”

In an interview with the News, Jacobson added that the NHPD had been granted a reckless driving grant from the city to hire more officers and finance overtime shifts to increase patrols. Nevertheless, he noted that the passage of the bills — addressing loopholes that allow for ATVs, dirt bikes, and apprehended vehicles to be sold back into the community, perpetuating the reckless driving endemic — are most imperative.

According to Elicker, previous attempts to institute similar legislation have failed to pass the House. However, city officials remain optimistic.

“Public safety is not a partisan issue, and so I think when the vote comes down, you will see that the vote reflects that it is bipartisan,” said Winfield.

The present multi-jurisdictional street takeover task force comprises officers from six Connecticut municipalities.

The post “At their wits’ ends”: City officials push for harsher state penalties for reckless drivers and street takeovers appeared first on Yale Daily News.

According to a New Haven Police Department press release, the suspect “aggressively approached” an individual outside the synagogue and said, “What if I throw this hot coffee in your face, you dirty Ashkenazi Jew. I used to beat your kind in New York.” The suspect then lunged at the individual, prompting him to run inside the synagogue.

After searching the area, NHPD officers arrested Nicholus Smith, who now faces charges for third-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, which is a felony, and second-degree breach of peace. 

“We believe it is an isolated incident,” Westville Synagogue Rabbi Fred Hyman wrote to the News. “We did have a guard posted during shabbos services” — weekly prayer services on Friday night and Saturday to honor the Sabbath.

New Haven Police Department communications officer Christian Bruckhart also described the incident as “upsetting,” but not indicative of a larger threat to the community.

Hyman noted that the synagogue’s leadership have been in close contact with NHPD officers, Mayor Justin Elicker and Michael Shanbrom, the regional security advisor for the Secure Community Network. Shanbrom oversees security for the Jewish Federations of Greater New Haven, Western Connecticut and Greater Stamford, as well as the Jewish Community Center in Greenwich.

As of Sunday evening, Smith is being held on a $10,000 bond. According to Bruckhart, Smith will not appear in court to be arraigned until Monday, because he was processed after the time when the department would usually escort an arrested individual to court for an appearance. The court is closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Westville Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox synagogue, is located at 74 W. Prospect St.

The post Man arrested for threatening comment made outside Westville Synagogue appeared first on Yale Daily News.

On Feb. 26, 2023, Sal DeCola, who represents Morris Cove’s Ward 18 on the Board of Alders, struck and damaged an empty parked Jeep with his own vehicle and left the scene without stopping. After DeCola was identified, NHPD Officer Mark Salvati and his supervisor Lieutenant Brian McDermott helped exchange DeCola’s insurance information with Julie Ferrucci, the car’s owner, but the alder was not charged for the incident at the time. DeCola told the New Haven Independent later that year that he was experiencing a “medical incident” at the time.

In fall 2023, six months after the accident, Ferrucci sued DeCola and the two officers and filed three complaints with the police department, alleging that Salvati and McDermott showed preferential treatment to DeCola because of his elected position. 

This month, on March 10, the police department closed its internal investigation into the officers conduct, concluding that the two officers’ actions were justified and lawful. 

The conclusion of the investigation defies recommendations sent to Jacobson from members of New Haven’s Civilian Review Board, who opined that the officers violated department orders by not completing an official police report, according to recommendations the board’s chair shared with the News. The board also requested that more time be allotted to the investigation. 

Hit-and-run prompts belated reaction

Ferrucci’s complaint alleged that the responding officers did not complete a police report on the car crash because of DeCola’s position on the Board of Alders, according to a summary of the case provided by the police department’s Internal Affairs unit after the case was closed.

Per the case summary, Officer Salvati spoke to witnesses and took notes at the scene when responding to Ferrucci’s call, but was not immediately able to get video footage of the crash. At the time, Salvati did not write an official police report, but gave Ferrucci his contact information to use if she later found more details on the accident.

Less than a week later, Ferrucci contacted Salvati with DeCola’s name. Salvati then advised McDermott, his supervisor, of DeCola’s identity. According to NHPD Lieutenant Michael Fumiatti, notifying a supervisor when an incident involves a city government official is part of the police department’s “chain of command.”

On the same day that Salvati told McDermott about DeCola’s suspected role in the crash, DeCola contacted McDermott and told him he had been in an accident but left the scene, according to the case summary. According to NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson, McDermott then confused when the crash had happened, believing DeCola had come forward only hours after the accident. 

McDermott then contacted Ferrucci and provided her with DeCola’s insurance information to file a claim. 

Jacobson told the New Haven Independent that McDermott’s belief that providing Ferrucci with the insurance information would resolve the incident was justified, because no injuries occurred and because of the lieutenant’s mistaken belief about the timing of the crash.

Ferrucci declined to press charges at the time, according to the Internal Affairs investigation. She filed a first complaint with the New Haven Police Department on Sept. 1, 2023, and her attorney filed two more on her behalf on Oct. 19 and Nov. 7, 2023.

About a year after the accident, while the internal investigation into Ferrucci’s complaints was ongoing, Jacobson requested that DeCola receive a misdemeanor ticket for leaving the scene of a crash, the chief told the Independent.

Civilian Review Board shares concerns with chief

After reviewing reports, interviews and body-worn camera footage, the NHPD’s Internal Affairs unit concluded that Salvati and McDermott had acted properly when responding to the accident.

But in its monthly letter of recommendations to the police chief, New Haven’s civilian review board communicated its belief that the officers involved violated department orders by not writing a police report after evading was reported, and failing to fully investigate the crash. The board recommended that the chief should further investigate the case. Although the police chief reviews the board’s recommendations before closing an internal investigation, the recommendations are not binding.

In its recommendations, the board referenced the police department’s General Order 10.01.03, which states that completing reports is “generally” required for every incident responded to by a sworn officer, except in certain cases. Incident reports are only required for accidents when an additional felony or misdemeanor — like evading — is suspected.

Jacobson read the board’s recommendations before finally deciding to close the case and exonerate the involved officers. He has not yet replied to the board regarding the case.

At Monday’s Civilian Review Board meeting, NHPD’s Lieutenant Fumiatti presented a summary of the closed case on behalf of the Internal Affairs unit.

After his presentation, civilian review board member Jane Comins asked the officer whether the department had implemented any changes in policy given that the case “caused such an outroar” in the city. In response, Fumiatti maintained that Salvati and McDermott acted correctly according to protocol, and told Comins that the department did not change any policies in the wake of the accident.

“I think more needs to be done so that an incident like this doesn’t happen again,” Comins said, in response. “Our publicly elected officials probably need to be held to a higher level than many of us are, but that’s just my opinion.”

Lawsuit against DeCola continues

Ferrucci filed a lawsuit against DeCola, Salvati and McDermott on Oct. 20, 2023, 18 days before voters in Ward 18 would vote to reelect DeCola in a competitive race. In the initial complaint, Ferrucci accused DeCola of driving under the influence of alcohol — which DeCola has denied — damaging her car and fleeing the scene. She also accused Salvati and McDermott of giving DeCola preferential treatment due to his government position. In May 2024, Ferrucci dropped her claims against the two officers, but her suit against DeCola is still pending.

In January, DeCola’s attorneys asked the judge to resolve the case without a trial, citing an alleged lack of legal basis to Ferrucci’s claims, and pointing out that Ferrucci had already been compensated by DeCola’s car insurance carrier. 

Through insurance, Ferrucci received just under $13,000 in compensation when her damaged car was deemed a total loss. However, she wrote in a December 2024 interrogatory that the cost of buying a new car and insurance exceeded $30,000. The case is still pending, with the next hearing scheduled for May.

DeCola was reelected to the Board of Alders in 2023, winning 41.2 percent of the vote in the tight three-way race.

The post No cover-up in alder hit-and-run case, chief concludes appeared first on Yale Daily News.

City detectives, assisted by DNA testing company Othram, found that Reyes, now 27, is living in Puebla, Mexico. Reyes and her father have been in contact for the first time since her kidnapping, according to an NHPD press release.

“This case reflects the hard work of our officers and detectives,” NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson said in the press release. “While cases may have investigative leads exhausted at the time, no cold case is ever truly closed. We remain committed to resolving every cold case and this is a perfect example of that effort.”

The NHPD began investigating Reyes’ case in October 1999 after reports that she had been taken from New Haven by her mother, Rosa Tenorio. Reyes’ father — whose name has not been revealed and who “requests that his anonymity be respected,” according to the press release — had full custody of his daughter.

City police worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, issuing a felony arrest warrant for Tenorio, who was suspected to have taken her daughter to Mexico. Reyes’ father headed to Mexico several times to search for his daughter in person but did not get in contact with Reyes or Tenorio.

In 2023, NHPD Detective Kealyn Nivakoff — a member of the Special Victims Unit specializing in missing persons cases — was reviewing cold cases and decided to reinvestigate Reyes’ disappearance. NHPD communications officer Christian Bruckhart told the News that Nivakoff proactively began reinvestigating ones with leads she felt she could follow up on.

Nivakoff used interviews, search warrants and social media to determine Reyes’ current whereabouts in Puebla, per the press release. She also collaborated with Othram to confirm the relationship between Reyes and her father, who both provided Othram with DNA samples upon request. Bruckhart and FBI New Haven spokesperson Anthony Constanza confirmed that the FBI helped the NHPD in the reinvestigation.

Tenorio’s federal arrest warrant is still active, although it is only valid within the United States and NHPD officers suspect she is still living in Mexico. Bruckhart explained that if she is identified in the United States, NHPD officers can extradite her to Connecticut.

“There’s like a Dante’s ‘Inferno’ of levels of how far we’re willing to go to get somebody,” Bruckhart said, explaining the department’s extradition process. “Something where, like, you’ve abducted a child, we’ll go anywhere in the country to go pick them up.”

Reyes’ identification marks the seventh case in Connecticut where officials used Othram technology to identify an individual.

The post New Haven detective solves nearly three decade-old child abduction case appeared first on Yale Daily News.

At the civilian review board meeting on Monday, board member Germano Kimbro mentioned that the board’s ordinance requires it to have “some kind of involvement or oversight” with the YPD. Kimbro recalled that the board has reached out to the YPD’s chief, Anthony Campbell DIV ’09, but has received no response.

“I think it’s a lack of respect for them not to even respond to us,” Kimbro said at the meeting. “For the board to have more credibility with the community, we need to be able to give them answers and say that we at least have the ability to communicate with the Yale Police Department.”

Campbell did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

The civilian review board’s ordinance, passed by the Board of Alders in 2019, specifies that the board has the authority to monitor, review and conduct independent investigations of “civilian complaints of police misconduct by police officers empowered to act with municipal police powers in the City of New Haven.” Alyson Heimer, the board’s administrator, explained that the language allows the board potential access to complaints lodged against officers beyond those employed by the New Haven Police Department.

The ordinance also specifically mentions the Yale Police Department. It tasks the board with developing a “memorandum of understanding” with the YPD to “effectuate the goal of assuring transparent civilian review” of any civilian complaint of alleged officer misconduct in New Haven. According to Heimer, such a memorandum could allow the YPD to develop its own method of complaint oversight without involving the city board.

But Heimer said the board has not yet had a chance to come to any understanding with the YPD at all.

On Aug. 23, 2023, Heimer sent Campbell an email from the board formally requesting the chief’s presence at its upcoming meeting to discuss an inflammatory leaflet distributed by the YPD’s union that week. The leaflet, handed out at Yale’s first year move-in day, portrayed New Haven as crime-ridden and unsafe. City officials, and Campbell himself, ultimately condemned the action.

Heimer’s email offered Campbell the opportunity to present for “up to 10 minutes” on the YPD’s plan for the coming school year. She linked the board’s ordinance to her message, reminding him that complaints about the YPD officially fall under the board’s purview.

“If you or a representative are unable to attend on Monday, and since the CRB has responsibility to oversee any Yale Police-related civilian complaints, The Chair would like to set up a future meeting to discuss that process so we are all in compliance,” Heimer wrote in the email.

According to AnneMarie Rivera-Berrios, the board’s chair since 2021, Campbell never responded to the email. Rivera-Berrios said that the board had tried to reach out to Campbell “a few times” before the August 2023 email but that they had never heard back about developing a shared understanding of how the YPD would process civilian complaints with proper oversight.

Separate from the New Haven Civilian Review Board, the YPD had its own “police advisory board,” which was given the power to review and monitor complaints submitted by the public in fall 2022. However, members of the advisory board told the News that the board never met to review complaints. The board became inactive during summer 2024, and the department has not shared plans to revitalize it. 

University officials have expressed support for reviving an oversight board for the police department but have not specified that they will be involved in monitoring civilian complaints.

Campbell previously told the News that the YPD only receives “one or two” civilian complaints each year.

At the civilian review board’s Monday meeting, Kimbro asked NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson, who spoke at the meeting, if he could try to communicate with Campbell on behalf of the board. Jacobson said he agreed with Kimbro’s assessment that more communication with the YPD would be beneficial. Pointing out that Campbell used to head the New Haven Police Department before working for Yale, Jacobson said he was “surprised” Campbell had not accepted the board’s invitation to meet.

“He knows the board,” Jacobson said. “Next time I have a community meeting, I’ll bring him with me.”

Campbell served as the chief of the New Haven Police Department until his retirement in March 2019.

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New Haven Police Department communications officer Christian Bruckhart said that a student at Cross apparently showed “what other students thought was a handgun.” Once rumors of the alleged weapon spread from students to staff, a staff member alerted a school resource officer who called the police around 12:50 p.m. Bruckhart said that the school was immediately placed in lockdown “out of an abundance of caution,” and that the student did not make any threats. 

“There was nothing to indicate that the student was going to hurt anyone,” Bruckhart said. 

Once the school was in lockdown, officers worked to identify the student in question. Reviewing surveillance footage, they learned that the student had left the school shortly after displaying the alleged handgun, though the police could not confirm if the weapon was real. After about two hours, the lockdown was lifted. 

Maya Harpaz-Levy, a junior at Wilbur Cross, was in a meeting with a counselor when the lockdown began. 

“We were stuck in a tiny room for two hours,” Harpaz-Levy wrote to the News. “People were very relieved to leave, and they were complaining about the lockdown. It didn’t really seem like students were concerned.”

According to a press release sent out by the NHPD on Wednesday night, detectives located the wanted student after a “brief canvass.” The student was found with a second student, who was in possession of a BB gun. Bruckhart told the News that the NHPD determined that the BB gun was the weapon that triggered the lockdown. BB guns shoot small, metallic pellets that can pierce the skin. At a high velocity, they can be lethal, but are less dangerous than firearms.

The two students were taken into custody. According to the NHPD press release, the student who “caused the lockdown” was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, threatening in the second degree and breach of peace in the second degree. The student found with the BB gun was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, interfering with an officer and breach of peace in the second degree.

“We are encouraging students and staff to attend school tomorrow because we believe it to be safe,” New Haven Public Schools spokesperson Justin Harmon wrote to the News on Wednesday afternoon.

Wilbur Cross High School is the largest comprehensive high school in the New Haven Public Schools, with over 1,700 students.

The post Wilbur Cross placed in lockdown as cops investigated weapon threat appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Rivera-Berrios has chaired the 11-member board — which monitors and investigates complaints filed against New Haven Police Department officers — since summer 2022. On Monday evening, the board elected its chair, vice chair and secretary, who together comprise its executive committee, for two-year terms.

The elections occurred amid a review of the board’s bylaws sparked by an attempt to remove three board members in August for inadequate meeting attendance. When the city determined that the appointed members could not be removed by the board and reinstated them, the board asked the city’s lawyers to review their bylaws for other possible discrepancies with municipal laws. 

On Monday, five board members voted for Rivera-Berrios, while four voted for John Pescatore, former board vice chair who was removed in August for subpar attendance and later reinstated. One member “passed,” and one was absent.

At the meeting, handouts detailing each member’s attendance at board meetings and participation in reviewing complaints were distributed. From June 2024 to the present, only three members — including Rivera-Berrios — reviewed 100 percent of the cases before the board. Three other members reviewed more than half of the cases, while four more reviewed between one and four of the nine cases. Pescatore reviewed three, according to the handout, and fully attended seven out of thirteen meetings.

One member, Jewu Richardson, reviewed no cases from June until now. Richardson has not attended a board meeting since March 2024.

Subpar attendance is a recurring concern for the board, which needs seven members present at a meeting to reach a quorum. Around 7:55 p.m. on Monday, just before the board began its elections, a board member attending the meeting in person remarked disparagingly that three other members had chosen to attend the meeting on Zoom. A verbal argument ensued, with board members airing exasperation that the meeting, which started at 6 p.m., had already taken up so much time.

Despite frustrations over attendance and efficiency, the board is determined to continue making progress on its mission, multiple board members told the News. Alyson Heimer, the board’s administrator, said that she and Rivera-Berrios have worked to change the board’s process for reviewing cases to allow further oversight. Since January of this year, the board has been allowed to review all civilian cases simultaneously to the police department’s Internal Affairs unit, or IA, instead of only looking at cases that have been closed by IA.

In his remarks at Monday’s meeting, New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson celebrated the change, calling the new process something that “should’ve probably happened in the first place.” He described an ideal system as one where the department would have ninety days to look over an incident, give the case to the civilian review board for sixty days to make recommendations and then allow the chief to make a determination. Jacobson pointed out that such a faster process would be beneficial for both the community member who made the complaint and for the officer being investigated.

Jacobson commended the board members for their volunteer work with the department.

“In the last six months, I’ve gotten a ton of recommendations from you, and I wanted to thank you for that,” he said at the meeting. “It’s definitely the most recommendations I’ve seen since I’ve been chief.”

To allow board members to bond and connect with each other, Heimer described plans underway for an overnight retreat for the full board in a hotel outside of New Haven. She said that the retreat was suggested by the city’s corporation counsel, a team of lawyers, and that she was collecting proposals from trainers who could lead the board members in exercises to build leadership and teamwork skills. The estimated cost of the excursion, which would include all meals and hotel accommodations for the members, is $25,000.

While most board members agreed that some kind of bonding experience was much needed, others were adamant that an extended retreat was not the right solution. Board member and Alder Frank Redente expressed that he would not be able to commit to an overnight program away from New Haven due to his multiple professional obligations.

Heimer, meanwhile, explained that the decision to host the retreat outside the city was to ensure it would be on “neutral territory.”

“Corporation counsel recommended a retreat to help board members connect with one another, and move forward, in their work as a unified force,” she said at the meeting.

For the board, “moving forward” will also entail filling vacant roles. After the board’s attorney resigned in August, the civilian review board put out a request for applications for a legal counsel position. Upon twice receiving no proposals, the board was allowed to begin the process of seeking out their own hire. Kenneth Krayeske, a civil rights attorney who was recommended for the state-level position of Department of Corrections ombudsman but ultimately passed over for the position, expressed his interest in the role at Monday’s meeting.

In addition to Rivera-Berrios, board members Sergio Rodriguez and Nina Fawcett will sit on the executive committee as vice chair and secretary, respectively.

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