Newhallville residents and police foster community, despite divisions
By Julia Perkins
Kalimah Maurice was on her way to the library on a Saturday morning with her 10-year-old son Anesis when she saw three teenagers drinking outside Lincoln Bassett Elementary School.
This frustrated Maurice, who has lived on Newhall Street in New Haven for four years. Her son attends Lincoln Bassett and she says his education is important to her. To drink on school property is disrespectful, she said, so she called the police.
The police asked for Maurice’s location, and she believed officers would be on their way. But after 20 minutes no one came.
This is one of the reasons Maurice said she cannot trust the police in her neighborhood, even though her father is a retired New York City policeman.
“It’s little stuff like that they should still be on top of because if they say ‘oh see something, say something’ and then I see it and I say it then what am I talking to? The wall?” she said. “But a nice drive by of saying, ‘Listen you’re on school grounds, get your trash or get a ticket,' that would have made me be like, ‘OK, maybe [the police] are worth something,’ but no not to me they’re not.”
Maurice said she only sees the police when there is a homicide.
“I think that’s a form of prejudice, not ... black or white prejudice. Community prejudice,” she said. “The only time I see the police is when that tape is being pulled across the scene of the crime and the only time I see the police is when it’s about 80 degrees outside. That’s pretty much it and I think that’s a slap in the face as a citizen, not just for me but for my son too.”
But in fact Maurice’s community, a neighborhood called Newhallville in New Haven, has a history of violent crime. There were 78 shootings in the community from 2011 to April 2014, which is more than the city’s four next highest Census Tracts combined, according to the Newhallville Safe Neighborhood Initiative fact sheet. In this neighborhood of more than 6,800 people, 13 percent are ex-offenders, 21 percent are unemployed and 58 percent live below twice the poverty line.
Kalimah Maurice was on her way to the library on a Saturday morning with her 10-year-old son Anesis when she saw three teenagers drinking outside Lincoln Bassett Elementary School.
This frustrated Maurice, who has lived on Newhall Street in New Haven for four years. Her son attends Lincoln Bassett and she says his education is important to her. To drink on school property is disrespectful, she said, so she called the police.
The police asked for Maurice’s location, and she believed officers would be on their way. But after 20 minutes no one came.
This is one of the reasons Maurice said she cannot trust the police in her neighborhood, even though her father is a retired New York City policeman.
“It’s little stuff like that they should still be on top of because if they say ‘oh see something, say something’ and then I see it and I say it then what am I talking to? The wall?” she said. “But a nice drive by of saying, ‘Listen you’re on school grounds, get your trash or get a ticket,' that would have made me be like, ‘OK, maybe [the police] are worth something,’ but no not to me they’re not.”
Maurice said she only sees the police when there is a homicide.
“I think that’s a form of prejudice, not ... black or white prejudice. Community prejudice,” she said. “The only time I see the police is when that tape is being pulled across the scene of the crime and the only time I see the police is when it’s about 80 degrees outside. That’s pretty much it and I think that’s a slap in the face as a citizen, not just for me but for my son too.”
But in fact Maurice’s community, a neighborhood called Newhallville in New Haven, has a history of violent crime. There were 78 shootings in the community from 2011 to April 2014, which is more than the city’s four next highest Census Tracts combined, according to the Newhallville Safe Neighborhood Initiative fact sheet. In this neighborhood of more than 6,800 people, 13 percent are ex-offenders, 21 percent are unemployed and 58 percent live below twice the poverty line.
The neighborhood is receiving a $1 million federal Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program grant to help reduce crime, support youth and build the community. The city and neighborhood are in the planning phase to see exactly where the money will go, according to Jason Bartlett, New Haven’s youth service director.
Still, Newhallville is not the most violent neighborhood in the city. The Fair Haven, Hill South and Dwight neighborhoods had more violent crime than Newhallville from 2011-14, according to statistics from the New Haven Police Department.
Still, Newhallville is not the most violent neighborhood in the city. The Fair Haven, Hill South and Dwight neighborhoods had more violent crime than Newhallville from 2011-14, according to statistics from the New Haven Police Department.
Grant aside, residents have their own ways to build community spirit and fight crime. Tammy Chapman, who has lived in Newhallville since 2010, applied for a Community Foundation grant to get motion lighting on the streets. She said there are a lot of dark areas in the neighborhood, but that better lights would deter crime.
Chapman started a blog called Newhallville Community Matters in 2011 where she shares information about events like community cleanups. Several residents participate in these cleanups in the spring out of their desire to create something beautiful in the neighborhood, Chapman said.
Newhallville has several gardens where residents can plant food and flowers, while interacting with their neighbors. One of the community gardens on Ivy Street receives support from Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven (NHS), according to NHS Community Building Specialist Daniella Beltran.
“Newhallville has struggles with perception but one thing that isn’t talked about is that is has an abundance of community gardens,” Beltran said.
The community gardens allow residents to foster relationships with each other, she said.
“The real significant thing is having a definite space for interaction,” Beltran said. “If that doesn’t exist it’s really hard.”
Lt. Herb Sharp, the district manager in Newhallville, said he thinks the neighborhood is turning around. Violent crime has gone down in the neighborhood from 129 incidents in 2011 to 81 incidents in 2014.
This is, in part, because the police are building better relationships with residents than they had 20 to 40 years ago, Sharp said.
“You’re talking a community that looks unfavorably upon the police because of some of the things I think the police have done to the community that was very negative,” he said. “We have to build upon the future and what we’re trying to achieve and that is trust.”
The police will receive about $130,000 from the Byrne grant to help do this, according to Sharp. The money will go to programs like the Youth and Police Initiative, which engages young people with officers. (Click here to learn more about youth programs in the neighborhood.)
Chapman started a blog called Newhallville Community Matters in 2011 where she shares information about events like community cleanups. Several residents participate in these cleanups in the spring out of their desire to create something beautiful in the neighborhood, Chapman said.
Newhallville has several gardens where residents can plant food and flowers, while interacting with their neighbors. One of the community gardens on Ivy Street receives support from Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven (NHS), according to NHS Community Building Specialist Daniella Beltran.
“Newhallville has struggles with perception but one thing that isn’t talked about is that is has an abundance of community gardens,” Beltran said.
The community gardens allow residents to foster relationships with each other, she said.
“The real significant thing is having a definite space for interaction,” Beltran said. “If that doesn’t exist it’s really hard.”
Lt. Herb Sharp, the district manager in Newhallville, said he thinks the neighborhood is turning around. Violent crime has gone down in the neighborhood from 129 incidents in 2011 to 81 incidents in 2014.
This is, in part, because the police are building better relationships with residents than they had 20 to 40 years ago, Sharp said.
“You’re talking a community that looks unfavorably upon the police because of some of the things I think the police have done to the community that was very negative,” he said. “We have to build upon the future and what we’re trying to achieve and that is trust.”
The police will receive about $130,000 from the Byrne grant to help do this, according to Sharp. The money will go to programs like the Youth and Police Initiative, which engages young people with officers. (Click here to learn more about youth programs in the neighborhood.)
Despite what Maurice said, Sharp said his officers do walk around the neighborhood and get to know residents. This is part of the city’s “community policing” philosophy, an idea that started in the New York City Police Department that has spread around the country.
Community policing involves residents and police working together to solve smaller issues within a neighborhood, which Sharp said will prevent bigger crimes. This means both the police and the community have to hold each other accountable.
“Community policing is a cookie cutter type of philosophy,” Sharp said. “You love to hear it. It sounds good. It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, I would say. And it’s true to a sense, but you have to have the community give you legitimacy. If they don’t legitimize what you’re doing, then it’s not going to work. ... But if the police are failing to do what their responsibility is, then it’s not going to work.”
Sharp attends the monthly Newhallville Community Management Team meetings and communicates with the alders and church leaders. Whenever he meets new people, he gives them his contact information and tells them to call at any time – and Sharp said they do.
He said he makes sure his officers are also connecting with residents.
“I always tell the guys, every day you come to work you work, there’s no lull in your day,” Sharp said. “You talk to somebody every day. You [see] that kid who might not be doing something right, you get out and you talk to that kid every day. You let them know that you’re out there working every day. And let’s see if we can do something.”
Shirley Gary, a great-grandmother who has lived in Newhallville for 18 years, said a police officer came to her house and shook her hand the other day.
It’s good that they’ve got them back on the street,” Gary said. “I’ve seen them walking and talking to kids.”
However, Sharp admitted he does not have as many walking beats as he would like in Newhallville. The neighborhood used to have four walking beats, but Sharp had to put more officers in cars when he had an increase in drive-by shootings. Right now there is only one walking beat in Newhallville, but Sharp said he will put a second officer on the beat soon.
Sharp hopes this will keep violent crime down – the crime he said that kept him up at night when he first became the neighborhood’s district manager more than a year ago.
“I used to go home and wouldn’t be able to sleep because you get a phone call about a shooting, you get a phone call about this, you get a phone call about that,” he said. “And it’s like it’s never ending and you’re like, am I making a difference?”
He said getting to know community members makes him care even more about the neighborhood.
“They know you by your first name,” he said. “You’re no longer lieutenant, you’re Herb. Or I know you because I see you on the street and I talk to you every day. You feel bad because you haven’t been able to slow things down for them.”
Additional reporting by Debora Timms
Sharp hopes this will keep violent crime down – the crime he said that kept him up at night when he first became the neighborhood’s district manager more than a year ago.
“I used to go home and wouldn’t be able to sleep because you get a phone call about a shooting, you get a phone call about this, you get a phone call about that,” he said. “And it’s like it’s never ending and you’re like, am I making a difference?”
He said getting to know community members makes him care even more about the neighborhood.
“They know you by your first name,” he said. “You’re no longer lieutenant, you’re Herb. Or I know you because I see you on the street and I talk to you every day. You feel bad because you haven’t been able to slow things down for them.”
Additional reporting by Debora Timms