Police give coffee, conversation after Father’s Day Mass

By Brian Zahn, New Haven Register
Original article HERE

As Sunday services wrapped up in churches around Fair Haven, members of the police were waiting with coffee in tow.

The national “Coffee with a Cop” program began in 2011 as a model of community policing, a school of thought in law enforcement that residents who feel comfortable with the local police presence will be more likely to reach out for help in an emergency. Likewise, the theory goes the other way — that cops who know their communities are more likely to exercise caution and compassion while responding to calls.

Fair Haven Management Team Chair David Steinhardt decided he wanted to see the program in his neighborhood, which boasts a heavily Hispanic population. And Steinhardt said one church wouldn’t be enough.

“There are different types of population in Fair Haven,” he said.

New Haven Lt. David Zannelli decided to split Sunday’s volunteering officers between three locations: the Catholic St. Francis and St. Rose of Lima churches and the Pentecostal Estrella Resplandeciente de Jacob church.

Zannelli coordinated a handful of volunteers as they handed families mugs with their local substation’s phone number printed on them as well as about 300 cups of coffee donated by the Dunkin’ Donuts location on Forbes Avenue and Stiles Street.

State Rep. Al Paolillo assisted with the program from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. He said the Dunkin’ location that donated coffee is the one he goes to “virtually every day.”

“I’m here to support officers and the community coming out today,” he said.

State Rep. Juan Candelaria also handed out coffee at the Chapel Street location outside Estrella Resplandeciente de Jacob.

About 100 people exited Mass from Estrella Resplandeciente de Jacob between 12 and 12:45 p.m., most stopping for coffee and doughnut holes.

“There are Hispanic and black officers who really enjoy working here,” Steinhardt said, acknowledging Officer Edwin Rivera, who spoke with the community in Spanish. “I believe the relationship with police in this area is very good.”

Despite Fair Haven having the highest volume of calls to police, Steinhardt said he was content with the rate of crime.

“There’s always room for improvement,” he said, but the police are accountable to the area.

Many of the people exiting the church said they were pleased with police in the area; some were out of earshot from police when saying so.

Edilicier Perez said he has faith in the police.

“I like that the police are in nearly every corner,” he said in Spanish.

“They work well,” said German Carangui.

One woman who did not give her name said she would rather not discuss the police around the police.

The New Haven Police Department outraged some in the community this month for violently arresting a bystander to another arrest in the area of Chapel Street, reviving long-standing concerns about police brutality and law enforcement’s role in mass incarceration.

“When I first started as an alder, I asked for more beats,” said Ward 16 Alder Jose Crespo. “The Police Department has made themselves available to the public and the public loves them for it.”

Crespo said he has seen a change in the area since the introduction of the ID cards about 10 years ago.

“We told people not to be afraid to approach the police. They’re here to serve you as well,” he said.

As Ezekiel Soto, 6, took a seat on Crespo’s parked motorcycle, father Pablo said his impression of the police in the area is a positive one.

“I think they’re doing their best,” he said. Although he was in Estrella Resplandiciente de Jacob Sunday, he lives in Westville.

A few yards away from the church, a man was showing Zannelli photos on his phone. The man talked to Zannelli about finding a job.

“Talk to your alder,” Zannelli told him.