Capone, Nappi Say Police Union Complaints Are Unfounded

Mayor April Capone said the reason the East Haven police union plans to hold a no confidence vote against her is that she has refused to denounce the ongoing federal investigation into allegations of a pattern of racial profiling and police brutality against Hispanics by police officers.

But Capone said she and other East Haven officials might face arrest and the town could be stripped of millions of dollars in federal grant funding if they made statements viewed by the U.S. Justice Department as interfering with FBI investigators.

Union officials announced last week they would hold the no confidence vote for members of Local 1662 of Council 15, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on Thursday against Capone, Acting Police Chief Gaetano Nappi and the East Haven Board of Police Commissioners.

Union lawyer Richard Gudis said the union decided Sept. 28 to hold the no confidence vote because Capone and Nappi had failed to address deficiencies identified in a Justice Department report issued in April 2010.

Police Chief Leonard Gallo was placed on paid administrative leave and replaced by Nappi following the receipt of the report.

The New Haven Register reported in today’s edition that "about 10" subpoenas were served to East Haven police officers last week ordering them to appear before the federal grand jury in Bridgeport that is investigating the racial profiling allegations.

At least two dozen East Haven police officers have been subpoenaed since the grand jury began meeting in February, the newspaper said.

According to Local 1662’s announcement of the no confidence vote, the East Haven Police Department "has been in a state of crisis for two years" because of the failure of the acting chief, the mayor and the Board of Police Commissioners to address concerns raised by the Department of Justice.

The announcement said Nappi has failed to revise or create police procedures and policies needed for modern police operations. It criticized the town for paying for a new deputy chief by cutting other positions in the Police Department.

"The town administration and the Board of Police Commissioners have left the Police Department largely unsupervised above the rank of Lieutenant," the union said.

It said Nappi lacks operational police supervision experience or strategic planning ability.

The union criticized Nappi’s leadership during the response to Tropical Storm Irene, and claimed that he was absent during the storm. "A lack of coherent emergency management planning placed East Haven police officers and citizens in extreme danger," the union said.

But Capone and Nappi said Local 1662’s complaints are unfounded. They produced monthly reports by the acting police chief detailing the improvements that have been made at the Police Department.

The mayor said Local 1662 officials are angry because she has refused to denounce the federal investigation. Capone said she was told that, but she declined to be specific about who told her when asked if union officials said that.

She also declined to link the no confidence vote to the latest batch of subpoenas, but noted that "the timing speaks for itself."

Local 1662 also held a no confidence vote against Gallo and former Mayor Joseph Maturo weeks before the 2007 town election, which Maturo lost to Capone.

Capone said she has no choice but to wait until the federal investigation is completed before she comments on it, and she has instructed other town officials to do the same.

Gudis said he didn’t recall Local 1662’s no confidence vote in 2007 and he denied that the union’s decision had anything to do with the latest subpoenas. In fact, he said the subpoenas issued last week were served after the union announced it would hold the no confidence vote on Thursday.

"It has nothing to do with the subpoenas. It has to do with a lack of support and a lack of leadership from the town," Gudis said.

"The cops are getting screwed. Let the people of East Haven know it," he added.

Capone and Nappi said improvements since acting police chief took over include the construction of a training room costing $25,000, certification of Sgt. Ed Lennon as a training officer, and renovations of the lockup and other facilities at police headquarters.

Police officers have been sent to training courses for DUI enforcement, racial sensitivity, radar traffic enforcement, domestic violence response, use of Tasers, use of force, conducting background checks, and interview and interrogation techniques.

The department has purchased new radio communication equipment, a new computer network system, ten new police cars, computer equipment for police cars, two license plate reading devices, new DUI enforcement equipment, and new traffic radar equipment.

Nappi said the town has begun replacing old street signs with new ones that are larger and have reflective letters making them easier to read at night. He said replacing the street signs has been mandated by the federal government for many years, but it was only started since he took over as acting police chief.

Capone noted that after she was elected in 2007, she sent weekly requests to Chief Gallo about numerous police cars that were out of service in need of repairs, but nothing seemed to be done until appointing Nappi. At that time, 14 police cars were off the street because of mechanical problems.

A new employee has been hired to oversee the patrol car fleet and make sure the cars receive the maintenance and repairs they need, and old worn out cars have been replaced.

Nappi said he also approved a mission statement and code of conduct for the Police Department and established a new procedure for citizens to make complaints against police officers, ensuring that all complaints would be investigated.