A Shred Of Dignity: An open letter to the Hamden DTC on public safety.
Good morning Hamden Democrats,
What is public safety; when threats of violence are made? What is community policing; when civilian complaints go unanswered and contracts are written, without the community being at the table? What does it mean to have law enforcement; when the spirit of the law is broken on the regular? When the word of law is flexible for some and stringent for others? As we ponder those questions, let me tell you what public safety needs to be in my community.
I am reaching out to you this morning as I am concerned for the safety of our community. Back in November, someone called me, claiming to be police, asking for the mayor’s itinerary, what celebrations would be going on, as well as who was currently upset with the Mayor. Having been on the receiving end of such peculiar questions, I immediately called the mayor and shared the contents of this discussion as any good leader would do, because I know what truly keeps us safe is each other. After the shooting of Stephanie and Paul, the couple that the Hamden and Yale police departments shot at three years ago, I got a lot of strange calls like this. Every time it happened I worried that their people would target my friends or family next. I have previously shared that in the last two years, my home was shot up. Despite attempting to have this addressed, five times, the Hamden Police Department (HPD) has failed to follow up with me on why the shooting happened. Last October I was assaulted and robbed; this was the last time I emailed the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) asking us to get together and have a real dialogue on public safety, which we did not do. There was very little discussion on the email chain; and like the shooting of my home, there was, once again, no follow-up from the HPD on my assault.
We need good jobs! We need affordable housing, no, and not just the warehouse people that allow them to build generational wealth. We need to divest from carceral solutions and reinvest in services that bring about a quality of life. We need more dialogue. As Dr. King denotes in his speech “When Peace Becomes Obnoxious” sharing an antidote about a white man complaining about civil disobedience disturbing the peace he knew:
“He discussed the peace being destroyed in the community, the destroying of good race relations. I agree that it is more tension now. But peace is not merely the absence of this tension, but the presence of justice. And even if we didn’t have this tension, we still wouldn’t have positive peace. Yes, it is true that if the Negro accepts his place, accepts exploitation and injustice, there will be peace. But it would be a peace boiled down to stagnant complacency, deadening passivity, and if peace means this, I don’t want peace.” — Reverend Martin Luther King
I think what allows f.e.a.r (false evidence appearing real) in our community is that anecdotally things feel like they’re getting worse and we no longer know our neighbors. I remember in both incidents people asked me who were the perpetrators of violence in my community. That is the wrong question to be asking, we should be asking what would bring our community together. When I know that between public works, the fire department, and police there are almost 300 jobs and there are less than 40 people of color who hold these positions I know that public safety will never be about what makes us feel safe, instead it’s about how others can be safe from us. How is paying people $100,000 in overtime in my neighborhood to police me in the best interest of my neighborhood? Policing essentially at that point becomes a jobs program perpetuating systematic oppression.
Some of you may know that last Tuesday, we held a community meeting on the 100 police documents that were shredded, as well as discussing other concerns surrounding HPD. This was a public event and all were invited. It came to my attention several days before that Mr. Al Lotto of Hamden Crime Watchers made a threat by cryptically suggesting that there would be fireworks on the day of this event. This gave me great pause; I reached out to the Police Chief and the chair of the Legislative Council Public Safety Committee and made them aware of this situation. As an abolitionist, I’m generally against the idea of relying on the police for anything, but until we invest in genuine public safety and re-envision institutions and services that police currently hold, our only options are to suffer in silence or reach out to police in matters of stalking and harassment and so-on.
On the night of our event, Mr. Tom Figlar and others gathered around the parking lot and were taking pictures for well over 15 minutes. Mr. Figlar was approached by community members, invited to join our meeting, and offered a plate of food if he felt so inspired, but he declined. His surveillance continued as he moved his car across the street. From across the street, I invited him to join our event, but he declined. I shared my thoughts with him that it was distasteful and unacceptable to allude to violence at a community forum. He asserted that Miss Ellington sharing at a recent Council meeting that she would protest and “shut the town down” was more threatening. At that point, we walked away. About 20 minutes later HPD approached our event and asked us if there was an issue. I shared with them the concerns I had shared with the chief and the police department themselves and my thinking that it was suspicious that Mr. Figlar was hanging around the parking lot. About 10 minutes later, they came back and interrupted the event, stating that Mr. Figlar felt threatened by our conversation and he had called the police.
Now I’m sure some will say I brought this upon myself. You may disagree with my position on police abolition, although I would have never alluded to violence to a group of people at a meeting.
Mr. Lotto and Mr. Figlar threatened to disrupt the drag queen story hour for children at our pride celebration earlier this month. Similar to our event, they hung out at a distance and surveyed the situation. Mr. Lotto in the past has visited council people’s homes and taken photos of people’s license plates and shared them on social media.
I’m sure y’all are asking yourself: Justin, what can we do about all of this? Unlike the national Democratic party, I think we can lead on issues. Over the next couple of weeks, J-MAL will be introducing legislation on policing. I hope and encourage y’all to participate and be part of the dialogue and discussions around what will keep our community safe and how we keep each other safe. We came up with these policy ideas from being in a community with people. We are planning to introduce legislation on the following points:
1) All internal and external promotions, hires, and related processes (ex. testing, training,
interviews) must be made public far enough in advance to allow the public to participate.
2) The Hamden Police Department must inform the community and elected officials when major crimes occur.
3) Contract negotiations, re-openers, and enforcement (arbitration's, etc) should be open to the
public to the extent allowable by law.
4) Police have to inform the Police Commission when they are destroying civilian complaints and other such documents. The Police Commission must sign off on such docs being destroyed.
5) A monthly report on overtime and what it’s used for must be presented to the Town Council.
6) We demand a real independent investigation of the destruction of civilian complaints.
To threaten that there would be fireworks weeks after several mass shootings have me very concerned. I’m a strong individual, and I can endure much, I draw the line at threatening civilians and community members. They’ve threatened our free speech. This is a threat to our ability to organize, and I am terrified that the next target they try to intimidate won’t be me.
We have seen time and time again what happens when these online forums go unchecked and unchallenged. Whether it be PizzaGate, the January 6th Riots, or just a couple of weeks ago a fascist hiding in a U-Haul truck with riot shields, spears, and masks hoping to disrupt a pride event.
If there is any shred of dignity we can give our community it is by honoring the diversity of our experiences. The 100 documents that were shredded were testimonies of people who felt that the institution of police or specific officers needed to be held accountable. People trusted that order would be made of the chaos, that these complaints under an active police commission help us come to a fullness of what public safety is. By preserving a shred of dignity we can identify what the fullness can be and build back.
I’m calling on us as a community, as the Hamden Democratic Town Committee, to speak truth to power before someone is harmed by these out-of-touch individuals.
With camaraderie and care,
Justin M Farmer
Fifth District Councilman
President Pro Tempore
203–200–0517
