The East Haven Police Department, which not long ago was attracting national attention for its treatment of minorities, was put back in the national spotlight last week by the White House—this time as a model for what can be accomplished.

The White House connection was two-fold—U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch visited the town on July 21 as part of a six-city tour addressing mistrust of police forces, and a delegation of East Haven officials was invited to the White House to discuss community policing at a time when police and community relations nationwide have shown substantial rifts.

Lynch spoke with community members, police officers, and federal authorities at East Haven High School, highlighting efforts by the town’s Police Department to improve ties with residents, after a federal probe found discrimination by town officers.

“It is our hope that cities and jurisdictions that are still struggling with these issues...will look at East Haven and take heart and see that, in fact, things can improve,” the attorney general said. “It is our hope that other community groups that may feel voiceless...will look at East Haven and see that they can empower themselves, that they can raise issues of concern.”

Many Latinos in East Haven and a federal monitor had agreed that remarkable turnaround has been made at the Police Department since 2012 when local officials signed a Justice Department consent decree that required wide-ranging reforms.

The agreement resolved allegations by the Justice Department that officers regularly used excessive force against Latinos and retaliated against those who witnessed police misconduct or criticized officers.

“It’s definitely very different, in a positive way,” said Marcia Chacon, a native of Ecuador and East Haven resident who owns a small grocery store where police were accused of carrying out illegal searches and a false arrest. “Prior to this, we didn’t have any confidence in reaching out to the police in order to get help.”

East Haven Deputy Police Chief Ed Lennon said the department has taken a number of steps including holding regular community meetings, having school-based officers check on children, and creating a citizens’ police academy. He also said the department has made efforts to be more transparent, including requiring all officers to wear body cameras.

The July 23 White House forum, East Haven Police Chief Brent Larrabee said, centered on the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing final report, which identified and detailed best practices for police departments across the country. The forum included breakout sessions in regard to implementing recommendations made in the report.

Larrabee attended the forum along with Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr., Lennon, and Father Thomas Sievel of St. Vincent de Paul Church, calling the invitation to the Department of Justice Community Policing Forum at the White House “a true honor.

“If you take a look at the [final] document, it has some 59 proposals to help improve policing in the 21st century in America. Of those 59 proposals, 41 deal with things that affect us [in East Haven] and of that 41, we have either accomplished [them] or have in the works to complete, so in context to this particular document, we are ahead of a lot of folks around the country.”

Larrabee also said that being invited to the White House “was a reaffirmation that the men and women [of the East Haven Police Department], under the leadership of the mayor, have done a good job of getting things done, and the town should be pretty pleased about the transformation.”

Larrabee said that one of the takeaways from the forum was the importance of getting more involved, and highlighting youth initiatives, which Larrabee said would begin in the fall.

Maturo echoed Larrabee’s sentiments.

“It was an honor and a pleasure to be one of 40 towns and cities across the country invited. It is a huge compliment and honor that East Haven is now being looked at as one of the communities with one of the best small [police] departments across our nation,” Maturo said. “It’s astounding considering what East Haven and its residents and Police Department have been through, and means that in the past 3 ½ years we have certainly come full circle. [We’ve] learned through leadership and perseverance that East Haven is a good, and proud community.”

“Not many people get invited to the White House,” added Maturo.

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