Policing and policing reform has been a focus across the country since George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by Minneapolis police on May 25. At a Board of Police Commissioners meeting on July 13 the commission heard updates from Police Chief Vincent DeMaio on new measures being taken that aim to assist in responsible policing in Clinton and Connecticut.

DeMaio informed the commission of three major updates within the department that seek to identify areas in which police in Clinton and beyond can do their jobs better. DeMaio spoke to the Harbor News about what the updates mean.

One update is that the department will partner with an outside entity to analyze its interactions with the public. The department signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Center for Policing Equity. The Center works to study police and community interaction and suggest ways that law enforcement can improve community interactions while combating racial biases. In Clinton, the center will provide annual reports on the department’s interactions with the public and any biases shown. The first report will be sent in 2021.

“I’m very excited to have this,” DeMaio said.

DeMaio said the department will use data provided by the center “to try and figure out where there’s a gap” between the department and community in their relationship.

“It’s important to me to achieve national best practices standard, that’s why I think it’s important to have outside agencies to analyze,” DeMaio said.

In a second update, the department formally revised its use of force police policy. DeMaio said that the policy of the department is to use the minimum amount of force needed to resolve a situation.

Chokeholds have become a focus for police reform activists because they can kill suspects who police are trying to subdue. Many departments prohibit their use, including Clinton.

“We don’t train chokeholds” or use them, DeMaio said.

DeMaio said that the revisions to the use of force policy were already in place and being taught, but now they were officially stated and in line with new state regulations.

“We spent a lot of time specifically enumerating them in our general orders,” said DeMaio.

DeMaio also informed the commission that he has been named to two informal ad hoc committees to study police reform and accountability. One committee is with the FBI in New Haven and the other is with the Grace Farm Foundation, a New Canaan-based organization that works to improve communities through social based initiatives. One particular initiative is to work with the Police Officer Standards and Training Council to examine what changes to police training should be made.

DeMaio said that the point of partnering with the outside agencies and working with the ad hoc committees is to “see what ways can we best connect law enforcement with the public and look at the ways we can improve so that we can do the things the public needs us to do. We need to rebuild that trust that’s been lost,” said DeMaio.

As for the future, DeMaio said he hopes that police and the community can come together to have productive discussions on what the right way forward is.

“I’m hopeful some of the emotion will come down. Things need to change. We need to all come together and talk without demonizing one group of people or the other,” said DeMaio.

Some of the topics DeMaio said needed to be discussed on a broader scale include reaching a consensus on the role police should play in a society, the roles the public wants the police to play, and how the police and public should work together to achieve those goals.

DeMaio said that with the Clinton Police Department he tries to make it clear to the officers that they are there to serve the public.

“Early on when I got here, I told them you are problem solvers. We have to make our people understand this is a service industry,” said DeMaio.

“I have a wonderful staff here in Clinton who go above and beyond, and I couldn’t be more proud,” said DeMaio.

The Clinton Police Department has received praise from town leaders and community members alike. At the Clinton Black Lives Matter protest in June, more than one speaker praised the Clinton department for the interactions they’ve had with the public in Clinton.

That the public largely holds the department in high regards was not lost on DeMaio.

“I think here in Clinton we do have that trust of the community,” said DeMaio.

However, on a broader scale DeMaio acknowledged not every department in the state or country can say the same. DeMaio said, in his opinion, the other departments can follow the Clinton department in “working hard in non-traditional ways” to reach the community and populations who may not normally call the police.

As examples, DeMaio pointed to programs like the car seat installation program or self-defense classes geared toward teaching participants how to ward off sexual predators. DeMaio said that with the car seat program in particular, the police work only to install the seats; they don’t check licenses or registrations or insurance cards looking to catch someone.

Another key aspect to DeMaio is making sure that more than one officer in each department is engaged in connecting with the community. This is important because different officers may be able to connect with different groups of people.

DeMaio said the various programs and charity work help connect the officers to different populations and work to form a bond so that if there is an emergency situation down the road, the people feel more comfortable contacting the police.

“It helps establish connections that are real and not just superficial,” said DeMaio.

Those connections can lead to the police solving an issue that’s affecting a person, instead of merely putting a band aid on the problem and leading to a cycle of problems, DeMaio contended.

“Let’s find out what we can do to fix the problem. If we can prevent a crime from happening, then we’ve done our job,” said DeMaio.