Following the fatal police shooting of a black man, riots erupted for a second night Wednesday on the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina.
"Not to say that something like this could never happen in New Haven," Mayor Toni Harp said. "We certainly hope that it doesn’t, but we do everything that we can to have a strong relationship with the community."
Spokesperson David Hartman said New Haven Police have a track record of keeping demonstrations from getting out of control, like when the Occupy movement camped out on the New Haven Green in 2012.
"As long as there’s an advanced communication," Hartman said. "We can make sure that we can help protestors in doing what they’re lawfully able to do."
Mayor Harp credits officers’ training for preventing chaotic protests.
"I think our police are some of the best trained in America around de-escalation," she said.
In Charlotte, police have yet to release body camera footage from officers who witnessed the deadly shooting of Keith Lamont Scott on Tuesday.
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"We are going to have body cameras in New Haven," Mayor Harp said.
The city has received grants to help pay for body cameras, Harp said. Protocols for how to use them are part of the current police union negotiations.
"They see that this would be a tool that would work in their interest, too," Mayor Harp said of her conversation with the police union president.
New Haven’s IT department has already set up a system to store footage from police body cams, Harp said. She added she hopes officers will start wearing them sometime early next year.
Dozens of officers have already tested out different brands of body cameras, Hartman said.
The body cameras will be another tool in a city that prides itself on strong police-community relations, where officers are encouraged to get to know the residents in the neighborhoods they serve.
"When you see the same officers over and over again, that’s what hopefully builds the trust," Hartman said.
