When the mayor of East Haven swore in three new detectives Thursday, asking them if they promise to enforce the law fairly, it marked another step in the police department's progress.
The three police officers, Monique Colbert, Shirley Conyers and Jeffrey Vailette, become detectives effective Monday.
The city continues to leave behind its days of harassment of Hispanic residents and pressure on a priest, the behavior that brought the federal justice department down hard on East Haven police.
Now these detective badges mean promotions for two black women, the city's first black female detectives.
"It's always a big thing in policing. I tell people women in policing are like gold – they're hard to find, they're very hard to find – and we've got exceptional ones around here, exceptional," East Haven Police Chief Brent Larrabee told the new detectives' families and friends.
More than half the faces on the East Haven police force have changed during what the chief calls "a long struggle for this police department."
"Four years ago, who knew we would be in this position today?" said East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo. "This department has become one of the best small departments in our nation. Ferguson calls us, other departments call us up when they're having problems. We are the model for the nation right now."
