State board says a fired New Haven police sergeant should return to the job

The majority of a state arbitration board has ruled the City of New Haven failed to prove its case for firing former Sgt. Shayna Kendall, saying the claims of Kendall being untruthful fell short.

She was fired back in August 2022 after she stopped a woman who honked at her at a green light. Kendall was in an unmarked car and told Internal Affairs investigators that she was checking the woman’s health.

The woman filed a complaint that said Kendall didn’t identify herself but told the woman she was being detained and didn’t ask any health-related questions.

“Obviously we’re disappointed by the decision,” Mayor Justin Elicker said. “And the main reason is we need to make sure officers are honest and trustworthy.”

The report shows the city presented evidence of past issues with honesty, including that Kendall was fired from the training academy in 2007 over alleged dishonesty but was rehired in 2009.

“The fact that Sgt. Kendall had not just this one incident but several incidents where she was dishonest, and dishonest during an internal affairs investigation was concerning enough that the chief and the police commission unanimously agreed to terminate her,” Elicker said.

An internal affairs report said Kendall – who was once the public information officer for the police department and was a deputy commander of training – was untruthful during the investigation, citing inconsistencies in her testimony.

In that report, Kendall said she felt the investigation was biased against her. The board ruled in her favor, saying most of the interviews were months after the incident and inconsistencies or mistakes don’t mean dishonesty.

The board also said aside from the 2007 incident and settlement, there were no other “violations against her for dishonesty/untruthfulness,” and pointed to Chief Karl Jacobson’s testimony that Kendall “was a good hard worker and that he could see her as assistant chief.”

The board did say she should be suspended for one day for not documenting the traffic stop and be "reinstated and made whole for any lost wages (less any customary deductions and any earnings received during the period of termination), benefits and seniority consistent with this Award."

Elicker said pursuing action against Kendall was important, saying cases like this don’t reflect the overall work of the department.

“There’s a foundation of trust between the community and the police department and if we can’t trust our officers, they can’t effectively do their job in the community,” he said.

“Over this past year or so, we’ve made quite clear that when officers make the bad decisions, we take it really seriously and hold the officers accountable. This is a case where we did so, and unfortunately the state labor board did not agree with our decision, and we’ll be determining what our next steps are here," Elicker said.

The city has 45 days to file an appeal. NBC Connecticut reached out to the union and union lawyers representing Kendall and have not heard back.