Harp should rethink using police to drive her

When we endorsed Toni Harp for mayor last November, we hoped she would govern with an eye toward connecting with average residents and toward understanding the degree to which the police department and other city agencies have been stretched thin by budget cuts and other challenges.

In at least one area, though, we’re troubled by the message the mayor appears to be sending to city employees and average residents alike.

Harp, departing from the precedent admirably set by her predecessor, John DeStefano Jr., is being driven around the city by a police officer, who picks her up at home in the morning, escorts her to all city-related functions, and drives her home at night.

The practice had been common in New Haven prior to DeStefano’s tenure. But during his record 20 years in office, DeStefano either drove himself around or was driven by a member of his staff most of the time. (The only exceptions were in emergency situations in which no one else was available, and occasional trips to the airport in which DeStefano sought to avoid parking a city car at the airport for a lengthy and expensive period.)

Police Chief Dean Esserman claims that he recommended to Harp that police officers drive her around, and was happy when she accepted the recommendation. Esserman has pointed out that when he served as chief in Providence, R.I., police officers drove the mayor around.

Esserman told the Register’s Mary O’Leary and Rachel Chinapen last month that he sees it as the police department’s responsibility to provide protection for the mayor.

But mayors in Connecticut’s other large cities — including Pedro Segarra in Hartford and Bill Finch in Bridgeport — drive themselves around most of the time.

During Harp’s campaign for mayor, vandals broke two windows at Harp’s campaign headquarters at 560 Whalley Ave. Shortly after, the glass door at the Renaissance Management office of Harp’s son, Matthew, at 300 Whalley Ave., was shattered.

Harp has said she “bears the brunt of a lot of people’s frustrations,” which could jeopardize her safety.

We respect her concerns, but similar concerns are shared by many other public officials, and with few exceptions — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is driven around by state troopers, for instance — public officials in Connecticut manage to get around without police protection.

Since Harp was sworn in New Year’s Day, Officer Eric Scott has served as her driver. The police department is planning on reassigning a second officer to provide the coverage Harp requires, but since that hasn’t happened yet, Scott has already earned more than $3,000 in overtime pay.

New Haven police union President Louis Cavaliere Jr. has objected to the arrangement on the grounds that the department is already operating with more than 100 vacant positions, and can’t afford to take two more officers off the street to be by Harp’s side.

Given the dire need to reduce crime, it’s both bad optics and bad policy to reassign trained police officers to do work civilians are fully capable of doing.