New Haven police are updating policies governing confidential informant funds following a scandal involving former Chief Karl Jacobson.
According to Mayor Justin Elicker (D), Jacobson stole more than $175,000 from the CI program, which is used to reward people for passing police information about crimes.
Jacobson used the money he stole to fuel his gambling addiction. He pleaded no contest to larceny last month, and will be sentenced and ordered to pay restitution in January.
According to Elicker, the city acted quickly when the fraud was exposed by the department’s assistant chiefs. Among the responses: the CI program was temporarily paused, more frequent audits were performed once it restarted, more oversight was built into the process, and cameras were installed in the room where CI funds are stored.
Additionally, the city paid more than $80,000 for outside firm Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to review its policies.
“The goal was to identify where improvements are needed in our confidential informant program and ensure alignment with nationally recognized best practices to include strong policies and oversight, clear roles and responsibilities, and adherence to the highest of ethical standards,” Elicker said.
“While [the report] seems like a lot of money, I think it's very important for us to make sure that all of our systems are tight, so that we don't have this kind of issue. I mean, Chief Jacobson stole more than the cost of this report.”
The returned report came with 33 recommendations.
“The 33 recommendations from PERF were across 11 category areas, including audits and inspections, policies and procedures, duty to intervene, digital management systems and electronic payments, training, concurrent investigations, sentinel event reviews, employee wellness, organizational structure, civilianization, and overtime,” Police Chief David Zannelli said.
The full, 57-page report is expected to be posted on the city’s website.
Elicker and Zannelli both stressed their ongoing commitment to transparency for the community.
“When we do identify wrongdoing, even if it's our own chief of police, we hold people accountable,” Elicker said. “We act quickly, and my hope is that people have more trust because they see that no one is above the law.”
