ROCKY HILL – The Office of the Chief State’s Attorney recently opened its doors to community leaders throughout Connecticut during the first-ever Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice Citizen Academy, a seven-week comprehensive course designed to help residents get a better understanding of the legal system, particularly from the perspective of prosecutors.
Participants signed up for the inaugural academy that offered community leaders the opportunity to discuss the various roles and responsibilities prosecutors undertake in seeking justice within the bounds of the law. Topics presented by Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin and several of Connecticut’s State’s Attorneys included an overview of the Division of Criminal Justice, search and seizure laws, investigations, forensic evidence, victims’ rights, and community engagement.Weekly classes were held in the Division’s Kevin T. Kane Training Center in Rocky Hill on Monday evenings from October through December. The Division plans to assist in the creation of similar criminal justice citizen academies in each of Connecticut’s 13 judicial districts.
“This is an opportunity for the Division of Criminal Justice to tell its story to members of our communities,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said. “The work Connecticut’s prosecutors and other staff here at the Division do every day is meaningful and impactful. This new academy makes it possible for us to educate the public about what we do by interacting with them, answering their questions and sharing open dialogue.”
Unprecedented Access and a Willingness to Engage
Participants in the citizen academy said they appreciated the unprecedented access they received to Connecticut’s top prosecutors and prosecutors’ willingness to engage them in conversation about various criminal justice topics. Some participants said what they learned at the academy helped dispel misconceptions and biases they had held about prosecutors prior to going through the program.
“Sometimes there's a bias in the news media and on TV that paints the State’s Attorneys as the bad people and that can be very discouraging,” the Rev. David Eugene Penn, Sr., a Hamden pastor, said. “People watch TV and think that is how it is in real life. After hearing these people talk, you then think, well Hollywood gets it wrong.”
The Rev. Penn said he was surprised prosecutors, particularly Chief State’s Attorney Griffin, who taught two academy sessions on criminal procedural rules for search and seizure, were so open and accessible to the public.
“Even when the sessions were over, he stayed and had conversations with us,” the Rev. Penn said.
The Rev. Penn’s wife, the Rev. Tracye Collette Chisholm-Penn, another clergy member, said she gained valuable insights into the complexities of search and seizure, the necessity of probable cause, and the challenges faced by prosecutors. In the end, she said she learned that the criminal justice system operates much differently than how it is portrayed on television and in the media.
“What has really encouraged and inspired me is that now I look at when people get arrested with a different eye because before, I didn’t have access to all of this information,” the Rev. Chisholm-Penn said, adding that she understands now what it takes for law enforcement officials to build a criminal case.
‘We Have to be Part of the Community’
The Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice Citizen Academy is one of a series of training programs created by Executive Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa M. D’Angelo, director of the Division’s Office of Ethics and Professional Standards.
The office, which Chief State’s Attorney Griffin launched shortly after he was appointed Connecticut’s top law enforcement officer in May 2022, is responsible for directing the development, implementation and evaluation of updated ethical and professional standards for the Division and the development and implementation of a comprehensive program of in-service staff development and training for prosecutors, inspectors and other Division staff.
Executive Assistant State’s Attorney D’Angelo said the Academy gives prosecutors a chance to offer their own true narrative of the important work that they do every day inside courtrooms throughout Connecticut.
“It’s important that the public understands the role of the prosecutor, their practices and why certain prosecutorial decisions are made,” Executive Assistant State’s Attorney D’Angelo said. “The Office of Ethics and Professional Standards will continue to include community outreach as part of its robust training program with the hope that community members will feel empowered by that education and have faith in prosecutors’ work.”
Click this link to see video about 2024 DCJ Citizen Academy
The new academy kicked off with a detailed overview of the Division of Criminal Justice and Connecticut’s criminal justice system, presented by New Haven Judicial District State’s Attorney John P. Doyle, Jr., Hartford Judicial District State’s Attorney Sharmese L. Walcott and New London Judicial District State’s Attorney Paul J. Narducci.
For many years, State’s Attorney Narducci said those involved with the criminal justice system operated independently, “prosecutors were in their own silo and those dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues were in their own silos, and as result, there was limited communication and collaboration,” he said.
Over time, he said, those working within the system joined together to break down many of those silos to form a partnership that ultimately led to fairer and more just dispositions of criminal cases, and a better understanding of how each part of the system contributes to upholding the rights of individuals while maintaining public safety.
“One of the things I’ve learned over the course of my many years as a prosecutor is that we have to be part of the community,” State’s Attorney Narducci, a prosecutor for 32 years, said. “This academy is one of the many steps toward getting us out into the community and explaining what we really do and why that’s so important. People fear what they don’t know. When people don’t know what we do, they fear it, so we have an obligation to get out there and tell our story.”
Deputy Chief State’s Attorney, Inspector General Robert J. Devlin, Jr., also participated in the academy with an interactive presentation he has used in hundreds of community forums that explains how the Office of Inspector General investigates police-involved shootings and in-custody deaths and determines whether the actions of the officers are justified or unjustified.
Community Engagement Enhances Public Safety
The Rev. Boise Kimber, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., and pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church in New Haven and Bridgeport, encouraged community leaders from throughout Connecticut to attend the academy. The Rev. Kimber recalled the community outreach Chief State’s Attorney Griffin did when he served as the New Haven State’s Attorney from 2016 until his appointment to Chief State’s Attorney in May 2022, taking the “unusual” step, he said, of creating an open-door policy for him and other community groups looking to speak with prosecutors about crime and other quality-of-life issues in their neighborhoods. The Rev. Kimber said he is glad to see that door is still open.
“This academy opened up a lot of minds and eyes,” the Rev. Kimber said. “I think people understand now that the State’s Attorneys and the prosecutors are not out to get you but want to build a relationship with you. With an open-door policy, we can work together if there is a problem.”
The Rev. Kimber said the academy was also an eye-opener to many due to the topics that were covered each week, from discussion about police use-of-force, to DNA testing, to rules regarding search and seizure.
“It gave us an inside look at what the prosecutors do and how they do it,” the Rev. Kimber said. “I knew people were glad they went and excited to go because they kept coming every week. They felt more knowledgeable about how decisions are made.”
The Rev. Kimber said he and other clergy members and community leaders throughout the state have worked for years to build good, working relationships with prosecutors and public defenders. The Division’s Citizen Academy and the prospect of similar academies in the state’s judicial districts is an opportunity for them to strengthen and build on those relationships.
“When you have those relationships, the public understands that prosecutors are not out to get you, they’re about fighting crime and that’s what we all should be looking to do,” the Rev. Kimber said.
During the last academy session, Ronnell Higgins, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) and Anthony Campbell, Chief of Yale Police and Associate Director of Public Safety, spoke about the importance of community engagement and outreach in public safety.
Commissioner Higgins introduced Curtis Eller, DESPP’s new Director of Community Outreach and Engagement. Like the Division of Criminal Justice, Higgins explained, State Police are doing more community outreach and education about the work of law enforcement.
“This Academy is evidence of Chief Griffin continuing to advance engagement,” Commissioner Higgins said. “The more of it we can do, the better off we're going to be.”
And that’s because, Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said, community engagement at its essence is designed to enhance public safety.
“I do not apologize for putting someone in prison for shooting someone,” Chief State’s Attorney told the academy participants. “I don’t apologize for that. That’s why they build these state prisons. Now we can debate what system failures have caused 18 to 34-year-olds to shoot other 18 to 34-year-olds because once it happens, there are two tragedies. We’ve seen it happen over, and over, and over again, where one family grieves because someone has died, and another family grieves because a young man is going away to prison for 40 years. We’ve got to stop the violence before it starts and the only way we can do that, in my opinion, is if we get together and we recognize that no amount of violence is OK.”
Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said he is looking forward to the Division holding future citizen academies at the Office at the Chief State’s Attorney and in Connecticut’s 13 judicial districts.
“Go back to your communities and design what you think is necessary for community engagement in those communities and get with the State’s Attorneys,” Chief State’s Attorney Griffin said. “What we’re saying to you - maybe for the first time, and we’re saying it loud and clear - is that the doors to the Division of Criminal Justice are open. We know we will not always agree. Friends don’t always agree. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”