Leonard Jahad took to his Facebook page to share some heartfelt words about his longtime friend, Retired Chief Karl Jacobson, right after the shocking news broke that the former New Haven police chief had admitted to taking money from a special fund the department uses to pay confidential informants who help solve crimes.
This all came out on a Monday in early January when three assistant chiefs confronted Jacobson about some irregularities in the account.
According to Mayor Justin Elicker, who spoke at a press conference that evening, Jacobson straight-up admitted he had used the money for his own personal needs.
He then handed in his retirement papers right away, before the mayor could even place him on administrative leave.
The state police and the chief state’s attorney’s office quickly stepped in to investigate the whole thing. Meanwhile, people are still trying to wrap their heads around how much was taken or how long it had been going on.
However, Leonard Jahad, who runs the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program and has worked hand-in-hand with Jacobson for years on keeping young people safe and reducing violence in the city, wanted people to remember more than just this one terrible mistake.
He wrote about how Jacobson had always been a real champion of community policing and building bridges between the police and the neighborhoods, where trust hasn’t always come easily.
Similarly, Jahad described personal things he had witnessed over time, like Jacobson buying cases of ice-cold water and food with his own money to hand out at the Newhallville basketball tournament on those hot summer days when kids and families are out playing.
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Jahad also revealed there are stories of Jacobson visiting people he had put in jail, checking on them behind bars, and offering real encouragement for when they got out. He genuinely helped them think about turning their lives around for good.
Having said that, Jahad also made it clear that he isn’t excusing what happened. The allegations are serious, Jacobson admitted to the act, and now the proper authorities will handle it all the way through.
Jahad wrote that there must be some reasons or circumstances behind why he did this.
Still, he asked people not to throw away everything Jacobson had poured into New Haven. He wrote:
let’s not cast aspersions as to his investment in the city of New Haven as he made the commitment to working on mutual trust with the residents of New Haven.
Leonard Jahad
He pointed out that New Haven previously has found ways in the past to give second chances to officers who were involved in serious wrongs, like setting people up or framing them, leading to wrongful convictions and decades spent locked away for crimes they didn’t commit.
So in that spirit, Jahad called for a little grace and for hoping that the positive culture Jacobson helped create.
