Not enough time in the day for assistant police chief

12/03/2006

By William Kaempffer , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — With his frenetic schedule, Herman Badger relishes any day that ends in time to have dinner with his family. "It's nice when I get home at 6," he said recently, sitting in his office in police headquarters between appointments. "It doesn't happen often."

His day planner has filled up quickly since he took over as assistant police chief in charge of operations.

He's attended symposiums on juvenile justice and staff meetings. Planning meetings. Neighborhood gatherings. Block watch cookouts. Community management team meetings. More management team meetings. Catered community meet-and-greets.

"This has 17 (meetings) on it but it's only Monday," he said, after looking at his calendar and counting out loud. "By the end of the day it should fill up."

"Enough can't be said about the importance of a supportive family," he added.

As chief of operations, Badger oversees the daily running of the department from the detective bureaus to patrol to internal affairs and the communications room.

Over the last four months, he's been learning about a "holistic" approach to policing, with a widened focus that never burdened him before. Before his Aug. 1 promotion, he headed Investigative Services and could focus exclusively on his division and what was required to solve a particular crime. Now, he has to view policing from different angles, from the first contact with a dispatcher and patrol officer to the investigation, arrest and prosecution in Superior Court, he said.

And attend a lot of meetings in between.

Sitting in his third-floor office, which overlooks the shell of the New Haven Coliseum and the Route 34 connector, it's hard not to notice his impeccably neat desk. Badger is quite cognizant and almost bothered by the one pile of paperwork that sits in one corner. Even if his daily schedule is cluttered, his workspace isn't.

"This is a fast-paced organization," he explained. "You have to be organized."

It's taken some time to get used to his new role. The most challenging aspect, he said, is the red tape that accompanies an administrative post and learning that "just because it's my emergency doesn't mean it's someone else's."

The father of four has three daughters who are 17, 15 and 6, He's also a new father. His wife, Luz, gave birth to a son — "the first one and last," as Badger put it — a few days after he was sworn in as assistant chief.

With his time commitments, he's learned to focus on quality time, since quantity isn't an option at this point.

It's a good day when he can go over homework and ask about his kids' days. There are plenty of bad days too.

He and his counterpart, Assistant Chief Stephanie Redding, took over at a tumultuous time in the city. They were sworn to their new jobs four days after a 13-year-old boy was shot in the head after leaving a neighborhood carnival. He died a week after the ceremony. Earlier in the summer, a 13-year-old girl was shot and killed.

"It was baptism by fire. We were quickly put into a different way of thinking about police work."

Badger, 44, started with the department in 1984. He made sergeant in 1990 and lieutenant in 2000. Before being appointed as assistant chief, he was officer-in-charge for three years of Investigative Services, where detectives handle most major crimes like murder, robbery and assault, and the head of Family Services for three years before

that. Family Services investigates domestic violence, sexual assault, juvenile issues and hate and bias crimes.