Hartford City Council confirms James C. Ravella as police chief; two members vote no

Hartford — The Hartford City Council on Sept. 8 confirmed James C. Ravella as chief of the Hartford Police Department following a short debate and a roll-call vote that recorded two no votes.

Assistant Majority Leader Clark moved to place item 5.1 on the agenda for action; the motion was seconded and the council then debated the appointment before voting.

Councilman Mickham said he would vote no and explained three reasons for his opposition. He said the decision reflected process concerns: an earlier nominee withdrew after the council did not complete a background check and the later search, conducted with a search firm, did not present multiple local candidates for public consideration. “I will vote no on this, and I just wanna say why,” Mickham said, adding that community groups had asked for local candidates to be presented and that those requests were not met.

Mickham also urged a different strategy for public safety funding and staffing, saying the new chief appeared to favor raising sworn staffing to previous targets. “He wanted to do basically what the previous chief had done, which was get us up to 450 or 470 cops,” Mickham said, noting he has not seen a data-backed rationale that more sworn officers alone reduce crime.

On immigration enforcement and protection of immigrant residents, Mickham said he wanted a stronger commitment that the city would protect residents from federal actors who break the law. “Iam here to protect residents who have who are victims of crime. And if the feds come in and they do crimes against us, then Im here to protect our residents from the feds,” he said.

Despite those objections, the motion to confirm Ravella passed. The roll-call vote recorded no votes from Councilman Mickham and Councilman Thomas; the clerk recorded affirmative votes from Councilwoman Bilodeau, Assistant Majority Leader Clark, Councilman Gayle, Councilwoman Rosato and Council President Surgeon. The council declared the item passed.

The transcript shows council members also referenced earlier steps in the recruitment: an initial nominee withdrew and the council later used a search firm, and some members said community groups, including the North Hartford Safety Coalition, had sought greater public participation in selecting finalists.

No statutory citations or additional implementation details for the chief’s duties or start date were provided in the meeting record.