Committee of the Whole forwards James C. Ravella for Hartford police chief after Q&A on staffing, oversight and immigration

Hartford’s Committee of the Whole voted Aug. 20 to send a favorable recommendation to the full City Council for Mayor Ari Lampalom’s nomination of James C. Ravella as chief of the Hartford Police Department after a one-item hearing and extended question-and-answer session.

The hearing focused on department staffing and recruitment, officer wellness and employee retention, the relationship and timing of investigations with the city’s inspector general, and whether the department will cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The committee advanced the nomination with the majority voting to forward a favorable recommendation; two members voted no.

Ravella, introduced to the committee as James C. Ravella and described in the hearing as the city’s interim chief before the nomination, reviewed his career in Hartford and at the state level and outlined immediate priorities if confirmed. He said he began his career in Hartford in 1981, later led cold-case units for the office of the chief state’s attorney, served as a state police commissioner-level official overseeing multiple divisions and then returned to Hartford as interim chief. “I’m honored to be nominated as the next chief of police for the city of Hartford,” Ravella told the committee.

On staffing, Ravella said the department is funded for 491 officer positions and that the department’s currently deployed staffing has been around 440 officers. He described a…