NORWALK, Conn. – South Norwalk clergy made their presence known Monday at Norwalk Police headquarters, making their plea for forgiveness for one of their own, the Rev. Nellie Mann, who has been hoping to be reinstated as police chaplain.
Mann was suspended from the volunteer position nine months ago in a flap resulting from two stories in The Hour. A May 28, 2012 story, written from scanner dispatches, described a “massive gang fight” at the beach, quoting a police officer as saying there was a large group of “Bloods and Crips,” a reference to infamous street gangs. Mann was then quoted in a follow-up story as accusing police of racial profiling, a statement that offended the rank and file. Sgt. Thomas Roncinske, then president of the police union, called for her resignation.
The long-time police chaplain agreed during an emotional June 1, 2012 Norwalk Police Commission meeting to take a three-month break from her duties, which Mayor Richard Moccia said would give time for everyone to heal.
It appears that healing is yet to begin.
Mann and a few supporters arrived at Monday’s commission meeting, although the matter was not on the agenda. They were allowed to speak; a recording has been provided to NancyOnNorwalk.
“The reason we haven’t done anything for nine months was because we were hoping for a resolution,” Commissioner Pete Torrano said. “There has been some dialogue, there really has been.”
Torrano said the commission is in a “conundrum.”
“If the officers are not willing to accept Rev. Mann back, that creates a bit of a problem for us,” he said, going on to describe Mann as “very honest, caring, very involved in the community” and “a fine individual who made a mistake.”
But Detective David Orr, who is the police union president, said no one has approached the union to work things out. “We don’t know what is going on either,” he said.
The situation was “really unfortunate,” he said, as Mann’s comments in “the most public of forums” – a newspaper – were “such an egregious breach of trust coming from someone in our own circle.”
The union’s executive board had talked about it at length, he said, and there have been conversations around the building.
“I don’t hear anything about guys saying let’s give her another chance,” he said.
One member of the clergy, there to support Mann, acknowledged the feelings of officers but said, “To me things are always repairable and forgiveness is something we would do.” Another spoke of marriage counseling that brings seemingly irreconcilable couples back together. “She’s reasonable,” he said. “I don’t think she would want to stray anywhere she isn’t wanted.”
Councilman David Watts (D-District A), a reverend, also said he supported the police department but followed that with strong words. “If the standard is you make a mistake you’re out, I’m going to hold you to that,” he said. “Whoever in the department makes a mistake, you’re out. We know that it is not as cut and dry as that.”
He said Mann could have been given a “road to redemption plan,” with training and a limited role.
“Just to outright leave her in the wilderness, that’s not right,” he said. “I think after the three-months period we could have come back to the table.”
The Rev. Jeffery Ingraham said the offensive quote stemmed from an email that Mann didn’t write. “Try to get to see this woman for who she truly is,” he said. “Mistakes don’t have to be terminal. There is redemption.”
Torrano sympathized but said, “I don’t think Rev. Mann was totally at fault but she was the spokesperson and she took the hit.”
Torrano said he hoped the commission would make a “fair” decision next month. “It will fall on the hands of the union’s recommendation,” he said.
Then Mann began to speak for herself.
“I have apologized several times and I won’t do it again,” she said.
Police aren’t perfect, she said – she has heard of incidents but doesn’t hold it against them. The community is drawing a different conclusion, she said.
“If we have a group of police officers in our community who cannot forgive, what do you think they’re going to think about you?” she asked. “I mean really? Really? You mean to tell me?”
A commissioner cautioned her to stop, saying, “I don’t think you’re helping yourself.”
But she continued, asking police how they would feel if someone said their children were in a gang. As for the officer who allegedly made the comment, “I can understand his position out at the beach,” she said. “He was out there by himself. He could have easily made a mistake. The police department should be ashamed for not having more police officers out there to support him.”
No apology, but a promise.
“I will be careful the next time someone calls me,” she said. “I realize it was a mistake and I have apologized. But if the entire police department, police officers – I know that’s not true. They love me here. … If you don’t want me back I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be around a group of people who look at me and say, ‘That woman?’ Oh, no, because you’re no better. You take that suit off and that gun, you look just like my husband.”
Still, “I’m not trying to make you like me. It’s up to you. You may not serve the God I serve but I love everybody. I have a forgiving heart.”
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