Lisa M. Dadio is a retired police Lieutenant with the New Haven Police Department
in Connecticut. She spent approximately 16 years in the detective division, as a detective,
Sergeant and then Lieutenant, commanding the Major Crimes Unit. She spent approximately
four years in the crime scene unit as a detective, processing over two hundred crime
scenes ranging from vandalism to homicides.
The most high-profile case she investigated was the murder of Annie Le, a Yale graduate
student who disappeared just days before she was to be married. Working closely with
other law enforcement professionals, including those with the FBI and the Connecticut
State Police, Prof. Dadio and her fellow investigators were quickly able to solve
the case, and the suspect was later convicted and sentenced to 44 years in prison.
Prof. Dadio was recognized by the Connecticut State Police and personally thanked
by the special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Haven field office for her work on
the case.
Since retiring from the New Haven Police Department in 2012, she has worked in higher
education, teaching courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
In July 2020, she was named director of the University of New Haven’s Center for Advanced Policing.
In 2022, she helped the University secure a $1 million grant from the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services
(COPS Office) supporting a de-escalation training program that will be offered for police departments
across the Northeast. The University is one of only six regional de-escalation training
centers across the country that provides law enforcement training that is approved
by the Department of Justice.
In 2024, she helped the University secure just under a $800,000 million dollar expansion
grant from the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS
Office) which will continue to support and expand the de-escalation training program
that started in 2022. With this expansion, de-escalation training can continue to
be offered at no cost to police departments, public safety and other agencies throughout
the East Coast. Lisa will also oversee the addition of two de-escalation training
hubs, one in North Carolina and the second in Washington, D.C. The University is one
of the thirteen de-escalation training centers approved by the Department of Justice
across the country as part of the COPS FY24 Safer Outcomes: Enhancing De-Escalation and Crisis Response Training for
Law Enforcement Initiative.
With a central focus on criminal investigations and crime scene investigations, she
has coordinated several regional detective trainings with the New Haven Police Department.
She has developed relationships with nationally recognized leaders throughout the
country that she often confers with to design agency-specific training opportunities
for all police ranks, ranging from cadets through command staff.
In addition to her connections throughout the law enforcement community, she has built
relationships with community partners centering on mental health, domestic violence,
juvenile challenges, sexual assaults, bias crimes, and child abuse. During her 20
years in law enforcement, she has trained thousands of officers in the state of Connecticut
in crime scene investigations, domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse and bias
and hate crimes.
She regularly appears in local, regional, and national media, sharing her expertise
on law enforcement matters and crime scene investigations. A three-time graduate of
the University of New Haven, Prof. Dadio started in the police academy the day after
graduating from the University of New Haven with her master’s degree in forensic science.
She went on to earn her master’s in social work from Southern Connecticut State University.
