Suffering the lowest staffing levels in decades, the Bridgeport Police Department will welcome 17 new police recruits on Thursday during a graduation ceremony at the Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Avenue.
“I am proud of how this class has progressed, and I am confident that all of the recruits will serve their cities and towns exceptionally well as police officers,” said Bridgeport Police Chief Joe Gaudett in a statement. “I want to express my gratitude to our academy staff and all the adjunct instructors who provided an exceptional level of training.”
In total 28 recruits will graduate the Bridgeport Police Academy, the others representing surrounding communities.
The city is challenged to compete with the pay scale and benefits offered by surrounding communities. Veteran members of the department have left-–many cashing in retirement pay–-for higher-paying communities and private-sector security positions. Some within the department also say morale issues have forged departures. In recent years collective bargaining agreements have required city police officers to contribute growing shares to medical benefits. Some area communities are offering lateral movement hires, meaning city officers can segue right into the respective systems because they are certified in law enforcement. The towns save money on training of recruits.
The overall law enforcement strength, prior to the new class replenishing losses, was under 380 officers for the first time in two decades with the specter of losing dozens more to retirement come January 2015. Police overtime that had been reeled in by Assistant Chief James Nardozzi has now kicked in to address the attrition, according to police sources.
The challenge for the city is keeping pace with additional losses that could occur come 2015.
New officers coming on board: Edwin Abreu Jr., Judson Brown, Michael Cavaliere, Brian Coyne, Cynthia Dolyak, Edwin Garcia Jr., John Knapp, Albert Kunst, Ariel Martinez, Jesse Meade, David Morales, Freddy Neal, Michael Paoletti, Davon Polite, Aaron Rivera, Victor Rodriguez Jr. and Janice Vizzo.
Another form of policing has been taking place in Bridgeport. Political camps have been monitoring the activities of each other the last few weeks. In the spirit of transparency and to spare the camps the trouble, I have been sharing some of the activities I’m involved in, the latest being: The Rick Costantini Camp has reached out to Joel Gonzalez. Doing some research on Rick.
www .rickforthe22nd.org/
Joel, maybe he recognizes your awesome talent and wants you to lead a Democrats for Costantini surge.
Local Eyes, have you noticed there hasn’t been a poll taken on the possibility of the Democrats losing control of the State Senate? No discussion, analysis or commentary on this issue either. Why not? It’s important as they are the ones who must also be held accountable for the failures–can’t blame the Republicans.
What effect could a stronger Foley coattail have on makeup of the State Senate? The polls show a dead heat and Foley’s polling numbers has been stagnant at 46% with a margin of error that leaves them in a dead heat. The ideas/strategy I have isn’t like Lennie’s–limited to Black Rock, but Auden is sharing with Malloy. My strategy is broad with a goal of reaching a 50%+1 polling number in favor of Foley. The only problem is his staff, someone or other in his staff (the guy in Stamford answering the phone may be one of them) are planted Malloy moles or just simply ball droppers. I’m okay with that, one has to be careful with the people they chose. As a matter of fact I’m going to open my door or a window of opportunity to the Malloy camp. For years Democrats have been paying people to work, but they sit around and do nothing or just pretend they are and everybody they know is going to vote for him or her. People get paid to sit and agree not to do or say anything that will harm or hurt their chances. If Foley can’t afford to pay me it’s fine as long as I’m paid for expenses and the few people I get to help get paid–they will work. I’m not in it for the money, but to sit–something I haven’t done in 21 years volunteering in elections, I have to get paid, well consider what’s at stake for many.
Local Eyes will be my chosen assistant/mediator.
Joel, read the heading on this post.
Pay me first.
Lennie, inquiring minds want to know how many are Bridgeport residents and how many are going to be taking hundreds of thousands of dollars out of our city. Bridgeport jobs for Bridgeport residents!
It seems to me the administration and the police chief are handling this manpower crisis with a cavalier attitude. The 17 officers that will be coming on will not put a dent in the manpower shortage, that is only going to get worse as winter looms its ugly head.
The City of Bridgeport MUST change its hiring practices NOW. Bridgeport is suffering the lowest staffing levels in decades, right now is the time for hiring ONLY Bridgeport residents who live in Bridgeport prior to taking the exam just like Hartford does. This is a jobs program for Bridgeport that will work by hiring Bridgeport’s best, its own residents.
Mackey, there are some Bridgeport residents in the graduating class. A few friends of mine living in Bridgeport whom I informed about the current recruiting effort told me they are skipping Bridgeport and are applying elsewhere. Officer Rivera lives near me and he left the force for a job in Greenwich, I think. Will it ever occur to you even if all hired cops live in Bridgeport, all or some can leave to work elsewhere? If an officer from another town or city wants to come to work in Bridgeport, would he have to move here before he or she is hired? Take your meds, please.
Joel,
Why don’t you do some real research every once is a while instead of relying on YouTube? Look up the Hartford ordinance and see exactly what it says. Then you could answer your questions yourself.
I guess this would be another difference between how we did things differently on the council. I actually researched and read where you, pre-YouTube, must have asked others including the administration.
Rivera left to New Canaan.
Don and Ron,
Now is the time to act if the City Council has any balls. Someone should immediately submit an ordinance drafted like Hartford’s and make the administration take it or leave it.
No negotiating. No let’s talk about it later. The city should be in a hurry to get testing started and not drag its feet. And the council should try playing hardball for a change.
I am sure the mayor does not want to create a public safety crisis heading into an election cycle.
Currently, there is another recruiting effort taking place. The council telling the police what to do? It should be the other way around.
When I was on the council, I made it a habit to communicate with officers and the chief (Sweeney). I listen to police officers and asked question to learn from them. I met with gang members and their leaders, too. I drove around day and night making observations and looking for signs of the broken-window effect. If I saw criminal activity and blight, I took care of that first. If there wasn’t enough street lighting in those areas, I took care of that. These are some of the differences between me and you as councilmen. I served the troubled 131st while you served a bucolic district by comparison.
Lennie,
Did you have someone from the CT Post handle this headline?
“New Police Class To Replenish Losses, City Struggles With Law Enforcement Strength”
Seventeen newbies to the beat on the street will not replenish the losses already reported, right? And if it takes some on-the-job training to know the streets, the neighborhoods, and some of the wisdom that is handed down, how long does it take a new officer to be functional?
Is it fair to say as the headline does, the City is struggling? There are some back stories that may be told soon and reflect no certain credit on leadership appointments in recent years relating to removing court oversight of the police. But isn’t there a Police Commission that should be expressing concern? Do they have a voice? Why do they meet if not about issues of public safety? Time will tell.
JML, I wrote about this issue before the CT Post. I’ve written several articles about low staffing levels. As to the headline, the current class does replenish losses in the short term but as the article points out, how will the city keep pace with future losses?
Thanks for the explanation. Perhaps you will offer us the current authorized staffing level? Then the current service levels? The number who are on some type of leave, paid or unpaid, but still part of the “force” but not serving? And finally the estimates of potential retirees in January?
That might give readers a healthy heads-up on the nature of the problem rather than remembering your headline about “short-term” replenishment of losses. Thank you. Time will tell.
How to reach desired staffing levels: Deputize me! The term “cops” was coined in the early days of the force when New York City police officers gave copper badges to citizens to instantly increase their numbers to help slow crowds. It worked and the name still remains. 2014 is when tradition meets Bridgeport’s streets of fire.
It’s a sad commentary to say the maintenance man at the BPD knows more about policing than most OIB bloggers and city elected officials. There is a temporary downside in the hiring of Bridgeport Police Officers–when the class graduates and start their jobs, each officer goes on patrol with another officer with experience. I believe after six months, the rookies can go on patrol solo. While the administration would like you to believe the hiring will increase the number of patrol officers on the streets, I must respectfully sweep that notion under the rug (I don’t do that on my job).
This is where the leadership of the BPD (NOT the council) needs to act quickly. What did you (OIB readers) learn today?
Do I have a good solution to this matter? I sure do, only those who recognize a problem can think of a solution. In the past, I’ve touched on how I think when trying to solve a problem. The majority are of the opinion one must think outside the box. I’ve learned from experience before thinking outside the box, one must first make sure he or she left an open path to get back in the box. Police Chief Joe Gaudett knows who I am and how to reach me.
Oh yeah. And how many times has Joe reached out to you in the past?
Well, it’s good to know the only two people who know anything are Joel and Maria. It’s too bad they are both full of it.
I agree, Andy. Joel and I are full of knowledge, facts and information. Andy, what are you full of, besides rhetoric?
Maria, you are two halfwits trying to make this blog your own and that won’t happen.
Can’t keep up? Feeling the frustration, eh?
By hiring “only” Bridgeport residents as firefighters and police officers before they take the exam gives the youth of Bridgeport HOPE and OPPORTUNITY their City cares enough about them to give them a chance in the early part of their life to find a career and to have hope to have a family and to serve and give back to the City they reside in. It gives adults an opportunity to change their career and to find employment or to those who are out of work but who want to work hope to find a career right here in Bridgeport. It gives the City of Bridgeport a new tax base of employees who will pay taxes in Bridgeport, who will shop and buy things in Bridgeport if they want to but they still have the ability to move out of Bridgeport if they want “after” they are hired. This is a win-win for the residents of Bridgeport, the City Council, the mayor and more importantly those Bridgeport residents who are hired to serve and to protect their family, their friends and the residents of this great City where they live. It’s time to provide HOPE and OPPORTUNITY to the the taxpayers, the voters and the youth of Bridgeport a chance to help their City and for the City to provide HOPE and OPPORTUNITY. The time is right now.
Ron–the people of BPT still have all those things. The only difference is they have to compete with a larger group. You propose we limit the group of prospective employees to BPT residents. The only thing that tells city youth is they cannot compete with the other group Your proposal is also a violation of the civil rights of those who would be stopped from seeking gainful employment. It would also be unenforceable. You would only have to establish residence for the purpose of applying for the job. Our elected officials do it all the time. Then, after some waiting period you ‘move’ to your real address. This proposal would lead to a lower quality of employee. You could assume the 17 recently hired officers were the cream of the crop. The top 17 of the people they had to choose from. If you take out one of those people for something as trivial and inconsequential as residency you just took in a less qualified guy. Say you traded the #1 (a nonresident) guy for the #50 (next resident on the list) guy. How does that make for a better police force?
BOE SPY, you are wrong about everything you wrote. You said, “proposal is also a violation of the civil rights of those who would be stopped from seeking gainful employment,” that is false, you don’t have the right to take an exam no matter what, the City has the right to set the guidelines of what they are looking for as a employee. Taking a test is just one way of hiring but because someone is a good test-taker doesn’t mean they will be a good firefighter and police officer. Fire and police are trained to perform the duties, they either pass or fail their training, that’s how you get the best and Bridgeport residents are more than able to perform those duties. Bridgeport residents deserve to have HOPE and OPPORTUNITY to be firefighters and police officers. The City of Hartford has had this on their books for years, now is the time for Bridgeport to have people who know Bridgeport, who live in Bridgeport performing the duty as a police officer and firefighter, they have been the ones paying the taxes to support and run this City, now is the time for the City to give back to their own residents. The time is right. Now.
SPY, may I suggest you stick to something you know a little about, like charter schools. You are absolutely wrong in all your assertions. What makes you think a person who comes out one on an entry-level exam for police our fire is more qualified than the person who came out fifty? Entry-level exam scores are separated by hundredths of a point sometimes. It’s conceivable the person who scored one is really only two points ahead of the person who scored fifty. Does that indeed make that person more qualified than person fifty? Hell, no.
Did that exam measure honesty, integrity or character, those qualities as a firefighter one needs when he goes into people’s homes with all their valuables while they’re outside. Does it measure your ability to be a team player, qualities it takes to save lives of the public as well as those of your brother and sister firefighters?
As a policeman, does being from a city that is as culturally diverse as Bridgeport aid in ones ability to be a better officer than one who was never around blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Asians, Jamaicans; our plethora of unique individuals who call Bridgeport home? How does being from a lily-white community benefit those you are mandated to serve and protect?
Bridgeport owes it to its taxpaying residents to limit its jobs to those from said community. Bridgeport owes it to its students who get a substandard education a fair chance at these jobs that will, no that can transform one’s life.
I came on the fire department via a lawsuit and heard most of my career I lowered the standards until I passed my captain’s exam number two, which at the time was the highest finish on a promotional exam by a non-white. The youth of Bridgeport can’t change where they’ve been, they can only change where they’re going and with jobs as police and fire they can change their lives. How in hell do suburbanites deserve that opportunity over Bridgeport residents?
Thank you, Ron. I could not have said it better.
But you could have said it just as bad.
Joel, you are suffering from Terminal Dumb Ass. Get some sleep.