The mayoral campaign season is now in full swing as Mayor Bill Finch and former Mayor Joe Ganim position to present themselves as leaders in the face of potential civil unrest. What’s your take? CT Post scribe Brian Lockhart shares his:
Baltimore riots, meet Bridgeport politics.
With Baltimore rocked by violence following the brutal death of a black man in police custody, Mayor Bill Finch and potential opponent, fellow Democrat Joseph Ganim, portrayed themselves as leaders keeping the peace in Connecticut’s largest city.
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The Baltimore police were categorized as one of the most antiquated in the nation with an almost non-existent relationship with Baltimore’s African American community. This lack of relationship resulted in African American citizens being subject to excessive force from police officers.
The same thing can happen in Bridgeport today because the Mayor’s agenda is to hire suburban white males over Bridgeport residents who understand the dynamics of diversity of our city. When the floodgates of discord happen here in Bridgeport you can point to Mayor Finch and his hiring process that excludes Bridgeport residents. The residents of Bridgeport should demand Finch and/or Ganim and MJF promise to change the hiring process, which will keep Bridgeport residents employed and those elusive tax dollars here.
To your point, I found this article a pretty good overview of years of police practices in Baltimore.
www .themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish
Jennifer Buchanan, thank you, that was excellent and right to the point. As I said, it’s not about the black, it’s about the blue.
It was a real eye opener for me–and heartbreaking.
All the mayoral candidates should commit to hiring only Bridgeport residents just like Hartford. The start of the riots in Baltimore and Ferguson were the killing of two young black men by the police. The underling problems were jobs, jobs, jobs, poverty, crime and the distrust of the police.
If you notice in the video, Bill Finch is NOT looking for suggestions or solutions instead he’s having a pep talk with his black and Hispanic chosen members to give a political statement. What the voters of Bridgeport see in that video is how Finch conducts meetings, he doesn’t want to hear anything unless it’s what he wants but if it’s something different he will block you out, it’s his way or nothing. Brian Lockhart and Ch.12 have not challenged or even looked into the statements Finch keeps telling about the Bridgeport Police Department. Where are the numbers of those who are going to take the next police exam, how many are Bridgeport residents, how many are female, black or Hispanic? How many of those police officers who have been hired in the past seven years are from Bridgeport and are black, Hispanic or female? What does Mayor Finch have against Bridgeport residents and why won’t he hire them?
Want to get more upset? The City Council will be voting on the Operating Budget shortly and it looks like Surewood is projecting a fully staffed police and fire department. I thought budgets were supposed to reflect the likely or expected expenses. If we are short-staffed by 100 officers (or whatever number we are told at any given moment) because while the BOE manages to tell us how many employees are budgeted in their paperwork, showing it is both possible and helpful to taxpayer understanding, the City doesn’t.
Assuming we are 100 short, it is likely the existing members of the department will gain more overtime hours than normal because the City cannot fill the 100 spaces in one year due to selection and training protocols. Why not budget for the number anticipated and fill in the extra overtime anticipated? Let’s see whether it all works out to the same total as claimed. True in that some of fringe benefits are not compensation dependent, but how do you factor in tired policemen doing too many shifts? Or whether a Detective group is so understaffed, can you replace that need with a traffic officer?
The Mayor’s publicity somewhere has recognized people serving in their own community are known by folks in the community as well as know others. They have a sense of the culture and hopefully have a positive feeling for raising the way the community works. Why is Finch and Company working so hard to ignore “best practices” in too many areas? Time will tell.
First off, the CT Post is a joke, they are in the mayor’s back pocket and their investigative reporters could not find a boob in a bra, the extra money for a fully staffed PD is the mayors slush fund to spend as he sees fit.
Again Andy, you’re right on!
First of all, regarding Baltimore and more specific to Ron Mackey and Donald Day. I do not want to get into a tit for tat as I totally believe the black community has been the target of police brutality across the United States forever. So we agree! However, and most importantly Ms. Mosby made a historical and powerful statement albeit a little early regarding the six officers in question. She also comes from a long line of officers. The irony of this whole shameful black eye to Baltimore was from the action of not just police officers but four out of six BLACK police officers and until CNN showed all six with the pictures and counts against them, most of America thought it was a white on black issue. Now that is truly a sad state of the Baltimore police department. That’s all I care to state on this issue and yes in this case the color of the cops totally matters and is worth mentioning over and over again.
Donald Mackey, again, four out of the six officers charged with murder were black, which has nothing to do with the great Bridgeport Police department that comes in assorted colors. I think it is about respect for humanity, not the color of the officer’s skin.
Steven Auerbach, it’s not about the black, it’s about the blue. Just look at the video beating right here at Beardsley Park in Bridgeport and you saw a black officer kicking the victim. Mayors change but the culture of police departments nationwide don’t, it’s always about protecting the blue no matter what and if you want backup to come to your aid when you’re in a tight situation you’d better not ever turn on the blue. Police officers do not turn in other police officers who do something wrong, you learn that lesson right away no matter what race.
Oh I do agree, Ron.
Steve, just like everything you say, half-truths and lies. The fact is three of the officers who killed Gray were white, not two. In this incident it doesn’t matter what color the officers were because Gray isn’t any less dead. There are too many examples of blacks who become cops valuing the Blue over the Black.
I know of this first-hand because my sister was a Bridgeport police officer and she filed a complaint against a white cop for writing the N word on a typewriter. After making this complaint, anytime she called for backup and they saw or heard it was her they left her to her own devices. You see once in this culture you can’t go against the Blue without putting your life on the line and that culture is pervasive in every police department on the country. The Bridgeport police are not immune from racism and bigotry in spite of what you think, feel or believe.
So Donald, I will assume you read my post and didn’t just pull out certain points to serve your own purpose. So I understand, your sister complained some cop wrote “nigger” on a typewriter and she complained. The cop was white. From that point forward whenever she relied for back up the blue never responded. Are these the facts so far? And so I totally understand, black cops also gave her the cold shoulder? Your sister continued being a cop for how long? Did she ever take legal action? The question I need to ask is, black cops did not support your sister over the blue?
Donald Day, although I totally agree Mr. Gray is dead, and it doesn’t matter what race the guilty cops were, in your case in particular it needs to be pointed out whether it was two or three white cops is not relevant. What is relevant is it was three black cops. First, if CNN did not show the photos, most of black America would have been protesting as though it were a racist motivated assault. So now I understand. You believe it is the culture of the police department to protect their own regardless of the situation, is that how I am understanding your position?