From public safety spokesman Bill Kaempffer:
The Police Department will host seven open houses starting Saturday, February 14, 2015, at City Hall, 45 Lyon Terrace, for people interested in becoming Bridgeport Officers.
“We have two goals. We want to hire the best qualified candidates to protect our kids and families. And, we want to have a police department that is representative of our community,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “We’re not complacent. We still have work to do. That’s why we’re recruiting as we speak, and we’re asking for the community’s help.”The open houses will be held on:
Ø Feb. 14,2015 at 10 a.m.
Ø Feb. 14, 2015 at 1 p.m.
Ø Feb. 21, 2015 at 10 a.m.
Ø Feb. 21, 2015 at 1 p.m.
Ø Feb. 28, 2015 at 10 a.m.
Ø Feb. 28, 2015 at 1 p.m.
Ø March 4 at 6 p.m.“This is a career where men and women will spend the next 25 to 30 years of their lives committed to serving the public, so I’m certain people will have questions,” said Police Chief Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. “We will have police officers and city officials on hand to explain the hiring process, requirements and to answer any questions people might have. It is a life-altering commitment but I can’t image a more rewarding career.”
Click here to reserve a spot at any of the sessions: tinyurl.com/BptInfoSession
Visit www.bridgeportct.gov/careers to find out more.
Apply online at www.policeapp.com
The Meriden Record Journal’s editorial board recently applauded Mayor Bill Finch and the Bridgeport Police Department for its diversity and recruitment efforts in stating:
“Municipalities nationwide have problems maintaining racially diverse forces. Bridgeport is an example to the contrary, with 43 percent of police being minority. The city recruits heavily, including at local churches and colleges, and events like the Juneteenth and Puerto Rican Day parades. Moreover, officials ask all officers to submit the name of one person they think would make a great officer.”When compared to similar sized cities in New England, Bridgeport has seen the largest decrease in violent crime over the past decade, according to Rhode Island based WPRI.
“In Bridgeport, we’re taking a multi-pronged approach to cracking down on crime–and it’s working,” said Chief Gaudett.
“We have the largest decrease in crime when compared to New England cities of similar size. Our crime rate is at its lowest levels in 40 years. And, since Mayor Finch took office in 2007, crime has dropped nearly 15 percent.”
“There are several reasons for this, including strong community policing, partnering with groups like Project Longevity and the Statewide Urban Violence Cooperative Crime Control Task Force, and a growing economy that is creating job opportunities. Bridgeport is getting safer every day. But we’re working harder than ever to ensure that our streets are safer and more secure than ever before.”
“And even as crime continues to decline, the solvability rate remains high for the crimes that do occur. That is important,” Gaudett said, “because it takes dangerous people off the street. It is also important because holding people accountable for their crimes is a natural deterrent for others.
“We have made a lot of progress and Bridgeport is safer than it has been in decades. It always feels good seeing that hard work has paid off. Mayor Finch and the Bridgeport Police Department are focused on 2015, reducing crime even further and making Bridgeport a place where people want to live, work and raise their families,” Chief Gaudett said.
Bridgeport also has a lower crime rate than other large cities in Connecticut–which include Hartford and New Haven–according to city-data.
The state’s largest city also has the most diverse police department in the state when compared to other large cities, including Hartford, Waterbury, Stamford, and Norwalk.
But the department is looking to do even better on this front, enhancing its racial and gender diversity with an aggressive recruitment effort.
Deadline for application: March 22, 2015
Ø Candidates must pass fitness test prior to application deadline.
Ø Candidates must submit applications for residency and/or veterans preference points prior to application deadline.
Physical fitness assessments will be held by C.H.I.P. Inc. in Bridgeport on March 1 and March 15. For information, contact 203-235-5865
The Bridgeport Guardians will host free assessments in Bridgeport on March 7 and March 21. For information, call 203-576-8332
Way to go Mayor Finch, talk about yourself but I can assure you, you will not hire that many blacks, Hispanics or females because that has been your record since you have been mayor. Under Mayor Finch’s term in office there have been fewer blacks, Hispanics and females hired by the police and fire departments in the last 40 years than in any other time.
Ron Mackey, maybe you should recruit qualified blacks, Hispanics and females. We do want qualified and intelligent people to protect us, no? If these minorities do not apply, you cannot blame the Mayor, can you? It seems to me the Finch administration is making every effort to promote these positions and every opportunity to share information. I am not sure what I am missing or what you are missing. Bridgeport definitely needs a more diverse police force to represent the face of the City. To be honest I see mostly black and Hispanic police officers serving our great city. The city is doing everything just short of advertising this as whites need not apply. Let’s give credit where credit is due and let’s not criticize until the new rookie class is announced. I am optimistic and am looking forward. If you are going to continue looking backwards you will only see where we are coming from and not where we are going. Painting Finch as a racist is just being stereotypical of his Irish heritage and given his strong following with minorities it will not stick. We should wait and see. If this is a political ploy than let’s both just say Bravo! To not address the minority disparities would be sad. I think his handlers are a little sharper than country bumpkins. I could be wrong; I am sure I am not.
Steven Auerbach, you make some good points but the number of police officers of color you see are from past lawsuits, a special master and past mayors. Steve, if you notice, the Finch team does not give out the number of blacks, Hispanics and females who have been hired under his term as mayor in the police and fire department. Mayor Finch and his team are doing the same thing they have been doing all along, which has given them terrible results.
You are wrong, Steve-erino and you know it. Let’s make believe Billy Boy has changed his ways and when he proves he didn’t, well we’ll try to address it four years from now when we have another test.
Don’t buy it. Not for sale.
All of the recruiting sessions are taking place in City Hall. An easy-on, easy-off location for any of our suburban neighbors. Why not in the ‘hoods? Why not in all of these pretty schools we are building? Suburbanites afraid of going too far into the city or is it the powers that be are ashamed of the city where they work?
Bob, you are joking, right? In the “‘hoods?” These men and woman can’t find their way to city hall? Is city hall not the most appropriate and central location? Now Bob, don’t you think you are just being “stupid” with that comment and pandering to Ron Mackey? 🙂 I think the black, Hispanic and females from both Bridgeport and the suburbs (you do know that black, Hispanic and females of both minorities do live outside of Bridgeport, right Massa? 🙂 Honestly, some of these arguments are just plain pathetic.
These minorities can find their way to city hall. Google maps. Hello!!!
Steve, are you alluding to white people, because whites are the minority in Bridgeport.
Donald Day, whites are happily the minority in our great city and I LOVE the diversity, don’t you?
Donald, as you know, most white people can’t fight their way out of a paper bag. 🙂
Steve, speak for yourself.
Andy, I was just trying to lighten up Donald and Ron’s black granite chip they are carrying.
Steve, you will never lighten these guys up. They are the perpetually persecuted. They are always being screwed by the white power structure.
Steven Auerbach, I’m talking about white females who are Bridgeport residents. Steve, pathetic, that’s why the Bridgeport Police Department had a special master to watch over the BPD for over 30 yearsy and why it cost the taxpayers five million dollars in the Bridgeport Fire Department. Bridgeport is turning into Ferguson MO.
Ron Mackey, Ferguson? You have just been crowned Ron Mackey, King of Hyperbole! 🙂
Steve Auerbach, of course Bridgeport is not Ferguson, I said turning and by that I mean the path has been set with the testing in both police and fire departments. When you give exams and blacks, Hispanics and females are not representative of the population, that turns the wheels backward. Ferguson has only three black police officers out of 53 but blacks are 67% of the population. Look at Mayor Finch’s department heads and his top staff, there are very few in power-making positions and these are people whom the mayor selects.
Ron, you are just full of shit, plain and simple. You are a racist, pure and simple, comparing us to Ferguson MO. BTW one day I will show you the video of that kid kicking the shit out of a senior citizen. Ferguson, my ass.
Is there anybody left in Bridgeport who’s not a felon? Is there anybody with the basic skills to do the job? (The CMT scores don’t lie.)
All Mayor Finch has to do is to have his Civil Service Director, David Dunn, look into his file cabinet under testing and hiring and look at the guidelines that have been approved by the court and used time and time again that have given the police and fire department a diverse workforce. It’s obvious nobody is reviewing what past court decisions and guidelines are in hiring.
The recruiting effort is a Finch overtime scam to keep a certain someone from creating waves in the PD as election time draws closer. Someone should look and see who benefits from this effort. It’s not the taxpayer, for sure.
Phantom, you’re hiding behind a cloak of anonymity so say what you mean. Are you saying the clown who is the current president of the Guardians is the person you are alluding to? That clown has never publicly spoken out on any issue about race since he’s been president. You give this punk more credit than he deserves.
BINGO!