From Genevieve Reilly, CT Post:
A Bridgeport cop is on administrative suspension and facing charges in both Fairfield and Bridgeport.
Omar Jiminez, 33, was charged by Fairfield police with second-degree assault, second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct after he allegedly went to the Fairfield Circle Inn early Monday morning and punched a friend in the face during an argument.
After arguing with his friend at the hotel over the fact that Jimenez was knocking on his door at 7 a.m., police said Jimenez, and a woman that was with him, left and went to Tru North, a Black Rock restaurant where Jimenez had left his car the night before.
Then, driving his own car, Jimenez allegedly struck a fire hydrant at Fairfield and Courtland avenues, knocked it off its base and fled the scene, returning to the Circle Inn.
Full story here.
Just what the city needs, more bad press about one of its officers.
Clearly this officer needs some help, let’s hope he gets it.
For all practical purposes, we no longer have a Bridgeport Police Department. The entity that is in charge of Public Safety in The City of Bridgeport is Joe Ganim and THE BRIDGEPORT POLICE UNION. If you remember, getting rid of Police Chief Gaudett kept Ganim busy during the first few months of his new administration until Gaudett was pushed out and Ganim’s choice/friend/ally was put into place. But through today, A.J, Perez remains the ACTING Chief of the Police Force and no word is heard on appointing a truly legal Police Chief, at least according to the guidelines in the City Charter. Have we heard any word of the two police officers who were moonlighting at the bar where a bunch of Sacred Heart University students were busted? We just learned the State Supreme Court ruled the narcotics charges need to be dropped because BPT police did an illegal/unconstitutional search of a suspect and the two BPT police officers then infamously stomped and jumped on the suspect in that (in)famous viral video. At least those two officers were fired. Overtime continues to be rampant enriching police officers, which also pads their pensions. We hear reports from the Bridgeport Community on social media of slow response times from the BPT Police. The Bridgeport Police have been turned into a PARAPOLITICAL organization when they should truly be a PARAMILITARY unit. Last but not least, we should thank Bridgeport Police Union Chief Chuck Paris. He will leave a well-remembered legacy from his time as head of the Police Union. In the future, one more task facing the Bridgeport Community will be reshaping, reforming and returning the Bridgeport Police Department to its rightful role in Public Safety and to de-politicize the present Police Corp. Add that to the list of things needing fixing moving forward.
Frank. You are absolutely right on almost every point, however the overtime issue falls squarely on Gaudett, Nardozzi and Finch. These fools knew and were warned by the union there were way too many cops eligible to retire and if only a portion left (as I did), they’d be extremely shorthanded and forced to pay overtime. If you remember, the Connecticut Post interviewed Nardozzi about that fact and he actually laughed it off by saying “I don’t have any retirement papers on my desk,” so it’s not an issue. Two weeks later, boom! Retirements up the wazoo, the dam broke and now the new folks are trying to plug the holes. Finch was too busy trying to placate a particular Lieutenant in charge of a minority group who is up for disciplinary action to help secure votes and ignored the issue as well. Again, you’re pretty spot on, though.
And let’s not forget an ineffective Board of Police Commissioners and one of the Police Commissioners is Dan Roach who is Ganim’s chief aide (or whatever is the latest title he is crowned with). With a mayoral aide being on the Police Board, this gives the Chief Executive/The Mayor too much undue influence in the Police (Department). Dan Roach needs to make a decision. Be a Police Board Commissioner OR the Mayor’s Aide. He cannot be both. It’s a conflict of interest.
Frank, I must preface my remarks by saying Danny has been a friend of mine since 1983 when we served on the City Council. Unless I’ve been living in lala land all these years, I’ve never known him to knowingly put himself where he is now. Yes, he should resign from the Police Commission, that’s a no-brainer. I believe he’s serving in an expired status for at least ten years. I personally watched as one of his council members texted during the entire portion of the public speaking portion of last night’s Council meeting. The administration is saturated with Black Rock residents in various roles. This isn’t the Danny I knew! How could anyone make a 360 turn in just nine months? In my eyes and heart he will always be a special person to me, one who helped me through the darkest days of my life. The death of my son. I hope he bails before he loses the credibility of his home district, if he plans to go back there. He’s sacrificing his future for a man who has ice running through his veins.
It seems the department has been on a steady decline for quite some time. It seems every time they try to make progress there is some push-back from the union or the special interest groups. If that is the case, what is the point of a chief of police? Too many supervisors not properly supervising looking the other way or still trying to be friends and not a boss. The latest bad news is a reflection of the poor leadership no one seems to want to fix.
So the cycle continues where good police work is overshadowed by the bad. What was the point of going through the process of being an officer in Bridgeport if you do not want to get out of the car?
They just promoted more supervisors where they need more cops. There are cops still suspended waiting to see what happens to them but why does that take so long? Some situations are plain and a decision should be made to what punishment they will receive.
There are cops doing work a civilian can do, so why not hire a civilian to do it? You do that and you free up a few more cops and get them back on the street and from behind a desk.
The union should weigh in on this but since the union president is cozy with the chief he will not push the issue. That these cops were not getting paid that might help, a little.
You talk about the slow response, whom do you blame for that? The dispatcher who sees the calls but does not put them out? The cops who are running about between domestic calls and accidents? The supervisors who don’t seem to care if cops “sit” on calls too long?
There should be some type of oversight committee that looks at all these issues. In this case it’s a little different since the chief is buddy buddy with the mayor and the union president is buddy buddy with the chief. None of this is conducive to an effective police department.
There is malfeasance in all parts of the city for one reason or another. The police department is no different but it is the one with the issues that affect a lot of people. Until people are held to task, the issues in the department are going to continue and sadly be passed on to another class of officers. They are going to do as in Rome, it is what they are going to see so they are going to go along.
The citizens can complain about police misconduct and behavior of a cop or cops, there is a department that deals with complaints. How do you complain about ineffective police services in general?
The onus is from the leadership but here lies the problem, there isn’t any. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians and the Indians you do have pretty much do what they want and many of them do the minimum or nothing at all.
BINGO!!!
Speaking of Bridgeport police in Fairfield, three times last month I watched three different pairs of BPD cruisers trolling around the Audi (2x) and Dodge (1x) new car lots during the day. Obviously wasting our tax dollars scoping out their next whips. It’s almost as if they have no supervision whatsoever. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Bridgeport doesn’t need MORE police, it needs the ones we have to do their damned jobs.
The police department is led by a bunch of old men who have over 40 years’ experience each, okay there are maybe a few with 35 years. A couple of these guys were waiters at the last supper. Perez has become a camera hog, every time you turn around he is in the paper or on TV.
Did any of you so-called leaders hear about the policy used in New York to lower all crime? It’s called Broken Windows. It starts with quality of life issues and moves up to other bigger crimes. We don’t have anything new in crime fighting, in fact we have less.
Considering the jobs these “waiters” have and the perks they enjoy, a take-anywhere car and the use of a city phone, these guy are going to wait tables until they are 70.
Until you get some upper management that actually cares about the city and running an efficient department, the malfeasance will continue. The good cops and the city will continue to suffer.