Risky to leave your car unlocked with a high-powered automatic weapon and ammunition inside, especially if you’re a city police officer. That’s what happened Tuesday to Sergeant Bill Simpson, assigned to the swat-like Emergency Services Unit, who has been placed on administrative status after a male neighbor allegedly removed a weapon, ammunition and tactical gear from the officer’s personal vehicle outside his Milford home. Police Chief AJ Perez describes Simpson as a “good guy, excellent cop who made a mistake.”
Simpson has also been reassigned from the training academy to patrol, pending an investigation by the department’s Office of Internal Affairs, according to city spokesman Av Harris. The department has regulations for securing police equipment.
“This is a serious matter that requires a thorough investigation,” says Harris.
Milford Police recovered everything within 24 hours of the theft and apprehended a man who resides in the neighborhood for entering the car illegally. The accused who has a criminal record left a palm print inside the vehicle. OIB has requested additional details from Milford law enforcement. Perez praised the quick work of Milford authorities for what could have been a major incident if the weapon and ammunition reached the wrong people.
Simpson’s K-9 work was profiled in a 2010 CT Post article, see here.
Simpson joined the department in August 2000, according to his LinkedIn profile that includes a testimonial about his work from respected city Detective Vincent Lariccia.
“Billy is one of the finest men I have ever known, he has balanced working a police dog, being a sniper, father, husband and an Officer in the US Army,” writes Lariccia. “His success proves that he has mastered the art of time management. His attention to detail and dedication make him a valuable asset to any team or company. I am fortunate that we work together and give him the highest recommendation possible.”
Here we go again.
Chief AJ Perez had this to say about Officer Simpson; “good guy, excellent cop who made a mistake.” Give it a break. He isn’t a good guy. Someone could have been seriously injured as the result of this reckless behavior.
Actually Bob, he is a great guy. And thankfully, all the great guys and gals of the Bridgeport PD don’t just drive by the glass houses of holier than thou narcissists like yourself when duty calls. It must be nice to be perfect. You see, I’m so flawed I actually need more than a sentence or two of pseudo-misleading reporting to size people up.
Here’s an idea you can take out for a spin in 2017. Maybe you can work on making the world a better place. Actually contribute more than just meaningless judgment. Be worth something. It would be so much more interesting than your old standby of “nothing.”
He actually is a great guy who made a mistake. Bridgeport is lucky to have him as a cop.
It sounds like he’s an excellent cop who allowed his guard to drop as he arrived “home,” where we all (hopefully) can feel safe and relax/decompress after dealing with “the world.”
The lesson here is the bad guys don’t just live in Bridgeport. Plenty of them live in Milford, Shelton, Seymour, Trumbull, and even Fairfield, and Westport.
This good cop, I’m sure feels like $#![. A few days off without pay should be more than enough “discipline” to reinforce his training to never drop your guard about the safekeeping of weapons. And his record should be expunged of this after some period of time. All of us, who drive, cook with red-hot stove wheels, cross the street, etc., sometimes commit serious errors in judgment that can jeopardize the safety of ourselves and multiple people. Hopefully, our attention and judgment improves after any such incident and we don’t make the same mistake twice.
Look at the major indiscretions/lapses of judgment at very high levels of government that go unaddressed.
This cop shouldn’t get stomped for one mistake that thankfully was quickly neutralized. (If his judgment was affected because he was extremely fatigued from too much OT or something else, that needs to be addressed by the Department.)
Officer Simpson is one of the best we have. He made a mistake, who here hasn’t?
Okay, Officer Simpson made a mistake. His property was returned and he has been reassigned. Is this where it ends or is more punishment on the horizon? The article reads Pending an investigation by Internal Affairs.
Since the suspect was caught and the property returned, what is left for Internal Affairs to do? I am sure Officer Simpson has given a written report by now. What could he say but I was wrong?
Does this incident bounce him off the ESU team?
A suspension with no pay?
Face department charges for poor firearm storage?
Is he the first person on the ESU team to have a lapse in judgement?
My hat is off to the Milford Crime Scene detective who found the palm print. Some departments would not have gone that far to even look. Let’s hope this neighbor wasn’t a so-called friend to Officer Simpson. His only defense why his palm print was in his car or on the items stolen.
Time will tell.
I’m sure Sergeant Simpson is a nice guy, but let’s not act like this wasn’t a severe lapse in judgement that could have had extremely tragic consequences. It’s only the great work of the Milford police department and the fact the person who stole it didn’t have the opportunity to do something very stupid that could have changed the lives of a lot of families and people.
Was protocol violated when these weapons were removed from the BPD, was protocol followed with respect to securing them if removal was authorized and how soon was the theft of these weapons reported and/or as soon as the loss was discovered? I think an internal affairs investigation is not only warranted but an absolutely necessity.
Don, I understand when you said, “I’m sure Sergeant Simpson is a nice guy,” but was this reckless behavior or what? Don, look for a very long time for the BPD and the City to do anything based on the last investigation the BPD had. This case also has a health and safety issue but thankfully no one got hurt.
This has nothing to do with personalities. Let us assume Mr. Simpson is in fact the MVP in the department.
In the real world he would be fired. This is not a popularity contest. This is not intended to be a mean-spirited post. People lose jobs for a five-dollar shortage in a register. Saying he is a nice guy is as silly as saying he was a miserable antisocial menace. Keep personalities out of the investigation. Crap happens.
I am certain Mr. Simpson is a respectable team player and one of Bridgeport’s finest. This was a very careless event!
I think we’re missing a broader point here. Culture of policing and in America, I say this because this crime was solved in 24 hours. So that says most similar crimes could be solved in the same manner. They had to retrieve this gun because imagine how it would look for the police department if this gun were used in a mass shooting. I mean they never solved the case where some person (cop) stole (I believe) $30,000 from the evidence safe. God only knows what was really taken out of the evidence room or any hell-bound deeds that were committed in the name of law enforcement, God does though.
This is not solely about his personality or reckless behavior, and I will sum it up as “laziness” to take his gun out of the car and put it away. But a culture to protect themselves, that is why that gun was retrieved so quickly. I believe this because “show me the money,” what will be protected, the person or law enforcement?
This abhorrent culture of acceptance behavior as is maybe permeates throughout world. Some of them are so wrong and unnecessary even Jesus can’t save you, even if he wanted too, and he doesn’t.
Deviating back to crime solving, I was watching a debate about a convicted murderer who wanted a sex change paid by the taxpayers as a life-saving treatment.
www .youtube.com/watch?v=sjVh_VSuYzM
Yet this country has tens of thousands of rape test kits sitting in evidence rooms because either the detective or prosecutor didn’t order the test. One out of every four women is sexually assaulted on US college campuses.
The odds of these campus cases being properly investigated and prosecuted are next to nothing, and if they do, the judge gives them six months. In the case of Brock Turner while a very similar case of black athlete Cory Batey was given 25 years for his crime. Good luck on your day of prosecution before God.