It’s always an interesting transition going from flatfoot scribe to flack. New Haven Register crime reporter Bill Kaempffer is doing just that, according to the New Haven Independent’s Melissa Bailey www.newhavenindependent.org. Cops are a unique breed to deal with under any circumstances. Good luck, Bill. Former WICC News Director Tim Quinn had the job before he was let go in May 2011 for issuing a racially insensitive email. Quinn, with his twisted sense of humor, had made similar statements on the radio all the time, but it’s different when you’re on the public trough. Quinn was paid at a rate of $69,000 a year.
After 14 years on the beat, New Haven’s best-sourced crime reporter is moving to the other side of the desk.
Bill Kaempffer, who reports on police and fire for the New Haven Register, has landed a job as the spokesman for the Bridgeport police department.
His last day reporting for the Register will be Dec. 7, he said.
Kaempffer, who’s 44, got hired at the Register in 1998 after covering a police beat in Pittsburgh for six years. Over the years, he became an omnipresence at major crime scenes and developed a regional reputation as the hardest-working and best informed reporter on the beat.
Becoming the voice of a police department was a logical move, he said.
“It’s pretty safe to say that I’ve been a police reporter for most of my adult life. Making this transition, it seems kind of natural. This is all I’ve really ever done,” he said.
Kaempffer will continue to live in New Haven.
“I’m going to miss the Register terribly,” he said. “It’s been a very important and time-consuming part of my life.”
I’m sure he’s a good guy, but do the Bridgeport Police need a PR flack? I doubt it.
Hope he has a Flack Jacket! Another Out-of-Towner!!!
Grin, Lennie is an out-of-towner too. I hear Lennie Grimaldi wears a Flannel Jacket.
Joel, Lennie is The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit!
L.L. Bean.
Lennie Likes Bean.
That and cashmere cardigans. It get chilly way up in the sticks.
Here we go again, raise the taxes and keep hiring people for jobs that are not needed. We are going to pay him $69,000 plus benefits to blow smoke up our collective asses.
This freaking police department is out of control. We have a Chief of Police and four deputy chiefs who make over $100K a year. What’s the matter with having one of these four be the spokesperson for the PD? Are they just too dumb to speak in public? Is it below their rank to speak to the press and the public?
That a boy Bill, keep spending our money like a drunken sailor.
Don’t forget the chief is double dippin’, getting paid salary AND a pension. Shouldn’t one of them cover the PR schtick?
Andy Fardy, you got the numbers wrong for the police chief and fire chief, their retirement pay is $100,000 a year and with the new pay increase they both got from Finch is $150,000 a year. Hey who’s counting, it’s only the taxpayers’ money.
*** Really, got to agree with Andy on this “not needed” waste of taxpayers’ money P/D reporter. They can assign it to one of the many sit-down cops or light-duty personnel who can read and write fairly well to play reporter on a part-time basis, no? It’s not like the public will be getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth in the reports anyway regardless of who’s writing it! But the Mayor has the city council-given power to hire or fire whom he wants without their input or vote on the matter. *** ANOTHER RUBBER STAMP! ***
333 State Street (The Slate) looks like a nice joint!
Now you know why he is call Up On Bridgeport …
He is up Lennie’s ass plugging the advertisers.
Up Yours!
They canned Quinn in May 2011 and his replacement starts in December 2012.
That my friends is what I would call my definition of government non-essential personnel.
Does he have a gun permit?
At least when you have a uniformed officer doing two jobs, you have a part-time cop on the beat. If they are paying $69K to this guy and he doesn’t even know how to fire a pistol, that is quite a bit of wasted money.
Grin: The only thing he has to shoot off is his mouth.