Former Board of Education member Kate Rivera is underwhelmed by the draft report authored by high-profile top cop Charles Ramsey hired by the city to recommend reforms in the Police Department. In fact, she writes on her Facebook page, a middle school student could have researched and composed it.
Rivera has been a consistent critic of police spending, charging the gulf between public safety investment and public education is irresponsible.
Monday night Ramsey delivered a virtual presentation to Mayor Joe Ganim and the City Council that had a public call-in number to listen. Rivera took notice.
Police consultant Chief Ramsey’s very expensive report: it’s worth noting that you could google most of these obvious suggestions for FREE and create a report like this in a few hours as opposed to the 13 months it took Ramsey.
Maria [Pereira] asked about divestment/defunding. Chief agrees mental health workers or social workers should be responding to those calls and that SOCIAL WORKERS & PSYCHOLOGISTS SHOULD REPLACE SROs. (How many YEARS have I been saying this??) He prefers to call it “reallocating resources”. IDC what he calls it. Make it happen.
It took Chief Ramsey 13 months and how ever many $100ks to write a report a middle schooler could have googled and typed up in a few hours. #absoluteBS
Kate, tell us what you really think.
Kate, what a disgrace to the taxpayers of Bridgeport, your children could have written a report with information about the issues and with suggestions to make changes. We need to see the RFP for this review of the BPD, let’s see if the City Council does any type of follow up with this report but you can see with this report nothing is going to change inside the BPD. The BPD will still remain a occupying force in the black community with no accountability.
Sorry to say but this was to be expected. Ramsey is no where near the likes of Bill Bratton or Ray Kelly. Wilbur Chapman, who worked for both of them, is a good administrator but upon arriving to Bridgeport saw the writing on the wall, took the money and left. He knew that the “politicians” in charge would not allow him to make the changes necessary. The same thing happened in Stamford in 88/89. The mayor brought in nypd boss Dan Guido. He bucked mayor Thom Serrani all the way and basically told him that if he couldn’t do with the PD what was best he’d leave-and he did. He became a professor at John jay college of criminal justice. I worked for him in Stamford and finished up my degree at John jay while on the job.
It’s all politics…… you all know that.
Cheers!!!!
Rich, I can personally attest to Wilbur Chapman and how he saw the writing on the wall, took the money and left. He knew that the “politicians” in charge would not allow him to make the changes necessary soon after Ganim got into office, in fact his office was about the size of a closet.
Exactly right. He was a good guy.
Cheers!
Spot on Kate.
It really a boiler play write up that does not even begin to get to the heart of the matter.
But what do you expect from this Mayor.
I’ll give you $25,000 and write me a report that seems legit but does even scratch the surface. If the public buys it then I’ll give some more money to keep up the charade.
Bob, how in the world could Ramsey do a report of the BPD with this federal investigation going on about AJ Perez. There’s no way that the City Council should except Ramsey.
“As Feds Probe Perez For Insider Help With Top Cop Test, City Defends Search Procedures”
March 3, 2020
LennieGrimaldi
“Was the November 2018 selection of chief of police compromised because AJ Perez had an unfair testing advantage over other candidates?”
That is in part what federal agents are probing as the city’s legal and consulting bills mushroom in response to a summer 2019 federal subpoena for records, city employees and current and former police officers face questioning while criminal defense attorneys position clients in what could emerge as a messy situation.
Federal investigators are probing allegations that Perez received an unfair advantage in the testing process such as advance help with question by a subordinate. That contention places Perez directly in line with the federal investigation.
Investigators from the Southern District of New York are actively involved interviewing witnesses in Connecticut and New York.
In November 2018, following a national search, Mayor Joe Ganim announced the appointment of Perez, his long-time friend, as the city’s top cop after Perez had served in an acting capacity since early 2016.
One of the key questions of the federal probe centers on the potential assistance Perez received in the testing process to position himself as one of the finalists. If true, who provided it?
Hint hint: directional assistance for the Chiefs job was written on the back of all the biscotti’s which were passed around at Mario’s outside round table where Mario, Joe, AJ, Shamus and a few others in the gang all sat sipping espresso on Suburban Ave. back when the FBI van was videoing everyone back during the public works probe. Remember?!!!
Cheers!
In an excerpt from an article by Michael Fornabaio in today’s CT POST: “For the cost of $25,000, Ramsey complied his findings into a nine-page report that included a general overview of key areas, department operations and where improvements could be made. The report does not go into specifics on how to improve the trouble spots or how to implement his recommendations. Ramsey said if the council wants to pay him to do that, it could be negotiated.” I’d like to see what the gist of the RFP was. It seems to me this guy has some big balls asking for more monies
You know, I’m beginning to question whether there even existed an original RFP.
Bob, you know we have been asking for the original contract (RFP) for Charles Ramsey review of the BPD for over a week before Ramsey was to address the City Council on Monday and the council and the media have not sought this RFP and made it public. There are ton many clouds hanging over AJ Perez, the BPD and mayor Ganim, you have a federal probe into Chief Perez concerning the testing for the position of police chief, you have police abuse cases, you have a federal probe of money involving the Public Works Department. Bob, during the time frame of all of this was Joe Ganim running first for governor then running for reelection for mayor and he didn’t need the bad publicity coming from these investigations, so Ganim needed some type of review of the BPD to put off his critics.
I think I saw the template for this report in office max the other day. I would have filled in the blanks for half that amount. Kate is spot on, that report ignored the real issues by leaving out important details and the solutions lack any substance because the real issues were not addressed. A shameful scam to waste more taxpayer dollars.
Mary Filo, that was the purpose, it was just a diversion the same that Joe Ganim’s friend 45 does. Just the cost of this review by Chief Ramsey was a signal that it was not going to be a serious review of the BPD.
I am calling for the immediate resignation of the full Board of Police Commissioners. This does not accomplish much but it would be a beginning.
I call for their replacements to be an reflection of the population of the city of Bridgeport and not the political power brokers.
A long long time ago back when I was on the City Council I sought the same and it feel on deaf ears. The City Charter calls for this. What I proposed was that with every appointment a statement had to be submitted explaining how each appointment increased or decreased the racial and gender of the commission. That’s it. It did not mandate it but simply required a statement. And yet that was considered too intrusive on the powers of the mayor. A simple statement saying this appointment either increases or decreases the racial and ethnic composition of the board. And the joint wisdom of the City Council decided that was not needed.
That was approximately 20 years ago.
When will the time come for the citizens of Bridgeport to wake up.
Bob, as I have said to many times before, Bridgeport, CT is a city up South, yes Bridgeport is locate in the northeast section of the United States but it’s mindset is that of Mississippi in the 1950’s where blacks better not speak out and they better stand in their place. The more things change, more they stay the same.
Well let’s see what the minority members of the City Council will do. Talk is cheap. Now is the time for action. Will they go against Ganim and take on real reform or will they just pander for change but do what Ganim, Mario and Mark A say.
Off topic but on, a huge shout out to the voters in South Carolina and Georgia for waiting in lines for up to 6 hours to cast a vote in yesterday’s primary. Take part in elections while still protesting. That should be heard by politicians everywhere.
As Michele Lyons observed the 9 page reported kept repeating the word “community” in his very general phase 1 report in which he tells us as an outsider he was requested”to review current BPD policies, procedures, training and community engagement efforts.”
He proceeds through eight subjects BUILDING TRUST, COMMUNITY POLICING/ENGAGEMENT, USE OF FORCE, TRAINING, POLICY UPDATES, COMMUNICATIONS, WELLNESS PROGRAMS FOR OFFICERS, fACILITIES /EQUIPMENT/TECHNOLOGY, and finally STAFFING. For all of the responses that diminish the consultant and his outline, not one regular OIB contributor has so cleanly and fully outlined the multiple subject areas that maintain the current unsatisfactory status quo.
We received a few specific recommendations, also. The first of these, as it should be, 1.1 The BPD and Bridgeport Community should engage in an ongoing open and honest conversation regarding the current state of policing in the City and the community’s aspirations for change.”
This is not BS. You may wish another consultant. We all wish that this report had come in earlier and that COVID had not shut down open and honest conversation. But $25,000 will have been a minor expense to get this outline down on paper, and available to all. Now, some real work might be addressed to further recommendations from the audience on each topic raised as well as offering Ganim2 the assist he does not wish in this regard. Ganim2 had aspirations for CT Governor. What has replaced those in terms of serving the folks of Bridgeport? Are they as clearly outlined as Chief Ramsey? What item of policy do we need to know about? What practices cause most problems in our City? What are procedures of the PD when they are most commonly in their role of “serve and protect? Time will tell.
My hands raised!! Call on me!!(shaking hand wildly in class)….!
I have the answer to one of the questions that has the cause and effect on the outcomes of all the other questions!!
Ok thanks! The answer to “what practices cause the most problems in the city….you ask???????
The answer is simple. It’s the voting and non voting citizens of the city and their ignorance or apathy or downright stupidity.
Cheers!!!!!
Rich,
Good answer….control the information (instead of OPEN), control timely access to real numbers and procedures (instead of ACCOUNTABLE) and failure to encourage multiple independent and reliable public data resources in the City (instead of TRANSPARENT) and perform all in an HONEST manner………….is like administering anaesthesia to the citizens and still expecting them to see the picture of real decision making taken out of their hands by a self-serving leader who does little to nothing about effective oversight by fellow citizens that results in Ganim2 responsibility for the multiple issues looked into by Justice Authorities and our expense in City response without the taxpayer brought into the picture. Will the murder in Minneapolis generate a doubling of voter response in November 2020 in Bridgeport? Can you breathe? Time will tell.
Time has told and the answer is no thank you. We will handle it ourselves.
But JML thinks his questions are so provocative that people will be moved to change. How much change did you effectuate with all of the questions before the City Council? The answer is NONE.
I will give another recommended change for the city. Immediately stop the practice of the Board of Police Commissioners meeting in Police HQ.
This can be intimidating. You can be waiting for the elevator and it opens up with a prisoner being transported to somewhere else in the building. Or just waiting to address the board and waiting and waiting and waiting.
Immediately move the meeting to City Hall. The board reports to the CITY not to the Chief of Police. The Chief will Offer up some BS about all of his files are there so it makes sense but it is just a tactic to enforce who is in charge.
STOP the practice immediately.
Troll, the police board meets in the Morton Government Center, not in police headquarters.
Bob,
How many years since you attended one at PD HQ? (Provocative enough?)
They STOPPED the practice. Must have overcome their reluctance to move from where the records are. Very few OIB suggestions receive such immediate feedback. Time did tell.
Thank you Lennie. Is this by rules and regulations or can it go back to the “old way” any time it wants?
And theAnnex is not City Hall. It’s the white peoples City Hall.
All Boards and Commissions should meet in City Hall. Period. The Parks Commission, if it still has its meetings at their club house up in Beardsley Park, the Harbor Authority, if it still meets at all, should meet in City Hall and not at their club house in the ferry building at the harbor. The Fire Department should meet in City Hall and not at their clubhouse at the Fire Department.
By ordinance all boards and commissions should meet I City Hall and not the annex.