Following protests from parents and neighborhood residents near Cesar Batalla School, Mayor Bill Finch has pledged not to locate a police shooting range near a city school. On October 31, Finch issued a letter responding to a Board of Education request.
I am in receipt of your letter and subsequent resolution regarding the location of shooting ranges near Bridgeport Public Schools. Please note, as originally stated in my letter to Mr. Juan C. Torrealba (which you may reference by viewing the attached copy) we are actively seeking alternate sites in which to build the proposed shooting range. In the event that we are not able to locate an alternative site, we will not be using the original property selected near Cesar Batalla.
This letter is to reiterate that explored alternate sites will be located outside the proximity of school buildings and residential neighborhoods.
The mayor and Police Chief Joe Gaudett today will also announce the resumption of the city’s Gun Buyback program.
“This program has had a lot of success. The department took in more than 750 guns that now can never be used in a crime or to hurt anyone,” says Finch in a news release. “We still have gift cards and money left for the program. With the holidays approaching, my hope is that people will take advantage of the opportunity, get some money and make Bridgeport safer.”
The gun buyback will take place on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Police Training Academy, 405 Newfield Ave., according to police spokesman Bill Kaempffer. The department tentatively plans to conduct several more in November and December offering up to $200 for a working handgun. People turning in rifles will receive up to $100. A weapon determined to be an assault rifle will be eligible for up to $400.
“Every gun that is turned in and destroyed is a gun that can’t end up on the street in the hands of a criminal or in the hands of a young person who could injure himself or someone else,” says Gaudett.
The department has a “no questions asked” policy that will allow people to turn in weapons anonymously without fear of being prosecuted for illegal gun possession, says Kaempffer. BB guns and non-working guns will be accepted but won’t be eligible for cash or a gift card. Gun dealers are not eligible to participate.
People turning in weapons must follow a precise protocol.
1. Firearms MUST be delivered unloaded;
2. Firearms MUST be put in a clear plastic bag and put into another container (gym bag, backpack, etc);
3. If depositing ammunition in addition to a firearm, ammunition must be delivered in separate bag;
4. If transporting the firearm by car, the firearm must be transported in the trunk of the car;
5. After the firearm is screened by officers and determined to be a working firearm, cash or a gift card will be given.
Good. If the neighbors don’t want a police ONLY shooting range near their schools, there will be fewer police (on and off duty) coming and going in that area. Very smart decision on the part of neighborhood activists. I applaud them.
The Supreme court will issue the ruling on Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas today.
Again Lennie missed the boat!
Trial Court decision unanimously REVERSED and case remanded with instructions to DISMISS the complaint.
In an opinion written by Justice Flemming L. Norcott, Jr., the high court agreed with Vallas that the court should not have been used to second-guess a decision that was the state Department of Education and Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor’s to make. The proper channel to challenge the decision, it was ruled, should have been to appeal to the agency that made the decision.
*** The West Side Precinct has been there for quite some time, used as a come & go parking lot for squad cars and a spot to hold roll calls for those assigned to that sector of the city. The place was cleaned out and gutted in anticipation of a quick construction finish of the range long before the public was ever informed of the P/D plans for an indoor range. That is not being transparent with the neighborhood in any way, shape or form! You don’t build it, start using it and then decide just maybe the district and neighborhood should be informed just because it’s got to do with the Police Dept. I cannot think of any neighborhood in any “white” residential/industrial part of a town or city that (police presence or not) this type of disregard for the neighborhood residents, business owners, etc. and lack of basic informational transparency would take place! If they would have informed the people with all the information beforehand concerning this range, maybe things might have been different. *** RESPECT ***
Well hot diggity!
*** Well said Mustang Sally; you tend to have a way with words that can “sooth the average savage beast” in us, into a “purring putti-tat!” *** MEOW! ***
News Flash, speaking of what, transparency. 135 Clarence St the heralded local police precinct on the East Side. Closed? For 5? years. Before that the Engine 2 Fire Dept closed? In concert with the Congress St Bridge closure? Is anyone home on the East Side?
*** Don’t worry, a political satellite office will open up soon, right after a few more shootings on the East Side to send a message the Mayors Office is tough on crime, no? ***