From Dan Tepfer, CT Post:
A senior police official, who has been pushing for a system to be installed in city schools that would electronically route out convicted sex offenders from visiting schools, has a convicted sex offender living in his home.
“This is pure hypocrisy,” said Maria Pereira, a former school board member who is now a city activist. “He would support a program when he has in his own home a man who sexually assaulted a school-age child.”Capt. Roderick Porter, who oversees security in the city’s schools, took in his 31-year-old nephew, Devonn Porter, last year after the nephew had served a nine-month prison term for second-degree sexual assault. Their home is a short walk from an elementary school.
Full story here.
Response from Communications Director Brett Broesder and Chief Gaudett:
Today, the CT Post published a story regarding the Bridgeport Police Department supporting the FAST-PASS program, which is a school security system aimed at keeping sex offenders away from kids in school. The piece also mentioned Police Captain Roderick Porter–a vocal advocate for FAST-PASS–who is currently helping his nephew get back on his feet. Captain Porter’s sister passed away recently, and his nephew–who just finished a prison sentence–had nowhere else to live, so he is currently residing with his uncle, Captain Porter. In response to allegations made in the article (Link: bit.ly/1BiPgO8), Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett made the following statement:
“Keeping kids and families in Bridgeport safe is our top priority. In order to do just that, we take a hard line against sex offenders. In fact, this July our police department partnered with the U.S. Marshals Service in a joint effort to crack down on sex offenders in the city, which resulted in nearly 30 arrests. Our city is getting safer and more secure for kids. But there’s still more work to do. We’re not complacent.
“That’s why we’re supporting the FAST-PASS program in schools, which instantaneously identifies federally registered sex offenders if they try to enter our schools. The singular purpose of FAST-PASS is to keep our kids safe. It’s a system that cross checks visitor information against the federal sex offender watch lists, replacing old hand-written log-in sheets with a new electronic system. This technology is being used successfully in schools and universities across the country. School systems currently using the technology include: Broward County, Florida; Miami-Dade County, Florida; and Detroit, Michigan.
“In regards to Captain Porter, he’s a great police officer. And, he cares deeply about his family. The fact is that his sister passed away recently, and her son–and Captain Porter’s nephew–was released from prison after serving time for a sex offense. Since his nephew had no other place to turn, Captain Porter is helping him get back on his feet.
“That said, Captain Porter has an obligation to his family. And, he has an obligation to his community. It’s a tough reality, but a reality nonetheless, that people convicted of crimes–whether it’s criminal burning, drugs, larceny, burglary, or a number of offenses–after they’ve served their time end up back in our community.
“We confront this reality by finding that the best way to ensure that people are not put in a position where they can fall back into committing additional crimes. We do this in partnership with efforts like Project Longevity and through The Workplace and other agencies that provide support that help people succeed. And, we succeed with the support of families, which is exactly what Captain Porter is doing in this case. As a community, we don’t want to turn a blind eye and hope for the best.
“The bottom line is we’re tough on crime here in Bridgeport, and our track record proves that our efforts to crack down on crime are working. One key tenet of beating back crime is helping people from becoming repeat offenders after serving time.”
Here are additional facts about the FAST-PASS program:
Ø FAST-PASS is an electronic replacement of the old hand-written visitor logs sheets, protecting the individual visitor information from non-authorized school personnel.Ø The primary purpose of FAST-PASS is to help protect children from exposure to sex offenders.
Ø FAST-PASS only collects the first and last name and the date of birth associated with the magnetic strip or 2D barcode of proper photo ID.
Ø The FAST-PASS system being installed in Bridgeport schools only cross checks visitor information against the federal sex offender watch list.
Ø In the event of a parent or custodial guardian not having proper photo ID, the school personnel have the ability to manually enter their name, capture a current photo and then print a badge, in accordance with the school’s policies and procedures.
Ø Any information obtained is encrypted and securely stored by the school.
Ø In the event of an emergency, the FAST-PASS system has the ability to generate a master list to accurately identify who is in the school at any particular time.
Ø FAST-PASS does NOT run criminal background checks or obtain immigration status of a visitor.
Ø FAST-PASS does NOT locate warrants, traffic tickets or unresolved court matters of any kind.
Ø FAST-PASS does NOT obtain information beyond name and date of birth of the visitor from the government issued ID.
Ø FAST-PASS does NOT share information with the police.
Ø Bridgeport’s plan for FAST-PASS is to pilot the program at Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School for approximately six weeks, after which the city would evaluate its effectiveness, and if determined to be an asset to student safety, the system would be installed in another school. A second evaluation would follow. At that time, Bridgeport would decide which schools would benefit the most from utilizing this program.
Oh my G-d or holy shit … which one applies? This is just a sad situation. Was the sex offender living with his uncle registered? This is just sad. But you cannot blame the police officer for taking him in, as long as he was registered. There is however, a difference between serving time like Ganim and Newton. And rejoining the community. A sexual offender can’t help himself. For them it is a natural inclination. Castration should be the only punishment, not spending time in prison at the taxpayers’ expense.
Instead of covering asses here, Gaudett should just transfer this captain to another division. Okay, we have Capt. Porter in charge of the school Fast Pass who takes in a sex offender who happens to be 31 years old. We then have the training officer who hires an ex-felon to teach classes to rookie cops. My question is this, is the Police Department becoming a halfway house for felons?
Bingo, Andy. That is absolutely the correct procedure. What mystifies is it was not the first step that was taken. It is simple and proactive.
I believe there are those who are making assumptions I reported this to the CT Post and those assumptions would be incorrect. I did receive a call about this situation in October, however I never investigated it or pursued it. I was however contacted by Dan Tepfer a couple of weeks ago.
Captain Porter lives in my neighborhood and it would take less than 10 minutes to walk to Thomas Hooker School.
I personally witnessed Captain Porter and Lieutenant Grech present Fast Pass during the Safety and Security Committee and he stated it was imperative we protect children from sex offenders in our schools, all while he has a registered sex offender who impregnated a eighth- or ninth-grade student living in his home, just minutes from Thomas Hooker School. I honestly don’t know how Captain Porter kept a straight face during that committee meeting.
I just love the Fast Pass propaganda spewed by Chief Gaudett and ConnCAN’S Brett Broesder. Fast Pass has the capability of accessing any public criminal data base in the country, not just sex offender registries. It only checks your name and birth year, therefore if you have a common name like Mary Smith and you were born in 1957, if there is a Mary Smith born in 1957 and they are on a public sex offender list in Ohio, the Fast Pass screen is going to start flashing red and identify you as a sex offender. Fast Pass has been in use in Killingly, CT for over seven years and only 10-12 people had been flagged as sex offenders. Ten if those identifications were false and those individuals were not the correct sex offenders.
Can you imagine the embarrassment and humiliation when those parents/visitors were falsely flagged as registered sex offenders?
Now I have to go to the sex offender web site to find out where this shithead lives.
Just got through checking the registry and the name Devon Porter was not on the sex offender list. Why is that? Were strings pulled by his uncle to keep his name off the list? I sure want to know where he and the captain live in my area.
Andy, his name is spelled Devonn Porter with two n’s. When Tepfer called me a couple of weeks ago he told me he was able to verify Porter’s nephew was on the sex offender registry.
Thanks, Maria. I had looked him up on a site and he wasn’t registered. After you posted I went back and found him on a different site. His charges are more than the average pervert.
Message to Chief Gaudett and his management team. How about letting some of these sex offenders live across the street in your nice rural community? There is no excuse for you leaving this captain in charge of anything relating to kids. The fact this pervert lives in my neighborhood and I have three granddaughters living in this area really pisses me off. Stop being a liberal apologist and be the police chief for once.
I’m confused as to why the Captain needs to be transferred to another division. What has he done that would warrant his removal? The fact his nephew is a registered sex offender has absolutely nothing to do with his job, his job performance or what department he works in the BPD.
The fact is there are 5,692 registered sex offenders living in the state of Connecticut and 361 living in Bridgeport. One would think that the City of Bridgeport and the State of Connecticut would be better served if every registered sex offender lived in the home of a police officer so they can keep an eye on that individual to make sure they aren’t up to crimes against our children.
There is no evidence this captain is condoning what his nephew did nor is there any evidence what his nephew did plays a part in his being in charge of the Fast Past project or the project is being jeopardized because of his nephew. C’mon people, amp the rhetoric down a tad and try not to blame the captain for the sins of his nephew.
Donald Day, over a year ago Captain Porter, Lieutenant Grech and Jorge Garcia decided to write a grant that included funding Fast Pass for three schools. They never notified a single BBOE member about this grant although the BBOE governs the BPS, not the police dept. When they received the grant they purchased all the equipment before they told the BBOE about it.
I was at the meeting when Fast Pass was introduced to the BBOE by Captain Porter and Grech. They repeatedly stated how important it was we protect our children and schools from sex offenders. In the last 30 years we have never had a registered sex offender walk into one of our schools and assault a child.
Fast Pass has the ability to store every piece of information from your ID into a database including your photo. The BPD would be able to amass data on every single person who enters a BPS.
Captain Porter doesn’t just have a convicted sex offender living in his home, he has a convicted sex offender living in his home who impregnated a child. It is no different than having a member of an anti-terrorist task force allowing the Boston Marathon bomber to live with them.
Maria Pereira, you are not addressing Donald Day’s concern.
Ron, I believe I have addressed his questions. Captain Porter cannot claim in one breath he is concerned about sex offenders entering our public schools because they can harm a child while he has a convicted sex offender who actually committed statutory rape against a 13-year-old child and impregnated her living in his home.
It is pure hypocrisy and gives him absolutely no credibility. He clearly isn’t someone who should be leading the charge for protecting public school children against sexual predators.
Ms. Pereira,
Are you pointing to the conflict of interest, personal versus public responsibility, that exists in Captain Porter’s life at the moment? It seems to be very similar to that which exists in the City Council where a personal City job for the Council person or a close family member is real and may cause an otherwise intelligent elected official to vote the way his paycheck calls him to do.
Actually as I look at Porter’s enigma at the moment, it calls to me for a broad community discussion, this time with the “moral voices” of the religious community suggesting the way to deal with those who have run afoul of the law in one way or another, paying their court-determined debt to society, and then re-entering in a community sanctioned manner so they are least likely to re-offend. Where is this discussion? Where are the practical considerations? Where are the best practices in place? Time will tell.
Captain Porter should be transferred to another division, period. That’s right, transferred. Who is keeping their eye on this pervert while the Captain is working or does he take this pervert to work with him? You should know the vast majority of child molesters are never cured and are repeat offenders. Donald, would you say the same things if the Captain were white? I doubt it, history speaks for itself.
Andy, first of all I had no idea of the ethnicity of the captain nor do I have any knowledge as to who he is. It never entered my mind he was black or white because it doesn’t matter as to my response. You ask who’s watching him when the captain’s at work, the same person who would be watching him if he rented an apartment next to your home. What matters is for 12 to 14 hours a day he would be under the watchful eye of the captain who knows what he did and how reprehensible his act was. I said it once and I’ll say it again, the fact his nephew lives with him doesn’t imply he condones what he nephew did and it should have no impact on where he is assigned in the BPD.
Maria Pereira, I concur with your observations concerning Fast Pass and how it would violate a person’s civil liberties by having them photographed and ID and left in someone’s database to use, however, whenever and give to whomever you desire, Bad Idea! With respect to the captain, he wasn’t a party to what his nephew did nor does he condone what he did. He is merely offering a family member a place to live until such time as this individual is in the position to make a better life for himself, nothing more. He did as I would have done had a family member hit on hard times, offer a helping hand and their reason for these hard times has nothing to do with my ability to help. His profession has absolutely nothing to do with his desire to help a family member. It appears in reading your many posts as if you have animus toward any person who has or had dealing with the BBOE you didn’t agree with and/or what they were saying, doing or their position on certain issues. It should never be personal, only about business.
Don, you knew Capt. Porter was black. You have spent a good portion of your life fighting for black officers in both the FD and PD. So for you to say you did not know Porter was black is not true. Maybe if he lived near your kids or grandkids you would feel different.
Donald, if it were personal I would have reported this to the CT Post when I was first told about it. I didn’t report it to anyone with the BBOE or the media.
Captain Porter and Lieutenant Grech have led the charge in support of Fast Pass because they claimed it was imperative we must protect our schools from convicted sex offenders, not I.
You can’t be the highest-ranking police officer overseeing public school safety while housing a convicted sex offender who impregnated an 8th or 9th grade child.
Captain Porter has now been exposed for his doublespeak and has egg on his face.
🙁
A frowning face, really?
To answer your question Mr. Fardy, YES a frowning face and Yes really.
After reading each and every comment on this particular post, it was all I could muster, here’s another one. 🙁
That is an extremely intelligent post.