Update, Ganim statement: Mayor Joe Ganim has named long-time ally Captain Armando Perez to lead a task force charged with addressing the spike in violent crime, according to a letter by former Police Chief Wilbur Chapman, a senior adviser to the mayor.
Chapman issued the following directive on mayoral letterhead signed by Ganim with the subject line 2016 Violent Crime Reduction Program.
“To combat the nearly 50% rise in homicides and significant increases in shooting incidents and victims in 2015, Mayor Joseph P Ganim is directing the Bridgeport Police Department to create a task force to reduce the level of violence in 2016.
Captain Armando J Perez is the designated task force leader and will coordinate the efforts of the uniformed patrol division and the detective bureau. He will focus on current and potential hotspots within the city taking a proactive stance through strategic deployment and prioritizing investigative follow up. He will be responsible for personnel assignment and over time allocation and management in order to maximize the efficiency of this effort.”
The spike in violent crime and efforts to address it became a central issue for Ganim on the campaign trail. The increase in violent crime has not abated since he assumed office December 1 with multiple shootings as well as the Christmas Eve killing of a 14-year-old boy on the West Side.
Perez, an active Ganim supporter during the mayoral campaign, is someone Ganim trusts implicitly. He is the captain in charge of the detective bureau.
Ganim statement:
“In the last year, Bridgeport has seen a sharp spike in violent crime, including nearly 50% more homicides and 30% more shooting victims than last year,” said Mayor Ganim. “At the same time, our police department is seriously undermanned. These two trends are both disturbing and related. I am directing Captain AJ Perez, a widely respected senior veteran of the department, to lead this task force that will focus police work on those areas of our city that have seen spikes in violent crime. I am giving Captain Perez wide latitude to use whatever resources and personnel he has at his disposal to work with our communities and get this gun violence and lawlessness under control. We are burying far too many young people who had bright futures in front of them. Enough is enough.”
“In the police force we are sworn to safeguard the people of Bridgeport, and Mayor Ganim has made it clear to all of us that reducing violent crime in our city is the top priority,” said Captain Perez. “We have already begun to implement new strategies to prevent gun violence before it happens and weed out bad actors from our community. We have strong partnerships with federal and state agencies that can help us apprehend and prosecute those who have no respect for the law and undermine the security of our neighborhoods. Our most important partnership, however, will be with the residents of our city on whom we will rely for cooperation and information as we fight to reduce crime. We will not allow our city to go back to the bad old days of rampant crime fear on our streets. We have zero tolerance for violent behavior and we will stamp it out. We want the citizens of Bridgeport to be safe at home and in their neighborhoods.”
In his new role, Captain Perez will be taking a proactive stance through strategic deployment of personnel and investigative follow-up. As head of the violent crime prevention task force, Captain Perez will take over responsibility for personnel assignment, management, and overtime allocation in the patrol division and detective bureau. The violent crime reduction task force will also coordinate strategy and execution with former police Chief Wilbur Chapman, senior advisor to Mayor Ganim on public safety issues.
He is an extraordinary man, and excellent officer. This is a much-deserved honor. The Mayor is proving to be the best choice for Bridgeport. (Hate to say I told you so, but I told you.)
An incredible responsibility, but AJ Perez is the person to assign to the task.
Yada, yada, yada.
This is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Ganim states Perez “will focus on current and potential hotspots within the city taking a proactive stance through strategic deployment and prioritizing investigative follow up.” Wasn’t he supposed to do this as commander of the detective bureau? This is nothing more than a PR move. We don’t have the cops on the street to do this.
Andy, Chapman authored the directive signed by Ganim.
But Chapman sent the memo to Ganim. No one in the Police Dept was apparently copied.
Well, Chapman has to do something other than driving Miss Daisy. The fact is Ganim signed it and he owns it one way or the other.
Talk about the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Chapman sends a memo to Ganim saying you said this and copies no one and expects it to happen.
It’s official; due to the appointment of Chapman as Public Safety Director the BPD is now completely dysfunctional. Grow up, Joe and Wilbur. Act like adults and not kids who did not get their way. Deal with Gaudett. Even if you don’t like it, he is the Chief until you do something about it.
Holy cow. I actually agree with you! I’ve heard no one in the PD knows who’s in charge. Do they address the chief or Chapman? Dysfunctional indeed. Gaudett has to be gone yesterday, not soon. Andy, as usual you’re a dope. The DB is a reactive squad. They respond to crime scenes and investigate crimes that have already occurred. Did you stop arsons while the arson investigator? Of course not, you reacted to them.
I was quoting what was in the letter. When we had an area with an increase in fires we were seen in these areas on daily and evening times.
Since when does the Mayor have the authority to assign individual police officers, regardless of rank?
He doesn’t. (Charter, Chapter 13, Section 5(a)(5)).
The management clause in most contracts in the first section would state “the direction of the workforce is solely up to management.”
Ron, the Charter clearly assigns the responsibility for assigning the responsibility for the “assignment of all members of the Department to their respective posts, shifts. details and duties” to the Chief of Police.
2.08.010 – Duties generally.
The mayor shall supervise the conduct and acts of all city officers and boards, and, in case of a violation or neglect of duty, or other misconduct of any officer or of any board or of any member thereof, he shall transmit information thereof to the common council, with such facts and particulars as he may deem important to communicate. For the performance of his duty in this respect and otherwise, he shall at all times have full power to examine all papers and books in the possession or custody of any officer or board, and to examine any clerk or other subordinate thereof.
(Prior code § 2-193)
But Joel, even if you are suggesting the mayor is accusing Gaudett of being conducting or acting in “violation or neglect of duty,” the mayor is supposed to transmit that information to the common council. This is not what he is doing here.
Phil, this is BPT, loophole capital of the state!
Well if Joe really wants to put a ding into crime he needs to do something about the Housing Authority that manages the source of most of the violence. The mayor appoints the commissioners who appointed some bum from Indiana who then hired other executives from other states who all collectively looked dumbly at each other when the summer violence started in the housing projects. Anyone from Bridgeport would have known and had a plan in place. The cameras and substation in Trumbull all had funding, but the housing commissioners bumbled and spent that money elsewhere.
Remember, you’re talking about federal housing.
But a city-appointed Housing Authority over which I suspect the Mayor has more than a little influence.
Phil, yes you’re correct, but the BHA has been out to lunch for years. They haven’t corrected the fire trap that is still in PT Barnum Apt. There still is only one exit if there’s a fire and that’s the front door but the bedrooms are upstairs and the kitchen stove is downstairs.
Federal money, but local appointment of commissioners for management and oversight.
Isn’t it wonderful this series of comments about:
** Boards and Commissions in the City generally dysfunctional;
** Specifically Park City Communities (formerly BHA) with big $$$ and management/personnel issues
** Mayoral Appointments that extend way beyond normal terms, without any evaluations
** Park City Communities with some serious over expenditures in past two years outside HUD guidelines, but progress towards solutions??? goes without comment in local press.
Why was none of this substance for discussion in the campaign? How did police overtime issues persist for years without it becoming a campaign issue? Of course, much of this has appeared on OIB, but who knew it would be on the test, I guess. Time will tell.
Sounds like the plan is to make Gaudett so miserable he’ll pack up and leave on his own accord.
Joe Gaudett has come under a lot of fire in the past year or so, some of it justified and some of it not justified. I believe there are many areas of blame.
1. David Dunn and Civil Service not scheduling tests promptly and only having 40 candidates per class.
2. The four deputy chiefs of the PD who do nothing substantial in their make-believe jobs.
3. Mayor Finch and my all-time favorite prick, Adam Wood. They almost destroyed the entire PD with their budget antics.
4. The police commission which has sat on its hands and done nothing to improve the PD and that includes new mayoral aide Danny Roach. If he works in the mayor’s office like he did on the police commission we are in trouble.
*** Let’s hope the PD Chief gives AJ Perez all the support and manpower, etc. he’s going to need to be successful in doing his job! ***
*** Plus, wasn’t it just a few months ago the past Mayor (Finch) along with the present police chief, stated crime in general was at an all-time low in the city of Bpt? Wow, maybe they meant petty crimes like bicycle theft or shop lifting and maybe traffic violations, no? *** GOD HELP US! ***
ctmirror.org/2014/02/25/ct-homicides-at-11-year-low/
Did I miss something? Did Bridgeport have only nine homicides last year? What did the other major cities have? Task force, sounds like a means to overtime/expenditures for a privileged few. I agree with Mr. Fardy, smoke and mirrors. You can’t cut staffing to minimum manpower on all shifts according to a paper blog post and then solve crime. Statistics I will agree are one thing, perception is another and if people can’t send a 14-year-old to the dollar store, damn statistics and window dressing and pay overtime and put more cars and cops on the road.
www .city-data.com/crime/crime-Bridgeport-Connecticut.html
Based on these numbers from the reported FBI CRIME INDEX, what has the chief of police done to reduce any of this if the city is above national average on almost every category?