Davon Polite, a three-year member of the Police Department, was arrested on Thursday on assault and breach of peace charges stemming from an incident last year in The Hollow. He has been suspended without pay, according to Police Chief AJ Perez.
“I can confirm that Bridgeport Police Officer Davon Polite was arrested on March 16, 2017 via arrest warrant on the charge of Assault 2nd Degree and Breach of Peace 2nd,” said Perez in a statement. “The arrest stems from an incident that is alleged to have occurred on September 19, 2016, while the officer was off-duty. The criminal and administrative investigation is ongoing. Officer Polite has been suspended without pay. Due to the ongoing investigation I cannot comment further at this time.”
The alleged incident took place outside a club in The Hollow, according to a source. Camera surveillance is part of the investigation. Polite’s LinkedIn page, see here, informs he joined the department in 2014.
I do not know Officer Polite. I have met and discussed community policing with Chief Armando J. Perez on more than one occasion. It is too bad we will have to wait for more information on this matter but primarily for the actual period of time between the “alleged incident” in September 2016 and the actual arrest warrant charging assault almost seven months later.
There is an investigation and there will be further process. However, in the labor relations contract settlement of 2015 the last person to render his opinion is Chief Perez, rather than the members of the Police Commission. Recent informal conversations with some Commission members, Union representative Paris, and the Chief it would seem that no one was in favor of the change, yet it happened. And it happened with a dearth of publicity, just as the very expensive to City taxpayers movement of officers from Plan B to the State plan (where overtime income is the basis for pension determination based on highest three years).
Why did it take so long for a matter of assault to find its way to charges? If there is a new Police Department contract under discussion, will civilian input by way of the Police Commission re-assert itself again, as in the past? Time will tell.
If I were in charge of the union I would not say a word as we have the Police Commission in our pockets. They don’t say anything and go along with Perez who is not qualified to be police chief.
There are a lot of things the mayor needs to do. There are ywo important things that need to be done yesterday
1. Fire David Dunn and hire a qualified personnel director.
2. Get rid of Perez and hire a chief from outside the city.
3. Fire the entire civil service board. Their leader lives in Trumbull.
Joe, you are all talk and no action.
Amen.
I’ve seen him a few times. Sad young guy, when you become a cop and you’re from Bridgeport you need to separate yourself from a lot of people you knew in the city, they can get you in trouble.
This incident happened September 19, 2016 and the warrant is served in March 2017 and it takes this long to issue and arrest this officer, what a disgrace.
Isn’t this guy the head of the Guardians?
*** Lock him up to make an example of justice for all, cop or no cop, if the evidence is there, no doubt! Justice for all, everyone! ***
You can’t just lock him up. He goes to trial and any form of guilty plea including AR should be enough to fire him. If he is found innocent then he goes back to work. I don’t believe this is the type of person we want on the PD.