Statement From Police Chief Roderick Porter:
The Bridgeport Police Department is deeply concerned and saddened by the series of shootings that occurred last night. On what should have been an evening of celebration and community gathering to honor our veterans, we instead experienced a tragic outbreak of violence across our city.
First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Several individuals have been injured, and we are doing everything in our power to support them and their loved ones during this difficult time.
We want to assure the residents of Bridgeport that we are fully committed to finding those responsible for these senseless acts of violence. We have increased patrols in the affected areas and are working around the clock to gather information and follow up on leads. Our detectives are actively interviewing witnesses and reviewing all available evidence.
We ask for the community’s help during this critical time. If you have any information related to these incidents, no matter how insignificant it may seem, please come forward. Your cooperation is vital to our efforts to bring those responsible to justice and restore peace to our neighborhoods. Information can be provided anonymously if you prefer. Please use our tip line, 203-576-TIPS
We understand that these events have the potential to shake our community, and we want to reassure you that we are taking all necessary measures to prevent further violence. We will continue to work closely with community leaders, local organizations, and residents to address the underlying issues that contribute to such violence and to enhance the safety and security of our city.
So, Chief; I don’t have to tell you that Bridgeport has a drug-gang problem. Our crime problem is describable as a decades-long, continuing turf war between one set of evolving drug gangs operating in the most lucrative “illegal drug store” in the Northeast… “National Geographic” said it best during G1, in 1995, when they called Bridgeport “…the drug supermarket off of I-95…”
There are no training/job opportunities in Bridgeport that are capable of competing with the financial opportunities and adrenaline rush of being a well-paid operative in a lucrative, Bridgeport drug-gang operation…
Chief; if you want to make Bridgeport’s streets safe, you need to move beyond “YES! — Mr. Mayor!” propaganda bs — such as in this press release — to “When the POTUS and Governor Lamont get serious about addressing the socioeconomic collapse of Bridgeport — with massive urban-renewal/jobs-creation $$$$ — the BPD will be able to very effectively address a “normal” level of non-urban-warfare public-safety needs that a municipal police force is meant/designed to address…”
This weekend “flare-up” wasn’t a “flare-up” — it was a normal Bridgeport-street-crime weekend, with the normal amount of gang violence/gun play. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Being police chief of a failed city run by politicians devoted to roles as underlings serving a politically-corrupt state government isn’t easy. I feel for you Chief; you’re a good, smart/competent, honest cop that wants to help his city — but the people that should be enabling you are enabling the “other side” in order to keep the socioeconomic status-quo, quo, in regard to Bridgeport’s place in the municipal pecking-order of Connecticut… I wouldn’t blame you if you bailed and took a job as Chief of Oshkosh — or some other sane, reasonably wholesome place…
Good luck, Chief. Video-camera/Internet accessible-equipped drones and stationary Internet video cameras on Bridgeport streets are an essential part of modern, urban policing, but massive employment of Bridgeport working-age people at local jobs making those high-tech gadgets would go light-years farther than the use of such by the BPD in furthering Bridgeport public safety…