Three months ago Mayor Joe Ganim appointed Rebeca Garcia as the first female to lead the Police Department after AJ Perez resigned following his federal arrest for conspiring to rig the 2018 police chief test that placed him in the top three among finalists. He subsequently pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Garcia serves in an acting capacity. Ganim has yet to set forth a timeline with the Personnel Department and Civil Service Commission for a permanent chief selection. Some council members are urging the mayor to establish the process sooner than later and plan to make a statement via a resolution at the Monday night council meeting, for whatever that’s worth.
“We need to start now to light a fire under him,” councilman Matthew McCarthy told colleagues recently.
A new chief appointment would require another national search because the latest top cop employment list expired. See below what the City Charter regulates regarding selection of police chief. The language doesn’t appear to set in motion (charter change?) any clarity on what must be triggered by the mayor once a vacancy occurs regarding a competitive examination.
So it appears the mayor can leave an acting chief in that position for as long as desired. But it also doesn’t dissuade the City Council from insisting on action if the mayor drags it out.
Any takers on the council to push the issue? The body does control the power of the purse. Do any of them know collectively how to leverage that for a common purpose?
Section 4. – Chief of Police.
(a) The head of the department shall be a Chief of Police selected pursuant to the provisions of this section.
(b) The chief of police shall be in the classified service and be selected pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 17 of the charter except as follows:
(1) The chief of police shall, at a minimum, be experienced in urban law enforcement, including supervisory experience in the operations and management of a law enforcement agency. Nothing in this Section shall preclude the civil service commission from establishing greater qualifications for the position of chief of police, provided that such qualifications shall not include a requirement of prior service on the Bridgeport Police Department. Any qualification so adopted shall be based solely on the knowledge, skills and experience required for the position and not on the attainment of any rank or ranks.
(2) The examination for the position of Chief of police shall be open to any person possessing the minimum qualifications established for such position regardless of whether the applicant is currently or has ever been an employee of the city of Bridgeport. The examination shall be open and competitive and shall not be promotional.
(3) Whenever a vacancy arises in the position of chief of police, the personnel director shall, upon request, certify to the mayor the names of the three (3) candidates standing highest upon the employment list for such position. If no such list exists, the personnel director shall, within 150 days of the request, hold a test for such position and shall, upon the establishment of an employment list, certify to the mayor the names of the three persons standing highest thereon.
(4) Within sixty (60) days of receipt of the certification required by subSection (a)(3) of this section, the mayor shall appoint one (1) of the persons so certified as the Chief of police and shall notify the Civil Service Commission and the Board of Police Commissioners of such appointment. The mayor may designate the time when such appointment shall take effect, provided it shall not be more than ninety (90) days from the date of his receipt of the personnel director’s certification. Unless otherwise stated such appointment shall be effective immediately. In the event that the mayor fails to appoint a chief of police within sixty days of receipt of said certification, the board of police commissioners shall, forthwith, make such appointment.
(5) The person so appointed shall hold office for a term of five (5) years from the effective date of his appointment but may be removed for just cause. A person holding the position of Chief of police may, only within 150 days of the end of each term, be reappointed by the mayor for one additional term of five (5) years, effective upon the expiration of the chief’s current term, without the need for further examination or testing. Not later than 180 days prior to the expiration of such term the board of police commissioners shall, by majority vote, advise the mayor whether the chief should be reappointed and shall specify the reasons for its recommendation. The vote and advise of the board of police commissioners shall be advisory only and is not binding.
(6) Any provisions of this charter to the contrary notwithstanding, no person shall serve as chief of police for more than ten (10) years not including any time served in an acting capacity.
(7) Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of Chief of police, the mayor may appoint a member of the Bridgeport Police Department as the acting Chief of police. The person so appointed shall possess all of the qualifications established for the position of Chief of police. Any provision of this charter to the contrary notwithstanding, the person so appointed may serve as acting Chief of police until the position is filled as provided in this section.
Bridgeport’s past mayors, Bill Finch and Joe Ganim along with the City Councils during their term in office all failed the voters of the City by not following the City Chapter in hiring the police chief, the fire chief and the Personnel Director and nothing new has changed in Dec. 2020.
Sec. 204. – Personnel director; assistants; civil service status.
(b)The position of Personnel director of the city of Bridgeport, established under the provisions of the charter is included in the competitive division of the classified service created under said act, as amended. (These sections amended, 1986 referendum)
Section 4. – Fire Chief.
(a)The head of the department shall be a Fire chief selected pursuant to the provisions of this section.(b)The fire chief shall be in the classified service and shall be selected pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 17 of the charter except as follows:(1)The fire chief shall, at a minimum, be experienced in urban fire protection, including supervisory experience in the operations and management of a fire department. Nothing in this Section shall preclude the civil service commission from establishing greater qualifications for the position of fire chief, provided that such qualifications shall not include a requirement of prior service on the Bridgeport Fire Department. Any qualification so adopted shall be based solely on the knowledge, skills and experience required for the position and not on the attainment of any rank or ranks.
As usual,apparently Joe won’t let anyone from the media talk to the acting chief…Everything in this admins is kept quiet and secretive.Tara O’neil & Brian Lockhart,both denied access to the acting chief…Only people with things to hide do this to the media.
From Doing it Local..
“When the mayor and his office does NOT respond you have to report to their boss-THE VOTERS. Tara and Brian are from the CT Post and having the same results as me! If they do this to the press, what do they do to the average citizen?”
Same thing the general big media did to the citizens in the entire country and world. Report what they wanted to (or not), with their slanted view on everything.
I watched loads of stuff live throughout the last 4 years then saw how it was twisted or misrepresented on the later time mainstream shows. Even my wife who basically is (maybe now was) my political opposite discovered this about 2 years ago and found it wrong and disgusting.
In Bridgeport they have to be silent for fear of future political seats, jobs, associations, money, power and fear of losing same.
Where are the voices on the council (except a few) that truly care to inform the public? Bunch of pandering crooks? Not even that! They get voted in anyway!
Cheers!!!!!!
We don’t need a charter revision because it will be the attorneys who write it and they write in language that they can work around.
What we do need is some honest politicians who will simply do what they are expected to do.
All they do is just change the term to provisional, acting, temporary, whatever, and we have new sets of rules.
Then when you want to enforce what’s on the books you are told that only the city attorney can hire a lawyer to enforce the rules. BS.
Bob, you’re right but using provisional appointment in the fire department like in the charter was only for an emergency when there’s no hiring list (promotional list) but in the BFD instead of spending money for an exam to fill those vacancy the City kept them in provisional positions for months and for years thereby allowing these employees to retire at a higher rate of pay without even taking the exam for that position thereby costing the taxpers more money only becaause the mayor and the personnel director didn’t follow the charter to call for an exam. Bob, council members don’t care if the city charter is ever followed.
The Council President doesn’t even know who’s on the Council so what can you expect from her.
She formed a “committee” to recommend changes to the manner of policing in the city and their are only two council members on this committee; herself and Scott Burns, Why in God’s name would you have a committee to recommend changes to the Police Dept and only 2 of the people are Council Members?
Really,
• Lieutenant Manny Cotto of the Bridgeport Police Department
• Anna Cruz of the Bridgeport Board of Police Commissioners
• Cooper Mead of the Bridgeport Health Department
• Constance Vickers of the Mayor’s Office
• Rev. D. Stanley Lord of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP
• Jason Ayala of FaithActs for Education
• Gemeem Davis of Bridgeport Generation Now
• Iliana Pujols of the CT Juvenile Justice Alliance
What she should have done is named a committee of the whole or a select committee to hear expert testimony from the community.
Or have ask the community to create a committee and have that committee provide a report to the council when they are done.
By instead doing it this way they have insiders to the mayor’s office, two select council members and others who may not be as impartial as should be.
So now when the council reports, or worse yet, no report and selectively implement.