Tim Quinn, former WICC news director, has resigned as spokesperson for the Bridgeport Police Department following an email he sent to the media that provoked outrage over cultural remarks about cartoon mug shots of “Miguel the Murderer” and “Tyrone the Thief.” He followed the email with an apology. Fact is Quinn said racy stuff like this all the time on the air but when you’re on the public payroll it’s a whole different story. Sounds like Quinn was told to quit or be canned. Quinn had been appointed by Mayor Bill Finch to the city position. From Mayor Finch:
Public Safety Spokesman Tim Quinn Resigns Position
Public Safety Information Officer Tim Quinn has resigned his position with the Bridgeport Police Department effective immediately. Quinn had been suspended without pay after making culturally insensitive remarks in an email.
“It is best for all concerned for Mr. Quinn to resign. We understand it was not his intention to offend anyone, but as Mayor Finch has said, offensive or culturally insensitive remarks cannot be tolerated from city employees,” said Chief of Staff Adam Wood.
This is the close of another sad chapter in Bpt’s history. What some people find humorous some people find offensive.
I recommend Rob Sullivan to be the replacement spokesman for the police department. Rob is deeply entrenched in BPT’S political arena and has always been sensitive to the feelings of the citizens of our fair city.
I have known Tim for many years and I know his sense of humor. However, I feel change is best for all concerned and feel he knows he crossed the line.
Another One Bites the Dust
Queen (1980)
Let’s go!
Finch walks warily down the street,
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain’t no sound but the sound of his feet,
Machine guns ready to go
Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat, yeah
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, hey
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
How do you think I’m going to get along,
Without you, when you’re gone
You took me for everything that I had,
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy, are you satisfied
How long can you stand the heat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, hey
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man
And bring him to the ground
You can beat him
You can cheat him
You can treat him bad and leave him
When he’s down
But I’m ready, yes I’m ready for you
I’m standing on my own two feet
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating the sound of the beat
Sully is a good man for this job. It’ll keep him off his reserved seat at Matty’s Corner for at least part of the day.
Brilliant.
It’s too bad, he seemed to be doing a good job. Unfortunately, he was trying to be too buddy-buddy with both the media and cops and also trying to be funny. From what I heard, he copied a few cops on his emails and they weren’t happy. Didn’t seem like they were too big of a fan of his anyway. Nobody wanted to see a media guy with no police background make $70,000 in a time when many are fearing job losses or pay/benefit cuts.
Anyway, I think the PIO job is an important one. The media is going to be all over the place in a big city with a good amount of crime like Bridgeport and these days when there is any juicy story you have the Post, the Courant, the Bpt News, News 12, other local outlets, plus all four network news crews and even sometimes NYC news vans swarming into the city for coverage. Tim did a great job handling it. But the cops have too much on their plates already and end up having to be paid OT just to handle the media.
Find a media-savvy, likeable cop looking to stop “active” duty to be a Lt. Vance type, that seems to work for the State PD. Vance knows what to release and what not to release, something else that could’ve eventually got Quinn in trouble.
Un-brilliant.
Nothing against Mr. Quinn is intended in this post. The question is do we need to pay someone $60K to speak for the police department? The police department is overrun with high-ranking brass. They have four Deputy Chiefs and a Chief of the Department (newly created). I would think that one of these five could speak for the department.
The lower-tiered employees of this city took another hit this year with givebacks and furloughs yet Finch keeps creating these waste-of-money jobs.
May I suggest Finch appoint a towing czar who can make citizen payments to towing companies that tow booted cars.
Adam Wood should resign or be terminated for trying to misuse the police to stop the towing company from towing Andy Ayala’s car. That was immoral and unethical conduct. If the city is going to get all moral and ethical all of a sudden, then apply the rules consistently.
WELL SAID ALL. The biggest problem is that ALL the City of Bridgeport agencies are top heavy. If there were a serious T.O.& E. (you military types know what this is), and an enforceable one, you wouldn’t have all these created positions to satisfy the cronyism and nepotism that exists.
For those of you who don’t know … T.O.& E. stands for Table Of Organization & Equipment. It shows the level of who’s in charge and what equipment is needed for that level of the organization.
Quinn got what he deserved, period. Don’t make excuses for him. His racist comments were part of underlying issues he lost control of and they spilled out of his mouth. He felt comfortable in saying what he believes. It wasn’t funny in the least.