In one corner, Michael Salemme III, police union president who’d likely find something wrong if Chief Roderick Porter could broker a receding deal between high tide and flooding rains. In the other veteran Officer Marie Cetti who has decided Salemme’s contentious relationship with the top cop is sinking the rank and file from better benefits and upward mobility.
Elections in Bridgeport aren’t just about mayors, City Council, school board, state legislators. The head of the police union has a key role in the financial fortunes and assignments of its members.
More on this from Brian Lockhart, CT Post:
Now, Salemme’s combative style is on the line. Union board elections are underway, and the incumbent president has a rival who says her more “level-headed” approach is needed to get things done for fellow members.
“I just think there is a huge gap between the chief of police, the city and his officers that was created, and we need to bridge that gap again,” Officer Marie Cetti said Friday “And we have to start that with communication.”
If her name sounds familiar, that may be because she was Bridgeport’s first female K9 handler. Or it could be due to unfortunate circumstances — Cetti was stabbed in the neck by a suspect in October 2024.
Cetti and Salemme were nominated Thursday for three-year terms, along with candidates for other leadership positions within the local labor organization. Voting will occur over the coming days. She is the union’s treasurer and a nearly 16-year veteran of the force, while he is approaching 19 years.
Full story here
Fight nice, keep the trash talk to a decent level.
Unless it is pleasant to the ears, John, 🤣
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z-oJTZ1b5Q
Following the CT Post stories on “dissension and suits” within or about members of the Bridgeport Police Force at a time when City statistics provided to FBI and others indicate that crime is low, hiring has restored positions lost through retirement from new trainees as well as some transfers from other departments, and yet legal suits expensive to the City are pursued rather than serious conversations at a negotiating table related to work force matters between union members and labor leadership seem to defy resolution.
The mayor’s office, labor relations, union leadership, dissatisfied police officers and others seem to be consulted routinely by Brian Lockhart and reporters. But the Police Commission has been silent for some time. Why is that? What guidance can they shed on police matters such as policy, rules and regulations, and their insight into matters that are subject to internal affairs?
Seven commission members selected from the public are in place. Only two have unexpired terms, while five are noted with two-year terms expired in 2023 or earlier. How can that be? Perhaps the Police Commission members are chosen without reference to party membership, but only one is listed as a Republican, while six are listed as Democrat pary members. If that is not a requirement for this Commission, why is it listed and held as a criteria for other boards and commissions?
About ten years ago, it was brought to the attention of the City Council that likely two different commissions, all of which require members to be residents and electors, had members from Southport and Trumbull home addresses. An ordinance was adopted by the CouncilCity, Ordinance 2.02.080 which directs “All municipal elected officers, as well as board and commission members (mayoral appointed or Otherwise” to register their current address in January of each year with the Town Clerk office. Unfortunately only the Library Board has adhered to that “duty” and one member of the Police Commission. In my opiniont the failure of the mayor to appoint one of his staff, like Andrew Toledo, to oversee that responsibility and enforce it with regularity is an administrative failure.
In conclusion, when the majority of board or commission members does not obey an Ordinance responsibility ( like the five members of the City Council and seven members of the Board of Education currently failing in the duty) the voting public has something to remember for November 2026, and in November 2027 when “consent of the governed” is scheduled. Governance must be observed and enforced to limit abusive authority. Time will tell.