#Bridgeport CT–The Greater Bridgeport Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (GBNAACP) demanded immediate action on racial disparity issues in Bridgeport’s police department. These concerns continue front and center as concerns for immediate change, GBNAACP Branch President D Stanley Lord said. The Branch, along with the Bridgeport Guardians, ACLU cite recent and historic racial and retaliatory actions. The most recent concerns center on violations within the city police department that continue to unlawfully dilute the values of Black and other communities of color.
An official complaint was filed October 4 with Mayor Joseph Ganim’s office over the violations and sought immediate action and response. At this time, no response or priority change has taken place.
NAACP, Bridgeport Guardians INC, local and state leaders are calling on Mayor Ganim and City Council to respond and correct their oversight on the pattern & practice of racially charged actions taking place within the city’s Police Department or face a Department of Justice inquiry and court action.
The groups hold mutual disappointment and disgust over content filed in a recent lawsuit by retired former police Captain Mark Straubel centering on divisive actions and systemic racism prevailing under the administration of convicted former police chief Armando J. Perez. In an united front, the groups also contend that disparaging efforts continue under Acting Chief Rebeca Garcia to actively target and unfairly discipline officers based on her racial biases and demands for loyalty, including their promotions and career development.
Straubel’s lawsuit angers the NAACP in its allegations that Acting Chief Garcia has been involved in an ongoing relationship with Lieutenant Santiago Llanos, who is the active commander in charge of the department’s Office of Internal Affairs (OIA). As the entity investigating charges of racial bias, retaliation and other police matters, the NAACP and the other watchdog groups cite that none of the related cases involving officers of color have moved forward under the procedural chain of command to the Mayor or City Council. The groups believe that under the collusive purview of Llanos and Garcia the minority officer cases citing alleged racial bias, retaliation or other grievances have been dismissed and violate Department policy. Llanos plans to retire from the Department in 2022 to escape against Garcia’s urging to stay onboard and maintain the alliance. Llano and Garcia have attempted to add officers with questionable backgrounds in roles of power with the OIA division to maintain a non-compliant and manipulative chain of command.
“We have a growing and thriving population of Black, brown and Asian people and their cultures living and paying taxes here in Bridgeport. There’s an opportunity for the Council to create better protocols that celebrate the diversity and opportunity in the police department as well as in other civic leadership roles, and work to improve its community engagement and correcting disparities,” Lord said. “Under the current administration, and it’s cronies continue a racially motivated practice of diluting opportunities and misappropriating corrective actions involving African American police officers by disrupting the process, diluting internal powers and marginalizing how officers of color are treated.”
The community activist groups strongly support recommendations for the Mayor and Council to follow US District Court suggestions to place black and other minority officers in key leadership positions to deter and prevent patterns of the historic racial bias and disparate treatment.
The NAACP believes that alternative is an acceptable triage opportunity for the Mayor and Council to initiate immediately; the Mayor is aware of the court suggestions and has not met yet as a full body to discuss what they are going to do.
“It clearly is a dire concern on how active police engage and protect citizens of this diverse community, Lord said. “And since the city’s leadership has not acted yet that’s why we’re letting them know where we stand and to do so immediately.”
The Greater Bridgeport NAACP, founded in 1920, looks to continuing its work with the City of Bridgeport, its Police Department and others to explore all outlying concerns, address additional methods to elevate parity and diversity. We encourage all media companies to work with us to seek more diversity, inclusion, greater protections of taxpayer funding, equity practices and to incorporate improvements immediately.
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