Acting chief shakes up Bridgeport PD
BRIDGEPORT — Several members of the Police Department’s top brass were reassigned Wednesday in a major shakeup of the department.
In an email to the department, Acting Police Chief Rebeca Garcia announced that Capt. Brian Fitzgerald, who has commanded the detective bureau and narcotics and vice units since 2016, was being transferred to patrol; Capt. Roderick Porter, who has run community services including
school security, is also going to patrol.
Capt. Kevin Gilleran, the commander of the traffic division, is being made the new detective bureau head and Capt. Lonnie Blackwell is being moved from patrol to head of community services.
The email gave no explanation for the transfers.
“Acting Chief Garcia is making personnel adjustments,” said the mayor’s spokeswoman, Rowena White. She had no further comment.
Garcia didn’t return emails and phone calls for comment.
Blackwell did not respond to a request for comment and Gilleran could not be reached. Fitzgerald and Porter confirmed they had been transferred and declined to comment, referring further questions to their lawyer. “We are weighing our options,” said Attorney Thomas Bucci, who represents both Fitzgerald and Porter in pending lawsuits against the city.
Fitzgerald and Porter have challenged Garcia’s appointment as assistant police chief in Superior Court. Last week, Mayor Joseph Ganim was served with a notice that he will have to give a deposition in the case and explain why Garcia was promoted despite claims that she wasn’t qualified.
Porter, the department’s highest-ranking Black officer, also has a pending federal court lawsuit against the city claiming he was discriminated against in the previous selection of Armando Perez as police chief.
In 2019, the city promoted Blackwell, who is Black, to captain to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit he filed against the city.
Officer Davon Polite, head of The Guardians, the Police Department’s minority officer organization, said he believes the transfers are in retaliation for the lawsuits against the city. He specifically criticized the transfers of Porter and Blackwell.
“It’s horrific, the city and the Police Department diminishes the role of African American captains and as a result the community suffers,” Polite said.
The transfers come at a time the city is in the midst of a violent crime wave.
There were 24 homicides in 2020 and 136 non-fatal shootings, Garcia told the city council recently.
Bridgeport State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino said he was surprised by the transfer of Fitzgerald.
“Capt. Fitzgerald has done an outstanding job leading the detective bureau,” he said. “I have established a strong working relationship with him and his unit which has been successful and productive. He is a talented and effective leader. I was present at his recent six-hour negotiation with an armed suspect who opened fired on officers, but due to Brian’s skill and patience, the situation resolved without loss of life. He will be a strong leadership asset in any aspect of policing.
“Capt. Gilleran is a capable officer and with the strong support of his outstanding staff and will make a successful successor to Fitzgerald,” Corradino added.