Police union head: Chokeholds already not part of training
BRIDGEPORT — The new president of the city’s police union said this week his members “are not trained to do chokeholds” and already use body cameras.
Sgt. Brad Seely’s statement came amid a scramble by Mayor Joe Ganim, the all- Democrat City Council and activists to advance proposals for local public safety reforms following the
death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
There have been calls for improved training to avoid violent confrontations, a ban on using chokeholds to restrain suspects and demands to equip all Bridgeport officers with uniform cameras that must be turned on when interacting with the public.
Four Minneapolis officers were charged with Floyd’s death, including Derek Chauvin, a white man, captured on video pressing his knee onto the neck of Floyd, a black man, for nearly nine minutes — an image that has further intensified the national soul- searching over law enforcement’s treatment of people of color.
Bridgeport’s union, some of whose members have been embroiled in their own high- profile cases of excessive force in recent years, had remained quiet on the developments of the past weeks. Then Seely, who took over as president in April for the retired Chuck Paris, on Wednesday issued a statement offering “our hearts ... to all victims of injustice.”
“I cannot stress the point strongly enough: Under no circumstances will our union ever condone, justify or defend acts that are not only criminal in nature, but that go totally against the oath we took to serve and protect our communities,” Seely said. “We are committed to the values of professionalism and respect for all human beings.”
But Seely also indicated some of the measures being pursued in Bridgeport would be redundant.
“We also understand the concern and frustration of elected officials,” he said. “However, our officers are not trained to do chokeholds. We have regular training on de- escalation and the use of force where necessary. ( And) we already wear body cameras, and they are triggered to start 30 seconds prior to the response.”
The council is scheduled to discuss some reforms at its regular meeting Monday. President Aidee Nieves said she hoped Police Chief Armando Perez, Assistant Chief Rebeca Garcia and a representative with the city’s police academy would attend to offer their own views and field questions.
Improving policing in Bridgeport “has to be a collaborative
effort,” she said. “The mayor cannot own ( reforms) by himself. The chief cannot own it by himself. The council cannot own it by itself. We need a formalized dialogue with benchmarks and measures to meet.”
Bridgeport police launched a pilot program for body cams in early 2018. The cameras have since become standard issue for patrols, but Nieves alleged: “They don’t turn them on. That is the feedback some council members have been given. They want to make sure that’s revisited.”
When The Connecticut Post last year reviewed hours of footage from a May 2019 rally in Bridgeport during which protesters and a reporter were arrested, officers were using uniform and dashboard cameras, but the sound was often manually muted when they were not interacting with the public and talking among themselves.
Seely’s statement did not address another proposed reform — using police overtime to pay for settlements stemming from lawsuits over brutality and use of excessive force. On May 4, for example, the council authorized a $ 342,500 settlement with Carmelo Mendez and another $ 20,000
settlement with his sister, Wanda Mendez, on allegations that 17 police officers either used excessive force or lied about not seeing it being used while breaking up a 2017 party on Colorado Avenue.
Larry Dorman, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees which includes Bridgeport’s police union, said the monetary solution was “a distraction.”
“Overtime is a function, obviously, of staffing, so to me that’s just simply distracting and not particularly relevant. It just sounds like a punitive approach and not at all rooted in common sense.”
And from a practical standpoint, while the mayor and council often complain about increases in police overtime and have cut it during the spring budget season, ultimately the money for those extra hours worked has always been found in the city coffers and paid.
Seely in his statement concluded: “In times of crisis, we need to work together to make our city better and safer. Our police department and our union have been and will be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
But Nieves complained neither she nor her colleagues have heard from the police union.
“If they don’t agree with what the council’s wanting to do, they should be calling,” Nieves said. “I get no communication.”
On Monday’s council agenda is a measure introduced in February, championed in part by Councilman Ernie Newton, that would require the council be notified well in advance of when contracts expire, apprised of any changes unions want and given the opportunity to suggest some negotiating terms.
“The whole purpose of this was to sit at the table,” Councilwoman Jeanette Herron, a contracts committee co- chairman with Newton, said this week.
“Right now, all we do is ( vote) ‘ yes’ or ‘ no,’ ” Newton told the contracts committee. “Half the people voting don’t even know what’s in the contracts. This will give an opportunity to have a voice.”
If approved Monday, one of the first major collective bargaining pacts the council could get more involved in would be the police department’s, which expires June 30, 2021.