Council members want to question acting police chief over transfers
BRIDGEPORT — The City Council’s public safety committee is divided over a major shake-up among the police department’s captains by Acting Chief Rebeca Garcia.
Some allege the reassignments, announced internally Wednesday, were retaliation against certain members of the force who are challenging Garcia’s 2019 promotion to assistant chief in court. But others argue Garcia needs to be left alone to pursue necessary reforms.
Councilman Ernie Newton is in the former group. On Thursday in an email, he called on the public safety committee’s cochairs to schedule a special meeting with Garcia for her to explain why she gave captains Lonnie Blackwell, Brian Fitzgerald, Kev
in Gilleran and Roderick Porter new responsibilities. Newton is not a member of the committee.
“The people she moved are the people that have lawsuits against her,” Newton said in an interview, referring specifically to Fitzgerald and Porter. The pair along with some other officers have sued over Garcia’s appointment to assistant police chief, calling it “unlawful and invalid” and arguing they were as qualified for the role but not permitted the chance to apply.
Mayor Joe Ganim made Garcia acting top cop last September following the arrest of then-Police Chief Armando Perez for cheating on the 2018 exam that helped him obtain that job.
“If you were on the outside looking in and seeing these are the officers filing lawsuits against her, what would you think unless she explains it to us?” Newton said Thursday.
Neither Garcia nor Ganim’s office responded to Newton’s allegation. Rowena White, the mayor’s communications director, on Wednesday said: “Acting Chief Garcia is making personnel adjustments.”
Also Wednesday, Fitzgerald and Porter referred comments to their lawyer, Thomas Bucci, who said he was “weighing our options.”
Garcia met with Newton and the rest of the public safety committee Jan. 5 and briefed members on a variety of issues, from increases in homicides and shootings in 2020 to a lack of manpower. At the time, she said she was “restructuring” but did not provide details.
Councilwoman Maria Valle, a committee co-chair, told The Connecticut Post Thursday that Garcia wants members of the force moved around to share their knowledge and gain new experiences. Of the retaliation accusation, Valle said, “I don’t see it.”
Another public safety committee member, Jeanette Herron, agreed: “At the last meeting, Acting Chief Garcia said there were changes coming, that she was restructuring. So I’m not sure why it’s a surprise.”
Herron acknowledged some may find “the timing a little off” given the recent development in the lawsuit over Garcia — on Jan. 6, a state marshal notified Ganim that the mayor had to give a deposition — but said “change has to be made. We’ve all complained about the police department (and) that things need to be improved.”
But three other committee members — Michelle Lyons, Maria Pereira and Avelino Silva — all said in interviews Thursday they share Newton’s concerns and want another opportunity to interview Garcia.
“It would help bring transparency to the department as well as educate constituents on what’s going on,” Lyons said.
“We can’t have leaders — I’m not saying it’s happening — but we can’t have leaders retaliating because he or she does not like something,” Silva said. “We absolutely have to bring her (Garcia) back and hopefully we get some answers.”
“I believe this is 100 percent retaliation,” Pereira said. She, however, also accused her colleagues of “hypocrisy” for wanting to question Garcia but not supporting her failed effort last summer to bring the health director before the council to discuss some personnel matters and complaints from staff.
When Pereira’s request came up at the full, 20person council’s Aug. 3 meeting, it was tabled, with Newton, according to the minutes, stating: “The council should not be in the business of handling employee disputes.”
Newton told The Post on Thursday that the council has a right to understand what is happening within the police department: “It’s not about micromanaging. It’s about being in the loop.”
But Council President Aidee Nieves also pushed back against the need for Garcia to immediately explain her motivations to the council. Nieves, too, acknowledged how the timing of the captains’ reassignments “is awkward” and “it may seem like it’s retaliatory, but I don’t see it as moving anybody around to be vengeful.”
“There’s room for movement,” Nieves said of the police department. “She needs to put her strongest people where she feels they will be more impactful . ... Right now, it doesn’t warrant an update (to the council).”