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Bridgeport Boosts Community Relations, Security With New Police Post

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Mayor Joe Ganim and Police Chief Armando Perez officially reactivated a police post at P.T. Barnum Apartments Thursday, in a months-long plan to provide more visible community policing in strategic locations across the city.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim tours the new police post at  P.T. Barnum Apartments with Sgt. Frank Cuccaro, left, and Officer Michael Salemme, right.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim tours the new police post at P.T. Barnum Apartments with Sgt. Frank Cuccaro, left, and Officer Michael Salemme, right.

Photo Credit: Meredith Guinness
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, fourth from left, and Police Chief Armando Perez, fifth from left, join city and state leaders in opening a police post at P.T. Barnum Apartments Thursday.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, fourth from left, and Police Chief Armando Perez, fifth from left, join city and state leaders in opening a police post at P.T. Barnum Apartments Thursday.

Photo Credit: Meredith Guinness

Earlier this week, the city re-opened a police post at St. Vincent’s Medical Center’s Emergency Room to improve safety and reduce response time in emergencies.

“There will definitely be a police presence,” Perez told state and local leaders at the re-opening Thursday. “That’s the game changer. It makes our officers part of the community.”

Other substations have opened or are planned at Trumbull Gardens, Marina Village, Charles F. Green Homes, downtown and on Stratford Avenue.

The sites will not be open 24 hours a day, but Perez said that means the “bad guys” won’t know when to expect officers working in the area.

The Bridgeport Housing Authority donated the P.T. Barnum site, a four-room Bird Street apartment with a kitchen and space to interview witnesses and suspects, write reports and be available for residents’ questions and concerns.

Officers set up a table with junior police badges and Bridgeport Police Department pencils and refrigerator magnets they planned to pass out during the day.

The plan is part of a partnership with the housing authority in response to residents’ safety concerns at public housing complexes around Bridgeport.

Ganim praised Perez for bringing on more officers and identifying key areas of focus to promote security.

“Your department has stepped up the game,” he said.

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