After about 4½ years on the job, Chapman is out as the city's top cop. His last day was Jan. 21.

Earlier that week, in a surprise decision, the city Board of Police Commissioners unanimously recommended against offering Chapman a second five-year contract.

A few days later, the city bought out the remaining seven months of Chapman's existing contract and he cleared out his desk at the police department's Congress Street headquarters.

Fabrizi appointed Anthony Armeno, a 20-year department veteran, as acting chief. A search for a new permanent chief will begin soon, which involves a civil service test, the mayor's selection among the top three finishers, and City Council approval.

According to Fabrizi, priorities for Armeno will be reducing overtime, studying deployment tactics, and increasing school safety and community input.

Chapman had been praised for overseeing a steady drop in Bridgeport's crime rate, but also had been criticized for being hard to reach and often unresponsive to requests. Increasing police overtime costs raised questions about his management abilities.

His relationship with the police board often was troubled. Chapman also was criticized for accepting bonus pay for not using sick days when he actually missed more than 70 days of work one year. The controversial bonus pay policy since has been eliminated.

Chief had detractors

Few seem to be upset to see Chapman - hired in 2000 as an outsider by former Mayor Joseph P. Ganim - leave Bridgeport.

Before coming to Bridgeport, Chapman, 57, was New York City Transportation Commissioner and a high-ranking member of the New York City Police Department.

He has said he now plans to manage a restaurant in Jacksonville, Fla., of which he is a part owner.

"The department is better off without him," said police board President Thomas L. Kanasky Jr. "I haven't had one person talk to me who has had a negative comment about what we did - from police officers to public officials."

Kanasky said interaction with Chapman left a lot to be desired. "In the seven months I've been on the board, I've never gotten anything from him," he said. "He never provided us with any pertinent information on what was going on in the department."

Fabrizi said his relationship with Chapman was deteriorating. "The chief demanded to get reappointed - he basically wanted an answer the day I walked in the door 20 months ago - and I wasn't ready to make that decision yet, so he decided to make things difficult," Fabrizi said.

Chapman did have some supporters among City Council members, although it's questionable if a majority of the council would have backed his reappointment.

Council President Andres Ayala Jr. said Chapman was "always responsive to my needs" and deserves some credit for lower crime rates.

At the same time, Ayala said the department "won't miss a beat" with the appointment of the interim chief.

Council member Thomas A. Mulligan Jr. said he wasn't aware of problems with Chapman, but thinks the situation was handled correctly. "You need a good, cooperative arrangement between the mayor and chief, and that broke down," he said.

Chapman's five-year contract was to expire at the end of August. He earned about $105,000 annually and, based on the buyout, will be paid his remaining salary for seven months but will not be compensated for earned sick days.

The city charter restricts the police chief to serving two five-year terms, a policy enacted to prevent anyone from becoming as powerful as former longtime city Police Supt. Joseph Walsh.

'He wasn't responding'

Fabrizi, who had not publicly expressed unhappiness with Chapman before the past few weeks, said he was following the proper process before deciding whether to reappoint Chapman. Council approval also was required.

He said he was waiting for the police board to make its recommendation, and he couldn't have made his decision official until March based on the charter timeline.

Fabrizi said he wasn't getting the information he needed from Chapman to try to reduce police overtime costs. "He wasn't responding to our requests for information," Fabrizi said. "We were being stonewalled."

Chapman has blamed understaffing for high overtime costs, but Fabrizi disagreed. "I blame it on the manager," he said, referring to Chapman.

Kanasky said the police board also had difficulty getting timely data from Chapman. He said he had requested past monthly overtime budgets for comparison reasons, but Chapman never supplied the information.

At the Jan. 18 police board meeting, during which Chapman's future was decided, Kanasky said he asked board members if they had the information needed to oversee financial and disciplinary matters, and they responded in the negative.

Earlier, Kanasky said, the chief backed out of a special meeting set up so Chapman could give an overview on various matters. His excuse was that bringing other top police officials to explain issues would cost $2,100 in overtime, Kanasky said.

"We had a series of questions for him, but he didn't show up," Kanasky said.

He said Chapman never directly called him, despite being told he was welcome to do so. Instead, Chapman communicated with board members almost exclusively through a board clerk.

He said Chapman had been sending contrasting signals about whether he wanted to be reappointed, and appeared to "change his story" at times.

Kanasky said he suspects Chapman was hoping to have his contract bought out so he could leave early. "He got what he wanted," he said.