19 rookie cops step up in Bridgeport

By AARON LEO
Staff writer
ConnPost Article Launched: 10/10/2008 10:37:18 PM EDT

19 rookie cops step up in Bridgeport - Topix

BRIDGEPORT -- Melody Pribesh started what could become a new family tradition Friday night.

The city police sergeant of 11 years pinned a police officer's badge on her son, Donald A. Bensey III, at a ceremony in City Hall where he and 18 others were sworn in, the city's 33rd class to graduate from the Bridgeport Police Academy. Bensey also had the highest academic score in the class.

"I'm very proud of him. He worked hard and he did really well," she said.

Pribesh, who also has three grown daughters, said she might pin badges on two more of her children someday.

"Two of my daughters are hoping," she said.

Meanwhile, 58-year-old Gilberto Feliciano, husband of 12-year veteran Officer Minerva Feliciano, got his police badge, three years after retiring from the U.S. Postal Service.

He completed 35 years at that job, but his heart was elsewhere. "I want to follow in my wife's steps," he said. "I feel great. I feel excited. I'm happy. I finally reached my goal."

"I'm really proud of him," his wife said.

Feliciano said he tested for the New York City police department during his 15th year with the postal service, but decide to stay with the post office. Also, the couple has two grown children, one a veteran and the other currently in the military.

Six of the city rookies live in Bridgeport. Sworn in to Bridgeport's department on Friday were Bensey, John R. Cholakian, Joseph J. Cruz III, Michael R. Davila, Feliciano, Ralph R. Fensore, Thomas F. Flaherty III, Thomas A. Gallbronner, Jeffrey A. Holtz, Omar Jimenez, Jarah Mathews-Dixon, John Pachera, Roberto Quintanilla Jr., Michael L. Salemme III, Christopher Smith, Matthew T. Szymczak, Angel M. Vazquez Jr., Robert J. Voccola and Alexander M. Wilde.

The rookies will earn about $42,000 a year to start, and join 432 other uniformed officers.

Also, Brandon Kaufman became a Bethel officer; Onoria Errichetti, Easton; Justin G. Bisceglie, Domenic Monteleone and Julio J. Rodriguez, Norwalk; John V. Kekac and Brian P. McPadden, Shelton; Anthony M. Giansanti and Robert M. Muschett, Stratford; and Jeremy P. Meurice, West Haven.

In Bridgeport, the new officers must complete at least 400 hours of field training and they finish their probation four months after that, said Lt. Aida Remele, head of training. The academy lasted 25 weeks.

Chief Bryan T. Norwood was slated to speak, according to the ceremony's program, but he did not attend. He leaves at the end of the month to head the Richmond, Va., police, after 2 1/2 years in Bridgeport. A meeting to select an interim chief, also scheduled for Friday, was pushed back to Tuesday.

But Remele and three deputy police chiefs addressed the graduates, as did Bensey.

Bensey said police work changes daily. "Today, an officer must be sharp and continuously trained. Our education will not end today. It seems the more you learn, the more there is to learn.," he said.

He also thanked Norwood, "who literally ran us to the ground" in the academy, he said.