A long first day for acting chief

By AARON LEO
Staff writerArticle Launched: 10/16/2008 12:31:22 AM EDT

BRIDGEPORT -- Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. had a long first day on the job Wednesday.

As he took the reins as the city's acting police chief, the detectives he now commands investigated three homicides that marred the night of his promotion.

In Mayor Bill Finch's office Wednesday afternoon, Gaudett was sworn in as acting chief, 20 hours after the first of the three street killings.

"They were completely unexpected," Gaudett said of the slayings, with no arrests made as of late Wednesday in the two unrelated incidents. "It reminds us why we need a police chief and a Police Department."

"We'll forge ahead and bring the guilty to justice. We're making progress," he added.

Moving forward and making progress was the theme of the short swearing-in ceremony in Finch's conference room at City Hall Annex.

After Finch read Gaudett the oath of office and asked him to execute the chief's duties, Gaudett responded, "Yes sir, I do."

Finch said he is confident that Gaudett, 47, a 25-year veteran of the city's police force who had risen to the rank of deputy chief, will work to keep violent crime down, extending a trend of falling incidents that was broken by the three slayings. The last homicide in the city took place July 29.

Gaudett's appointment fills the spot unexpectedly vacated by Bryan T. Norwood, who had been appointed the city's youngest chief at age 39 in April 2006. Norwood last week was appointed police chief in Richmond, Va., and officially resigned from his Bridgeport job Wednesday.

In August, the police union had approved a "no-confidence" motion in Norwood and Finch, and morale was reported to be low.

Gaudett also inherits 10 police officer layoffs, plus five other officers from the parks and schools police forces, as well as combative union contract negotiations and an order from Finch to cut overtime in half after the department exceeded its overtime budget by $1.3 million in the last fiscal year.

But in keeping with the progress theme, Gaudett vowed to improve the predicament the 432-officer Police Department is facing.

"Immediately, we want to bring the union and the administration back together and mend some fences," Gaudett said.

A national search for a permanent chief, required by city charter, could take six to eight months.