Police records room resumes full-time hours

By Keila Torres
ConnPost STAFF WRITER
Updated: 03/12/2009 11:51:27 PM EDT

Under scrutiny, police records room reopens - Topix

BRIDGEPORT -- Police officers are working overtime to make up for deep staff reductions in the Police Department's records room.

In January, during the last round of citywide layoffs, four typist positions were eliminated in the records division and five other workers were "bumped" from their jobs by employees with more seniority, eliminating the entire nine-person records staff.

The only staff members left were Sgt. James Kirkland, who is in charge of the records room, and Officer Jonna Mack, who were left to train the five new people who took jobs in the records division as a result of the bumping process.

Because of the shake-up, the records room's hours of operation were cut to Monday, Wednesday and Friday from noon to 4 p.m. It was closed all day Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Kirkland and Mack also began logging a combined 48 hours of overtime a week, worth about $2,443, according to acting Police Chief Joseph Gaudett.

At the end of February, however, Andrew Nunn, the city's chief administrative officer, sent an e-mail to department heads informing them all departments must remain open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, unless authorized to do otherwise by the mayor.

"Recent budget cuts have led to departments requesting a reduction of public hours due to workload and staff reductions. Please be advised that the mayor has not authorized this," Nunn wrote.

As of Monday, however, the police records room was still open to the public only three days a week.

Asked on Wednesday why his department did not revert back to the standard hours until Tuesday, the day after a Connecticut Post reporter inquired about the reduction in hours, Gaudett said, "I was not included in that group. I basically didn't receive the memo."

The records room is now open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. According to Elaine Ficarra, the spokeswoman for Mayor Bill Finch, "Light-duty officers will be assigned regular hours in the records room to help manage the window and fulfill the public's requests."

Gaudett confirmed that the two officers assigned to the records room will not be logging overtime. He also said he may assign another officer to the division in the "near future" to restore the half-day schedule on Saturdays, when the office had been open from 9 a.m. to noon.

"The new folks are getting up to speed slowly. Thank God for Kirkland and Mack, and their willingness ... making sure the work gets done," Gaudett said.