Bridgeport promotes six cops

By Noelle Frampton, STAFF WRITER
Updated: 07/02/2009 12:45:16 AM EDT

BRIDGEPORT -- Acting Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. told the six police officers sworn in to higher ranks on Wednesday that they should consider themselves "mini-chiefs" in their areas of influence.

"We should move away from the idea that only the people at the top should do the thinking," he said, during the ceremony in City Council chambers in City Hall. "It is time to accept personal responsibility for the condition of our officers, the crime in our neighborhoods and our relationships with the community. These are extraordinary times and they require extraordinary leadership. There is still much more to do."

Gaudett challenged city policemen and women to employ creative problem solving and to be motivated by what is best for the police department, rather than what is best for themselves.

The six promotees included two promoted to captain from lieutenant and four promoted to lieutenant from sergeant to fill positions left vacant by retirements.

They are among the department's eight captains and 21 lieutenants, leaving five unfilled positions still at captain, 14 vacancies at sergeant and 12 at detective, said Sgt. John Cueto. All of those promoted took the promotional test in 2007, he said, adding that the captains promotional list expires in November, while the lieutenant's list expires in March. There are 420 total department members.

Newly sworn Capt. James Viadero, a 24-year veteran of the force, was the most senior officer to be promoted. Generally beloved in the department, he was greeted with cheers and enthusiastic applause when he received his pin.

"I'm just very proud to have gone this far and I'm just very proud to work with the people I work with on a day-to-day basis," he said after the ceremony. "I consider them some of the best police officers in the state."

Viadero served in the patrol division until 1990, when he was assigned as a supervisor to the Selective Enforcement Team. As sergeant and lieutenant, he has served in patrol, Training Division and the Detective Bureau. The department's former spokesman, he is a member of its Underwater Search and Rescue Unit.

Also promoted to captain was Robert Sapiro, an 18-year veteran, who has spent most of his career in patrol, most recently as a lieutenant on the day shift, but also worked as a lieutenant in the Office of Internal Affairs and spent three years as a detective.

Christine Burns, Albert Karpus, Steve Lougal and William Mayer were promoted to lieutenant.

Burns has spent 12 years on the force, the bulk of that in patrol -- most recently as a supervisor on the midnight shift -- with some time working in communications. Karpus, with 18 years under his belt, has worked in patrol and as a detective, plus more than three years in internal affairs.

Lougal has spent his 12 years in the department in patrol. A member of the Underwater Search and Rescue Unit, he was recently certified to use the department's newly acquired ATVs. Mayer, with 22 years on the force, also worked in patrol, plus the Detective Bureau's Identification Unit and internal affairs.

Mayor Bill Finch, who administered each promotee's oath, congratulated them for rising to the top "with the cards you were dealt," and thanked them for enduring sometimes disturbing and painful experiences to maintain law and order.