Police chief explains Bridgeport’s problems: ‘people have abandoned God’

Sam Marks, of Bridgeport, holds up a poster showing his support for Bridgeport Police Officers during a community march in solidarity with the police officers outside of police headquarters in Bridgeport, Conn., on Saturday Sept. 24, 2016. In the foreground at left is Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez. Dozens of residents joined members of the department and local clergy and officials at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Park Avenue. Everyone proceeded to march to police headquarters nearby. less Sam Marks, of Bridgeport, holds up a poster showing his support for Bridgeport Police Officers during a community march in solidarity with the police officers outside of police headquarters in Bridgeport, ... more Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Police chief explains Bridgeport’s problems: ‘people have abandoned God’ 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT — Teens joining gangs? Shooting incidents on the rise?

The city’s top law enforcement officer thinks irreligiosity is a major factor in the problems facing the city.

“We need God in our lives,” Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez said Saturday to a group of around 50 people following a police solidarity march.

Perez, who is Catholic, addressed a group of mostly church members between the police department and City Hall.

“The problems that we’re having is because people have abandoned church, people have abandoned God, and that cannot happen,” he said.

The march was organized by City Councilwoman Rev. Mary McBride-Lee, who introduced speakers under the white cross of a church on Park Avenue.

Marchers chanted religious slogans like “one faith, one city, one baptism,” and civil rights mottoes such as “no justice, no peace.”

About a dozen officers and four police cars accompanied the marchers down Washington Avenue to the memorial circle outside police headquarters, where a Black Lives Matter protest was held in July following a series of police shootings around the United States.

Recent high-profile shootings hung over Saturday’s event as well.

“We see challenges across the country, whether it’s Charlotte, (N.C.) whether it’s Tulsa, (Okla.),” Mayor Joe Ganim said at the start of the march, where he acknowledged the diverse class of new officers who recently graduated from police academy.

“We’re not a perfect police department, we’re not a perfect community. And I’m far from a perfect mayor,” the former felon said. “but we understand the sensitivities of providing law and order, (and) also community policing.”

Perez’s police department didn’t start any of these national stories, but has been forced to contend with them. The focus of the July protest was less to confront local issues and more to show solidarity with national groups over high-profile shootings of unarmed black men.

But those national events impact policing locally, at every traffic stop and, yes, doughnut shop.

“I was in the drive-thru at Dunkin’ Donuts (this week) and I see a cop pass in his car. He didn’t do anything to me, but I felt scared,” said banker Dawn Thompson, 52, of Shelton.

Thompson did not attend the march (she hadn’t heard about it). She spoke to Hearst Connecticut Media after participating in a conversation with her Bridgeport friends (and former neighbors — she used to own a home here) on Facebook that chronicled the pains of watching a video of a Tulsa police officer shoot a black man who some said appeared to pose little threat to police.

“As a mother of a black, young, 6-foot-tall man, I live in fear of getting that news,” she said. “I want him to live a long life, and do things I never got to do.”

Police officers, meanwhile, have noticed a wave of positive interactions with the public in the past three months, with people going out of their way to show appreciation

“Officers have gone into Dunkin’ Donuts ... and citizens want to buy their coffee,” said Bridgeport Patrol Lt. William Mayer, 60, of Trumbull. “(The media) want the public to think that we feel like they’re all against us, but we don’t feel that at all.”

The march did not attract any counterprotesters. But there was a voice of dissent on an internal policing issue.

Thompson called on “our Caucasian brothers and sisters” to take a larger role in confronting the police violence issue. She also said that she prays.

Perez, in his remarks, advocated a lot more praying.

“Let’s bring God back in our lives, back in our church — bring our kids — in our city, in our schools — absolutely,” Perez told the crowd.

When asked to clarify his remarks, Perez said that he didn’t advocate a specific religious belief, though he stood by his statement about religion in schools.