BRIDGEPORT- Last week, Mayor Ganim announced his “do over” for Chief of Police. Just days after Bridgeport residents spoke out at two community forums about the need to keep politics out of this new search, Former Personnel Director David Dunn was in court yesterday trying to save his almost $81,000 annual pension from being revoked by a judge.

From The Connecticut Post: Former city personnel director David Dunn told a judge Wednesday that he was influenced by others to help Armando Perez cheat his way into becoming police chief.

But Dunn, who served just over three months in a federal prison for the cheating scheme, did not name those people.

“There were numerous people who spoke on his (Perez) behalf to me and wanted him to succeed as chief,” he testified.

During his trial, in which he is trying to save his nearly $81,000 annual pension from being revoked by the judge, Dunn also downplayed the extent of his actions.

Under questioning by Assistant Attorney General Gregory O’Connell, he admitted supplying Perez with the questions to the examination in advance and adapting the scoring for the process to benefit Perez.

But he said he was unaware that Perez had two other officers take the exam for him. And he was evasive on whether he lied to the FBI about telling one of the panelists scoring the chief selection process that Mayor Joe Ganim wanted Perez to be one of the finalists for the job.

The Connecticut Post, “Dunn: Bridgeport police chief exam cheating influenced by others wanting Perez to get job,” by Daniel Tepfer, June 8th, 2022

The overall message at last week’s community forums is that Bridgeport needs a chief who is ready to transform the department’s culture, crack down on bad actors, and work hard to be honest, transparent and win back the community’s trust.

“We have been traumatized by a chief and department that functions on political motivation,” said Gemeem Davis, a head of the Bridgeport Generation Now civic group, Thursday.

Residents know that the Bridgeport Police Department is in crisis, racked with police violence and misconduct, incidents of racism, and internal power struggles and corruption.

💥💥 If you missed the first two forums, there will be a 3rd forum on Monday, June 13th at 6:00pm at Central High School in the auditorium! And if you haven’t yet, please complete the online survey 💥💥