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Perez will be the first Cuban-American police chief in Connecticut history. The public is invited to the 5 p.m. ceremony in the City Council Chambers.
Chief since 2009, Gaudett, a 33-year department veteran, will become a consultant for emergency communications within the Bridgeport Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, reporting directly to the mayor’s office.
“I want to thank Joe Gaudett for his dedicated service to the public safety of Bridgeport and I look forward to working with him in his new role,” Ganim said. “I am also elated to name AJ Perez, a widely respected veteran of the Bridgeport Police Department as our city’s next chief. This is a new day in Bridgeport, and we will have a new direction in our police department."
Perez is a highly decorated officer who has served the department for 32 years. He recently oversaw the Bridgeport Violent Crime Reduction Task Force and has been head of the department’s detective bureau for two years.
Ganim said Perez will bolster relationships with the community.
“We will return to the fundamentals of community policing and effective law enforcement, building up the size of the police force and the trust between the Bridgeport police and our community,” Ganim said. “AJ Perez is a natural leader that will inspire his fellow Bridgeport police and I look forward to swearing him in.”
Perez said he was “honored and humbled” to be chosen.
“We are going to do great things in the city of Bridgeport, and I believe in the leadership that Mayor Ganim is providing to our city and to the police department. Together and with all the talented men and women of the Bridgeport police department, we will make our city safer. We believe in the Bridgeport that can be!”
In his resignation letter, Gaudett expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve as chief.
“I believe that we have made great strides as a department the past several years, mostly because of the talented and committed officers and supervisors within our department,” he wrote to Ganim. “I am sure that these new leaders are poised to lead Bridgeport into a great renaissance, with your support, in partnership with the community.”
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