Bridgeport Reports Large Drop

In Crime During 2003

BRIDGEPORT (AP) –– Connecticut’s largest city experienced a nearly 16 percent drop in crime during 2003, according to Bridgeport police.

“We’re going to have the largest crime decrease in the city’s history,” Police Chief Wilbur Chapman told the Connecticut Post.

There also has been a 38 percent reduction in crime at public housing complexes in the city, Chief Chapman said.

The decrease comes despite the loss of about 50 policing positions, left vacant because of retirements and budget cuts.

“The men and women of the Bridgeport Police Department have done an absolutely super job,” he said. “It’s a tribute to their dedication and their efficiency. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

There was a slight increase in homicides in Bridgeport. Fifteen people were killed last year, compared to 13 in 2002.

That is still dramatically lower that the 63 homicides reported in 1992 and much lower than the 46 homicides reported in Hartford in 2003.

Hartford statistics, however, include the 16 people killed in last February’s nursing home fire. In October, 23-year-old Lesley Andino, a former resident of the Greenwood Health Care Center in Hartford, was ruled unfit to stand trial on 16 counts of murder by arson.

New Haven had recorded eight homicides as of December 29, one less than the previous year.