By Daniel Tepfer
Connecticut Post
BRIDGEPORT — A senior police official, who has been pushing for a system to be installed in city schools that would electronically prevent convicted sex offenders from visiting schools, has a convicted sex offender living in his home.
“This is pure hypocrisy,” said Maria Pereira, a former school board member who is now a city activist. “He would support a program when he has in his own home a man who sexually assaulted a school-age child.”
Capt. Roderick Porter, who oversees security in the city’s schools, took in his 31-year-old nephew, Devonn Porter, last year after the nephew had served a nine-month prison term for second-degree sexual assault. Their home is a short walk from an elementary school.
Devonn Porter, who had been accused of impregnating a 13-year-old girl in Stratford in 2010 -- when he was 27 -- pleaded guilty in November 2012 to second-degree sexual assault and, according to court records, was sentenced to 10 years, suspended after he served nine months and followed by 10 years’ probation. He was ordered to register as a sex offender.
Roderick Porter did not return calls for comment.
Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. supported the captain, calling him “a great police officer” who “cares deeply about his family.”
In a statement, Gaudett said, “The fact is that (Roderick Porter’s) sister passed away recently, and her son -- and Capt. Porter’s nephew -- was released from prison after serving time for a sex offense. Since his nephew had no other place to turn, Capt. Porter is helping him get back on his feet.”
Gaudett said the return to freedom of people who have served time is societal reality.
“We confront this reality by finding that the best way to ensure that people are not put in a position where they can fall back into committing additional crimes,” he said. “We do this in partnership with efforts like Project Longevity and through The Workplace and other agencies that provide support that help people succeed. And, we succeed with the support of families, which is exactly what Capt. Porter is doing in this case. As a community, we don’t want to turn a blind eye and hope for the best.”
Earlier this year, Roderick Porter wrote a grant application for state money to fund the Fast Pass system, a now controversial program to identify sex offenders if they show up at city schools.
Porter ended up defending the system against opposition from members of Bridgeport’s Board of Education, the American Civil Liberties Union and parents during a meeting of the school board’s security committee in October.
Gaudett said in his statement Wednesday that the purpose of Fast Pass “to keep our kids safe.”
“It’s a system that cross-checks visitor information against the federal sex offender watch lists,” he said, “replacing old handwritten log-in sheets with a new electronic system.”
But opponents have said they were concerned that the system -- which would match photos of school visitors to the state’s sex offender registry -- could deter parents from getting involved in their children’s schools, and that the technology could be abused. The system has not been implemented.
“Here we have a captain of the Bridgeport Police Department promoting the installation of the Fast Pass Visitor Identification System in the Bridgeport Public Schools because it was so critical that we protect vulnerable children from sex offenders -- however he has a registered sex offender that impregnated a child living in his home,” said Tammy Boyle, president of the District Parent Advisory Council.