The Bridgeport Police Hispanic Society are demanding the resignation of Assistant Police Chief James Nardozzi after he allowed a college professor to lead departmental ethic lectures that were filled with slurs and racist statements.

The Hispanic Society sent a letter to Mayor Bill Finch, which indicated that the assistant police asked a John Jay College of Criminal Justice graduate faculty member, William McDonald, to host a series of ethics trainings for the department's lieutenants and sergeants.  It was during one of those training sessions that McDonald repeatedly referred to Hispanics as "spic." Nardozzi simply stood idly by and allowed him to use the language.

Being that nearly one-fourth (100 out of 427) of the officers in that department identify as Hispanic, a large chunk of that force was justifiably livid.

"Right now we're not asking for an apology," said Juan Santiago Jr, who is an officer and president of the Hispanic Society. "We want him to resign or for the administration to fire him. How could (Nardozzi) not say anything?"

Mayor Finch responded to the situation with a short statement and has asked Police Chief Joseph Gaudett to review the incident, and is awaiting a report.

"It has been brought to my attention that there was language used by a non-city employee conducting a police training class that was offensive to many of the officers present," Finch said. "This is a very serious allegation, and it goes without saying that my administration does not condone offensive language of any kind. With that said, I will refrain from further comment until all the facts have been presented."

Nardozzi, the second highest ranking officer in the department, was brought in to manage the overtime billed by Bridgeport's police department. And, being the second highest ranking officer, many believed that he should have intervened and addressed the language that McDonald was using. Sergeants and lieutenants were said to feel degraded as they waited for Nardozzi to speak up, but he never voiced his opposition to the malicious and hateful words being used. When it became apparent that Nardozzi would not verbalize outrage, Sergeant Roberto Melendez expressed his upset with the language being used by the professor.

"We can't allow someone to bring somebody in to talk like that and disrespect us and our community," Santiago said. "We can't do that. I've talked to a lot of my members and they are upset."

Neither Assistant Police Chief James Nardozzi, Police Chief Joseph Gaudett, Professor William McDonald nor John Jay College of Criminal Justice have made a comment or issued a statement regarding the incident.