That is a road that, many years ago, people prayed for you if you had to drive on it. Bridgeport, which has an estimated population of 7,800, only had 20 police officers for the city, which is an average of 2.56 officers per 1,000 residents. Although it shares some coverage with other area cities, Clayton said having too few officers could be a problem. We have to watch where our officers are going to be. You can't have too many in one place.
Travel becomes a problem.
Like other cities in the state, Bridgeport depends on other area towns to help in cases where additional police are needed. If we need help, we have help from the sheriff's department, but we don't have the officers to provide a lot of auxiliary services. Even in Summersville, Moore said he has had to reduce his two-officer drug task force to one officer. But in most cases, his force doesn't have to prioritize its calls. If someone needs a police officer, there is a police officer for every call, Moore said.