Hartford, Conn (WTIC Radio)-Two Bridgeport families who lost loved ones last December and were never notified of their deaths by Bridgeport Police, testified before the Judiciary Committee on a measure to take corrective action.
The measure calls on police to contact next of kin about the loss of a loved one within a practicable time period.
Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls were both found on December 12th. Smith-Fields family found about her death from her landlord. Rawls family had to contact the Medical Examiner's office to find out about her passing.
"I just need for everyone to be treated as a human being and be notified of their family's loss and be treated with respect and kindness, which the Bridgeport Police department didn't allow us," Shantell Fields, the mother of Lauren Smith-Fields said.
Dorothy Washington lost her sister Brenda Lee Rawls. "To this day we have not had a meeting with officers or the department. They have not not entertained meeting us at all. That's really sad. To this day we have no more information than the first day that we found my sister."
The two Bridgeport officers are the subject of an internal affairs investigation.