According to Mayor Joseph P. Ganim of Bridgeport, Connecticut, the two sergeants initially leading the Lauren Smith-Fields murder mystery have been suspended. Kevin Cronin and Angel Llanos are being investigated by the police department's internal affairs office and have been removed from the case. 

They had also been in charge of the Brenda Lee Rawls case concerning a 53-year-old African American woman who was found dead in her home on December 12, 2021.

Her family did not find out about her death until two days after.

Rawls' sister, Dorothy Washington, claimed that Bridgeport police failed to notify her of her sibling's death, and she was given the wrong contact information for the detective on the case.

When Washington did finally get in touch with the officer presiding over the incident, Llanos, she felt neglected, saying, "I called Llanos about four to five times, left messages for him, and he never responded."

Critics have raised allegations of both misogynoir and racism against the police department over the perceived lack of action in both instances.  

Ganim says disciplinary actions have been taken against detectives Cronin and Llanos due to a "lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police policy" in the handling of both investigations.

He continued, saying, "It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed. To the families, friends and all who care about the human decency that should be shown in these situations in this case by members of the Bridgeport Police Department, I am very sorry."

Both cases remain under evaluation.