WLNE's Jim Hummel had the story last night of an officer reassigned to monitoring the metal detector at Providence Police headquarters, reportedly because he was hitting on attractive women during traffic stops. BeloBlog says an internal investigation is under way for an officer accused of improper conduct during MV stops.

Meanwhile, WPRI-WNAC's Tim White had a piece last night on how taxpayers are paying the gas costs for a Providence police lieutenant whose daily commute takes him from the other side of Hartford, Connecticut, to Providence and back.

It's not a big surprise that the Providence FOP, as Buddy Cianci reports, is backing Governor Carcieri's executive order on immigration -- in direct contrast to the stance taken by Dean Esserman.

For his part, Cianci agrees with those who describe the focus on illegal immigration as misplaced. "People want an excuse," he said this morning. "They blame the illegal immigration," which, as Cianci noted, is a relatively small influence in Rhode Island's $450 million budget deficit.

According to audio, via WPRO, from the Providence Police Department's news conference today, Police Chief Dean Esserman says the Providence department won't participate in Governor Carcieri's order calling on local police to work with federal authorities on illegal immigration.

Esserman expressed concern that the order could make Providence residents less likely to report crime. He said he doesn't want to risk the trust that the police have developed in the community.

Dan Yorke, a sharp critic of Esserman, talked about the issue a short time ago with Superintendent Brendan Doherty of the state police. "Reasonable minds may differ," said Doherty, who indicated that the state police will follow the details of Carcieri's immigration order. To not address it, Doherty said, "would be hiding from the issue."

Btw, here's part of the official PPD release about today's newser:

PROVIDENCE- Mayor David N. Cicilline and Providence Police Chief Dean M. Esserman today announced the findings of the United States Justice Department’s five-year investigation into patterns and practices at the Providence Police Department.  The federal probe by the Civil Rights Division began in 2002 under the previous administration following allegations that Providence Police were using excessive force and providing police services in “a discriminatory fashion.”  In issuing its findings, the Justice Department concluded that the Providence Police Department “has made significant improvements” under Chief Esserman’s leadership.

 

“The Department of Justice has completed its review into the Providence Police Department (PPD),” stated the head of the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, Shanetta Y. Cultlar, in a letter to Chief Esserman, “We want to thank you for your leadership and cooperation throughout the duration of this matter and we are pleased to report that the matter is now closed.”

 

“This is a police department that used to exist under a cloud of corruption, low morale and was at war with the community,” said Mayor Cicilline.  “The Justice Department’s findings validate the hard work of the men and women of the Police Department to transform this agency into a national model in law enforcement.”

 

“Credit goes to the rank and file of this great police department for all the success and recognition here today,” said Colonel Esserman.

For a reminder of how problem-plagued the Providence Police Department used to be, let's recall that the situation was serious enough that the US Department of Justice launched a patterns and practice investigation involving the PPD.

While Police Chief Dean Esserman has his critics, particularly at WPRO, I credit the chief for bringing some much-needed improvements to the department, including an overdue and robust commitment to community policing.

And this announcement came in a short time ago:

PROVIDENCE- Mayor David N. Cicilline and Police Colonel Dean M. Esserman will announce the findings of a United States Justice Department’s investigation into patterns and practices at the Providence Police Department at a news conference on Thursday, April 3 at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium at the Public Safety Complex, 325 Washington Street.

 

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division began an investigation into the PPD in 2002 based on allegations of excessive force and discriminatory police practices. City Council President Peter Mancini, NAACP President Cliff Monteiro, Urban League of RI President Dennis Langley, U.S. Attorney Robert Corrente, Attorney General Patrick Lynch, State Police Colonel Brendan Doherty, Fraternal Order of Police President Kenneth Cohen, and FBI agents Jeffrey Sallet and Joan Buckley are among those attending the news conference.

The street workers associated with the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence in Providence have been doing important work in reducing violence since they emerged on the scene in 2003, so it was good to hear about their receipt earlier this week of $352,000 in federal money. As those in the field know, making the case for prevention-based programs is always difficult, because it's hard to document those shootings and murders that don't happen.

I wrote about the street workers program in 2003:

IN SOME WAYS, the street workers seem to face daunting odds. Guns are easy to find in Providence, shots are fired virtually on a nightly basis (even if no one is hurt), and the conditions that influence violent crime — include poverty and longstanding beefs — aren’t easily remedied. Still, after shadowing the street workers in their rounds on two recent nights, it’s hard not to have a sense that they’ve accomplished a lot in a short period of time. Everywhere they go, it seems, they know the players, the terrain, the history, and what’s at stake.

As noted in the ProJo's coverage, the situation is complicated by the foreclosure crisis and by cuts in state-funded social programs.

Teny Gross, the institute’s executive director, said that the Streetworkers Program is the only one in the country that does not receive state or city funding. Instead, it is dependent on grants and private donations.

Gross said that the federal grant money couldn’t come soon enough. He said that the poor economy, foreclosures on homes and budget cuts have created “the perfect storm” for a violent summer.

“The poor need us most when the times are tough,” he said. “The poor need us now.”

A few months ago, Gross and two of the streetworkers traveled to Northern Ireland to work with youths in Belfast. Streetworkers also have testified before Congress about gang violence and two weeks ago the city of Los Angeles called the institute seeking advice for its outreach workers.

In responding to recent criticism from Deb Brayton, Providence Mayor David Cicilline's chief of staff, Channel 6 is inviting Police Chief Dean Esserman to take part in a lengthier discussion of crime statistics in Providence:

Dear Ms. Brayton:

 

Thank you for your letter dated February 28th, 2008.

 

I respect your opinion about the story we aired on February 26th, concerning the City of Providence’s crime statistics. However, I respectfully disagree with your conclusion that “this story falls far short of the journalistic standards that this community expects”.

 

There is no more qualified and respected journalist in the City of Providence who understands journalistic standards than Jim Hummel.

 

You should be aware that Mr. Hummel is one of the most respected and honored journalists in the market. He’s reported a combined 26 years for both the Providence Journal and ABC-6. He has also received numerous awards for Excellence in Journalism including the prestigious 2007 Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting.

 

In your letter, you use the phrase “Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out of the story” on eight different occasions. Mr. Hummel didn’t choose to deliberately leave out anything. I am ultimately responsible for making final decisions on the contents of a story. It was MY decision to focus the story on one singular point: “Are crime stats manipulated to bolster the City of Providence’s image”? The statistics are especially important to the city and its leaders. In your words, “The subject of crime affects everyone in the community: residents, business owners, tourist and prospective investors”. I focused the story on that topic. I believe we presented a fair and balanced story. Additionally, the men and women of the Providence Police Department are the source of this story, not victims.

 

Again, I respect your viewpoint and appreciate your passion in defending the City of Providence and the management of the Police Department. In that spirit, I would like to extend an invitation to Chief Esserman to join Mr. Hummel in a live and unedited interview concerning the premise of our story. I’m sure we can work out a date and show-time in the near future to accommodate this request.

 

Sincerely,

 

Regent Ducas

News Director-WLNE/ABC6

As part of the continuing clash this week between Channel 6 and the City Hall of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, WLNE-TV plans to do a story today at 4 and 6, reporting on the letter sent by chief of staff Deb Brayton in response to Jim Hummel's questioning of crime stats compiled by the Providence police.

I talked to Hummel, and he declined to comment on the controversy.

Cicilline, during a taping this morning of Newsmakers, was asked by Steve Aveson whether there should be a review of the PPD's crime data. The mayor responded by repeating many of the points argued in Brayton's letter.

Cicilline had been scheduled to be on Newsmakers a few weeks back, but he rescheduled due to a conflict. He is also slated to appear this weekend on WJAR-TV's 10 News Conference.

Here's the text of a letter sent by City Hall in response to Jim Hummel's Tuesday night report on crime stats in Providence:

February 28, 2008

 

Regent Ducas

News Director

ABC6 WLNE

10 Orms St.

Providence, RI 02904

 

 

Dear Mr. Ducas,

 

I am writing with regard to your February 26, 2008 story about Providence crime statistics as reported by Jim Hummel. I believe it displayed a serious breach of journalistic standards for broadcast news. Very serious accusations were made that undermine the integrity of the men and women of the Providence Police Department. Below are the assertions made in the story, and the reasons why they did not meet the standard.

 

1. Assertion that Providence’s drop in crime is exaggerated

 

Mr. Hummel claims to “cast doubt” that crime is down 30% since 2002 in Providence, but never presented evidence to the contrary. The reporting did not dispute that there were 4,218 fewer incidents of Part I crime in 2007 than in 2002. It only addressed the classification of crime.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, statistics that show a steep drop in crime where a change in classification is impossible – the murder rate and the victim of gunshot rate. From 2002 to 2007, murders dropped 39%. Gunshot victims dropped 45%. 

 

2. Assertion that the Providence Police “downgrade” crimes

 

The Providence Police are devoted to total accuracy in crime reporting and welcome any fair and thoughtful review. Accurate crime data is one of the chief reasons behind the success of the Providence Police. It determines crime prevention strategies. It is critical to knowing exactly where, when, and what kinds of crime have taken place.

 

Mr. Hummel made an insinuation about a department-wide conspiracy based on three incidents (there were roughly 9,821 Part I crime incidents last year). The allegations came from anonymous sources and one former union president, who had made discredited claims against Department leadership in the past.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out of the story, the system for reviewing crime classification. Command staff and Lieutenants review classifications in a setting that includes community partners and law enforcement partners.

 

Regularly present at these meetings are the U.S. Attorney, members of the Office of the Attorney General, and FBI officers. Instead Mr. Hummel reported a second-hand rumor about a meeting, and did not report that the PPD contradicts the account.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, dozens of crimes that were “upgraded” in the process of review, including specific cases to which he was given access.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out of the story, that after a similar allegation made by two members of the Providence City Council, the PPD asked for a review by the State Police. The State Police review found the data to be accurate.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, the broader context of the three incident reports used in his story.

• One incident involved two well-acquainted individuals who were known drug users and were arguing over $5 worth of crack cocaine. One had a closed pocket knife but was not holding it in a threatening manner. When the officer broke up the altercation, both asked the officer not to press charges. The officer decided to make an arrest under disorderly conduct charges. Mr. Hummel claims that this should have been classified as assault with a dangerous weapon.

• Another incident involved an individual who offered six different versions of a story about a phone being stolen from his vehicle. It was ultimately classified as “person annoyed.” Mr. Hummel believed it should have been differently classified.

• The third incident involved two victims of an attack, who, when questioned, asked that no charges be brought. The officer pushed for a charge. It was ultimately classified as a simple assault.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, that the same sources of many of these allegations also told Mr. Hummel that they “knew about parking ticket fixing” by the Chief of Police.  The Chief presented Mr. Hummel with evidence to completely discredit the source’s allegations. Mr. Hummel still based his story on their other allegations.

 

Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out, that his single on-the-record source, Robert Paniccia is the former head of the Fraternal Order of Police Union. Mr. Hummel deliberately chose to leave out that Paniccia had a highly adversarial relationship with the Department over many issues.

 

Mr. Hummel deliberately chose to leave out that Mr. Paniccia had falsely claimed that PPD leadership planted a surveillance device in a patrol office in the highly publicized “blinky light” incident.

 

I think you will agree that this story falls far short of the journalistic standards that this community expects. The subject of crime affects everyone in our community: residents, business owners, tourists and prospective investors. I hope you will take appropriate action, including a sincere, on-air apology to the men and women of the Providence Police Department.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Deborah Brayton

Chief of Staff

Office of Mayor David N. Cicilline

 

 

Cc:  Stephen Doerr, Vice President & General Manager, ABC6

      Kevin O’Brien, Owner, Global Broadcasting, LLC

      Robinson Ewert, Owner, Global Broadcasting, LLC

Last night, Channel 6 featured the second installment of Jim Hummel's look at the Providence Police Department, focusing this time of the salary and benefits of Police Chief Dean Esserman. Co-anchor Allison Alexander, in introducing the piece, said she thought a lot of people would be surprised by the information, but, as Matt pointed out yesterday, much of this was reported more than four years ago by Amanda Milkovits in the ProJo:

After a three-hour meeting with Esserman, Cicilline decided he'd found his next chief. He was going to use all he had to get Esserman here.

Cicilline arranged meetings with the state's top law enforcement players. He assured Esserman City Hall wouldn't interfere with the Police Department. He offered a four-year contract, starting at $138,000 (about $50,000 more than previous chiefs made) with $5,000 annual raises. Plus, inclusion in the city pension, which takes 10 years to be fully vested, and a portable pension.

The city would pay travel and living expenses for the first six months. Esserman bought a half-million dollar home on the East Side, and was reimbursed for $5,300 travel and moving expenses and $3,700 closing and house- inspection costs. He was also permitted to bill the city for his outside expenses as chief.

Cicilline also got Esserman a spot as senior law enforcement executive in residence at the Roger Williams University Justice System Training and Research Institute for $30,000 a year. The position in the university's School of Justice Studies is funded by a private grant.

Personally, I think the important question is not so much one of Esserman's pay and benefits, but whether hiring him was a smart decision, and whether he has succeed edin significantly improving what had been a very troubled police department. The answer to those two questions, IMHO, is "Yes."

For a sense of where things were  in 2001, consider this:

Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse is among those who have pressured [Buddy] Cianci to consider outside candidates for the permanent chief's job. "Somebody who is inside the department, as long as they bring an outsider's independence and judgment, can do a good job and will have the additional advantage of knowing the personal and administrative terrain," Whitehouse says. But that's clearly a pretty difficult standard to meet, and, as the prosecutor says, "I think it will get worse before it gets better as the Justice Department inquiry, Plunder Dome, and all those things go forward."

In looking at the best and worst of David Cicilline in 2006, I wrote:

Not that long ago, the Providence Police Department was caught in a dysfunctional cycle that ill-served residents, particularly in poor parts of town, and reflected badly on the department itself. Cicilline moved quickly to make a firm break with the past by choosing Dean Esserman, the kind of outsider needed to bring long-overdue change, as the department’s new chief.

Activists credit Esserman and his emphasis on community policing with dramatically improving how the city and the police are perceived on Providence’s South Side. There remains room for improvement in getting more officers to embrace the spirit of community policing. But one observer goes so far as to say that Esserman’s lack of tolerance for abuse, as well as a number of retirements within the department, have transformed what had been one of the bigger scars in the city into a badge of honor.

Esserman can be short-tempered with the media, a trait that has not endeared him to some. Some cops might not like him because of his untraditional background, or because he changed the status quo. Such things are less important than his achievements in Providence.

Bob Walsh has an acute political sense, so I think he knows about what he speaks, in making this response on Matt's blog yesterday.

Referendum

If the next election for Mayor of Providence turns into a referendum on the police chief, the candidate who vows to keep Chief Esserman in place wins.  It really is as simple as that.

---

by: Bob Walsh @ Wed Feb 27, 2008 at 21:23:39 PM CST

It has become an article of faith for critics of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline that the Providence Police Department is artificially lowering its crime statistics. Some city councilors have groused about this issue, and WLNE-TV's Jim Hummel last night took a crack at the story. You can find a link to view his report here.

As Hummel notes, Cicilline and Police Chief Dean Esserman have steadily touted declines in crime in recent years, in contrast to trends in other cities. Could this news be too good to be true? It's possible. Viewers of The Wire, created by David Simon, an ace former cop reporter at the Baltimore Sun, are familiar with the machinations used by departmental brass in that show to juice crime stats.

Hummel, who says in his report that he looked "at dozens of incidents," describes three cases that appear to have been undercharged, including the three-year-old assault in downtown Providence on then-Cariceri chief of staff Jeff Grybowski and Jeff Britt. He cites "disturbing trends in crime reporting." Robert Paniccia, the retired head of the FOP, is the only on-the-record source who backs the underreporting theory, although Hummel asserts that in talking to people in the AG's office and the state police, "The word is the same: Providence is not being straight with the numbers." 

Cicilline and Esserman, in interviews with Hummel, basically stand by their existing positions.

In my view, the Channel 6 newsman's report amounts to a case of he said/he said. In introducing the spot, Hummel acknowledges that the answer to the question of whether Providence is playing with its crime stats "depends on who you ask."

Bottom line: It would require a more extensive investigation -- which would be incredibly time-consuming -- to offer a definitive answer to the provocative question raised in his report.

Let's acknowledge a few points:

-- Esserman, because of his volatile personality (which is not that unusual for a police chief), can be his own worst enemy. Yet he has also succeed in significantly improving what had been a highly dysfunctional and behind-the-times police department.  It's no surprise that Buddy Cianci is embracing Hummel's report. But let's remember that in 1999, when community policing had become a widely accepted practice in American police departments, integrating it in Providence remained an odd struggle.

-- Police union officials might indeed have legitimate gripes, but a current or retired FOP official speaking critically of a police chief is about as natural as a dog chasing a cat.

-- Hummel's story, while not exactly the "explosive" report described this morning on WPRO-AM by Cianci, has succeeded in creating some buzz, both within the police department and for Channel 6.

Tucked near the end of Greg Smith's story yesterday on Providence's new approach to funding a roving police patrol on heavy nightlife nights was this interesting info:

Assuming the roving detail works out, city officials and business people expect that it will be a precursor to serious consideration of a very controversial idea: later closing times for bars and nightclubs.

One school of thought has always held that if so many clubgoers did not spill out of the nightspots at the same time — most bars and clubs in the area have licenses allowing a closing time of 2 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights before holidays — the problems with rowdiness and traffic congestion would be alleviated.

“…We had to demonstrate that we had managed the existing business [at the 2 a.m. nightspots], before we could have a serious conversation about staggered and different closing times…,” Cicilline said Tuesday.

The creation of a permanent roving detail and requiring the bars and nightclubs to pay most of the cost is the recommendation of a coalition of government officials, business people and other downtown stakeholders called the Hospitality Resource Partnership. With the help of a California consultant, the city and the management district created the partnership in an effort to work through the tensions inherent in redeveloping Providence’s old central business district and the Jewelry District.

The Phoenix and the ProJo's David Brussat have been among the few lonely voices that have for years publicly called for later closing times as a way of alleviating Providence's seeming intractable nightlife issues. It's good to see movement on this from the city.

As someone who helped chronicle the troubled state of the Providence Police Department during the latter part of Buddy II, I think Dean Esserman has represented a necessary and important fix for a department in need of modernization and greater accountability.

However, as Te-Ping Chen reports in this week's Phoenix, a heightened emphasis on Internal Affairs under Esserman has become a contentious issue for some Providence officers. Included among these is former Sergeant Steven Petrella, who, represented by former Speaker John Harwood, is suing the Fraternal Order of Police, in what is billed as the first suit against the FOP in recent memory.   

And Petrella is only one of many Providence officers who have lost their jobs since Esserman, who was recruited by Mayor David N. Cicilline, arrived in 2003.
 
Inspector Frank Colon, the director of Internal Affairs, declines to reveal how many officers have lost their jobs — because, he says, it would be bad for morale — but it’s clear that Esserman has raised the focus on internal discipline. Colon says that more officers have been fired, demoted, or disciplined under Esserman than during any comparable period in the past two decades. Previously, there was a lower threshold for becoming part of Internal Affairs’ six-person staff (which the FOP says has doubled under Esserman); now, says Colon, those who police the police must, at minimum, attain the rank of detective.

In some ways, the heightened focus on Internal Affairs is a good thing, but what's up with a civic-minded chief who can't stand being questioned by a reporter?

Before Esserman, Internal Affairs “blocked civilian complaints and actively prevented investigations into officers’ records,” says Andrew Horwitz, who directs the Criminal Defense Clinic at Roger Williams University Law School.
 
Now, Internal Affairs takes a far more proactive approach. A new computerized system monitors personnel records, flagging officers’ files when troublesome behavioral patterns emerge. Supervisors and officers are required to document more of their actions, says Inspector Colon.
 
“It sends a message,” says Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in South Providence, an Esserman fan whose street workers are a part of Providence’s success in reducing violent crime. “It lets the community know that [Internal Affairs] is an important part of how the department functions.”
 
Yet there’s little doubt that Esserman, a Dartmouth College-New York University Law School grad who never worked as a patrolman, is an unusual cop — and one with an acid temper.
 
During an interview at the station, he excoriated me for questioning the consistency of in-house discipline, eventually saying that I should be “ashamed,” and stalking out of the room. Nevertheless, before walking out, Esserman said that what some may perceive as unfair is simply the holding of officers to an appropriately high standard. “Your badge doesn’t protect you,” he says. “If you lie or violate the rules, you don’t deserve to stand with us.”
 
But Horwitz remains concerned that officers still face inconsistent discipline under Esserman.
 
Horwitz cites one of his pending complaints filed with Internal Affairs, against an officer charged with misconduct. While a department hearing officer told him that the allegations are probably true, Horwitz says, the hearing officer also told him the charges are likely to be dismissed because the administration holds the other officer, who has recently been promoted, in favor.
 
“Some officers are severely reprimanded and lose their jobs,” says another patrolman. “Others don’t even get a slap on the wrist.”

Colon — who maintains that policing his peers is the toughest job on the force — shakes his head at such statements. “It’s a complex function we perform,” he says, adding that two people can violate the same rule and be differently disciplined, depending on their history. “There’s no disciplinary matrix that says if you violate this rule, this is what your punishment will be,” Colon says. “We do the best we can, and we think we’re doing a pretty good job.”

The City of Providence's effort to revoke the $64,000-a-year pension of former police chief Urbano Prignano Jr. is among the topics slated for tomorrow's meeting of the Providence Retirement Board. Also slated for consideration are the retirement benefits of Buddy Cianci and his former right-hand man, Frank Corrente.

Mary Ann Sorrentino and Greg Smith are among those who've written about Prignano and the fallout from Dean Esserman's internal probe of the cheating scandal that preceded his time at the Providence Police Department.

Here's the relevant part of the agenda for tomorrow's retirement board meeting:

7. New Business:

a. Revocation and/or reduction of Retirement Benefits of Frank Corrente – Law Department

b. Revocation and/or reduction of Retirement Benefits of Vincent A. Cianci – Law Department

c. Discussion regarding pension violation of Honorable Service Section of Tanya King – Harold Zacks

d. Discussion relative to the revocation and/or reduction of Retirement Benefits of Urbano Prignano – Law Department

Last week in the Phoenix, Mary Ann Sorrentino wrote that police cheaters don't deserve pensions:

The Providence Journal quoted Police Chief Dean Esserman as asking the Retirement Board to “do justice” by revoking Prignano’s pension. The story did not mention, however, whether the pensions of other officers associated with the cheating scandal will also be reviewed. (Esserman declined to comment for this article, and Karen Southern, spokeswoman for Mayor David N. Cicilline, referred inquiries to the city’s legal department, which did not respond.)
 
City Treasurer Stephen Napolitano confirms, though, that former Sergeant Tonya King Harris, who was fired after the cheating scandal, continues to receive a monthly check from Providence. (In April, the ProJo reported that Harris, who denies cheating, won reinstatement and back pay in return for her agreement to retire with her pension intact. This was due, ironically, to how Prignano refused to be cross-examined by her lawyer regarding his admission that he helped her cheat.)

Today, the ProJo's Greg Smith writes about those perceived as being among "the ones who got away."

“They” are former Detective Sgt. Tonya King Harris and her husband, former Sgt. Michael M. Harris, who were among 10 officers implicated in a Police Department promotions scandal that had the department tied up in knots for years.

The city Retirement Board yesterday approved a pension for Tonya King Harris, fulfilling a largely secret deal that city officials made in order to get Harris and her husband off the police force.

As previously reported in the Phoenix, joint patrols between Providence police and the state police are one part of what has helped to reduce violent crime in Rhode Island's capital city. Governor Carcieri, Mayor Cicilline, and Colonels Doherty and Esserman are slated to announce the latest effort this afternoon.

A little more than a week ago, Providence had recorded two homicides this year. Now, that number has doubled, to four.

The way in which the body count can suddenly rise explains why some observers, as I wrote last week, remain guarded in discussing Providence's success in reducing violent crime. Then again, the two latest homicides -- one stemming from a dispute between two men with criminal records and another involving domestic violence -- don't necessarily mean that the city is any less safe.

On a related note, reduced federal funding for police officers is cited as a factor in why a number of cities are experiencing increased violent crime. In Providence, the staffing level has held steady, with just under 500 officers in the PPD, an increase from the comparable figure 10 years ago. US Representative Jim Langevin recently voted to pass the COPS reauthorization act, which is intended to help local law enforcement agencies around the US to add 50,000 officers over the next six years.

According to a recent press release from Langevin's office:

From 1995 -2005, the COPS hiring grants program, created under the Clinton Administration, helped local law enforcement agencies hire 117,000 additional police officers, which played an important role in significantly reducing crime across the country.  Over those 10 years, Rhode Island received $34.9 million in COPS funding, which enabled the state to hire an additional 385 police officers.

Unfortunately, over the last few years, the Bush Administration and Republican-led Congress showed little support for COPS hiring grants - reducing funding from more than $1 billion a year in the late 1990s to $198 million in 2003 and $10 million in 2005.  Then, in 2006, the Republican Leadership completely eliminated the program.

Speaking of the Capital City, Providence has enjoyed some impressive success in reducing violent crime, a topic I take up in this week's Phoenix:

Every year, as summer approaches in US cities, violent crime spikes as predictably as the arrival of Memorial Day cookouts. The bloodshed is well under way in some places, including Boston, which after enjoying remarkable success in reducing violence in the late 1990s, has recorded 20 murders so far this year, after 75 last year, mostly in the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
 
Providence, by contrast, has bucked a trend in which the number of violent crimes is increasing in many American cities. There were 11 murders in the city in 2006 — half the number of the previous year — and the fewest since 1971. And while Providence this week experienced its third homicide of 2007, its number of major crimes dropped 30 percent from 2002 to 2006, according to police figures, and the most serious violent crimes fell by 27 percent over the same period.
 
While the police and others monitoring the situation remain guarded, knowing how things could quickly change for the worse, Providence’s collaborative, multi-faceted approach to reducing violence has attracted interest from other communities around New England, including Boston, New Haven, and New Bedford. (The topic is slated for discussion as part of a conference May 21 and 22, featuring George Kelling, co-author of the “Broken Windows” theory, at Roger Williams University in Bristol.)
 
The success is all the more striking given how Providence, according to US Census data, is tied with New Orleans as the third-poorest city for children in America.

We can only hope that this reduction in violence will be sustained over time. To their credit, the key players -- including the Providence Police Department and the street workers based at the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence -- recognize the importance of staying focused.

As I write in the story, Mayor Cicilline deserves credit for helping to bring about a transformation in the PPD, and likewise, Dean Esserman helped to make it happen.

The recent City of Providence effort to revoke the pension of former Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano Jr. (as well as the uncertain fate of the former police department HQ in LaSalle Square) got me thinking about the guy.

Back in the late '90s, the Providence PD was riven by problems. Even community policing, an approach that had been implemented in scores of American cities, proved a hard sell at the time.

During a 1999 interview in the old police station, Prignano offered his best Joe Pesci impersonation when I asked him about the department's woes:

Prignano, who has a reputation for being temperamental, becomes tired and impatient when questioned about the department's record-keeping problems. "Guess what?" he says. "We're fixing it."

Asked about [George] Kelling's prescription for community policing, Prignano says the approach is no different from the tactics used when he became a cop in 1966, when officers on foot patrol were expected by their supervisors to have a comprehensive knowledge of their beats.

But he acknowledges that the segregation of community policing as a distinct unit within the Police Department is a fundamentally flawed approach, shouting at one point during an interview, "You don't split patrol and community policing!"

In The Prince of Providence, Mike Stanton captured another classic Prignano moment:

A few days before his [Plunder Dome] testimony, he strolled into the courthouse, loudly proclaiming, "I'm a hostile witness." He was there to be immunized, compelling his testimony. And he was in a combative mood. He went after Providence Journal investigative reporter Bill Malinowski, who had written several exposes about police corruption, saying, "You don't write the truth about me because my last name ends in a vowel." Malinowski pointed out that his own name ended in a vowel. Prignano said it didn't, so Malinowski spelled it out for him. "Well, it's the wrong vowel," snapped Prignano.

I was standing a few feet away when this happened in US District Court, and it was one of the more surreal things I've encountered in a courthouse.

The Providence PD has since moved on, both literally and metaphorically, from its former difficulties. While the department is ensconed in its newish space across I-95, some of us ink-stained wretches maintain a fondness for old police buildings. I hope it can be saved.

WPRI's Tim White reported last night that a Providence police officer faces State Police questioning in connection with a rape that is alleged to have taken place at the district 2 sub-station. The victim is said to be a 19-year-old Massachusetts woman who was turned away from the Platforms nightclub. The most chilling part, if the accusation is indeed accurate, is how the officer in question responded to take a crime report from the victim.

The Providence Streetworkers program got some well-deserved kudos in yesterday's ProJo. Andy Rosenzweig didn't say it, but the traditional ethos of crime and punishment is part of what makes it difficult to launch and sustain this kind of effort. In other words, it's hard to document how many shootings and other crimes are prevented through intervention.

Perhaps this kind of recognition, though, and Providence's success in reducing violent crime will build growing support. Considering how Boston has experienced a dramatic increase in homicides, it's hard to argue with the kind of success we've seen locally.

I've known Teny Gross since we were both working in the Boston area, and I have a lot of regard for his efforts. Here's my own story from a few years back on the Streetworkers.

Eight years ago, the Providence Police Department's failure to implement city-wide community policing was a source of widespread dissatisfaction. I got to see former police chief Urbano Prignano's best Joe Pesci impersonation when I interviewed him and former Captain John Ryan about this at the old police station in LaSalle Square. 

Prignano, who has a reputation for being temperamental, becomes tired and impatient when questioned about the department's record-keeping problems. "Guess what?" he says. "We're fixing it."

Asked about [George] Kelling's prescription for community policing, Prignano says the approach is no different from the tactics used when he became a cop in 1966, when officers on foot patrol were expected by their supervisors to have a comprehensive knowledge of their beats.

But he acknowledges that the segregation of community policing as a distinct unit within the Police Department is a fundamentally flawed approach, shouting at one point during an interview, "You don't split patrol and community policing!"

Mayor David N. Cicilline set in motion one of his top accomplishments -- a far better and more responsive Police Department -- when he selected Dean Esserman as chief. The community policing philosophy has been spread throughout the department, and not suprisingly, police-community relations are significantly better than they were five years ago. While police culture is often resistant to change, Esserman has proven more than capable of thinking outside the box.

The ProJo's Amanda Milkovits detailed the latest instance of this with an excellent and well-told story in yesterday's paper, headlined, 'Closing crack highway.' The initiative, in a nutshell, is a carrot-and-stick approach that aims to curb drug-dealing in upper South Providence by offering some offenders a second chance to help improve their community.

Sgt. William Dwyer and others questioned the logic of being lenient on drug dealers. “Originally, I never thought about giving somebody a second chance. I was always, ‘Lock them up. Put them in jail,’ ” he said.

During a visit to High Point, Lt. Thomas Verdi, head of the Providence police narcotics unit, was struck by how different High Point was from Providence. The North Carolina city, 20 miles southeast of Winston-Salem, is half the size of Providence, and the ghettos there have more green space. “They don’t have the housing developments, the high-rises. They don’t have the [housing] projects like us,” Verdi said. “They don’t have the gang problems we do. We have dozens of ‘beachheads.’ ”

But the High Point police said the problems were the same — drug dealers five deep on corners, gunfire, prostitutes, robberies and murders. After the initiative in May 2004, the decade-old drug markets closed and haven’t revived.

Finally, the Providence police signed on, for the same reason. “Doing something is better than being skeptical and doing nothing,” Stamatakos said.

The effort, as Milkovits's story notes, has yielded real progress, although there's reason to not get too giddy as the warmer months (when crime typically increases) approach. At the very least, though, the PPD's willingness to try this kind of different approach is further evidence of a positive sea change in Rhode Island's largest police department. 

Providence is receiving attention for impressive reductions in crime, and justifiably so. The city's 11 homicides in 2006 represented the lowest figure in many years, and this happened at a time when Boston, which enjoyed considerable success in reducing violence in the late '90s, has seen its murder rate soar. The Providence Police, under the leadership of Dean Esserman, as well as the Providence streetworkers, deserve considerable credit for this good news.

Esserman was the guest this past Sunday on WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers. Among other things, the chief, who requested a one-on-one appearance, told Steve Aveson that he was open to the idea of trying a 4 am opening for some Providence nightspots. The Phoenix and the ProJo's David Brussat have been outspoken proponents of this concept, as a way of diminishing the nightlife crowd control issues that lead to related problems. Although Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline is said to privately back the 4 am closing, he has been unwilling to publicly embrace it, probably because of the opposition of loud voices within the Providence Foundation and the Jewelry District Association. Instead, the city has focused on trying to squelch nightlife.

On January 12, the mayor announced the formation of the Hospitality Resource Partnership, a coalition "with the expressed goal of creating a more safe and vibrant arts and cultural environment downtown." We'll see. It's interesting to note that the Responsibility Hospitality Institute, an out-of-state nonprofit that works on related issues, and which helped the city to develop the HRP, hasn't returned requests for comment from the Phoenix in recent months.

Here's the bottom line: If Esserman & Co. can reduce homicides and other violent crimes in Providence, getting a handle on the headaches that come with nightlife should be a snap. And the 4 am closing time, perhaps on a rotating basis, is worth a try.