PROVIDENCE – Longstanding tensions over violent crime, illegal all-terrain vehicles and funding for police in the city were laid bare before the City Council on Tuesday, with one council member calling for the city’s top safety official to resign.
The special meeting comes after a recent wave of highly publicized violent crime that has put the community on edge and widened existing chasms between city officials and law enforcement leaders. Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare and Police Chief Hugh Clements were quick to tout the successes of the city’s law enforcement strategy and members that have garnered a number of national recognitions and accreditations.
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But with homicides spiking and frustrations over reckless and even violent ATV riders continuing to take over city streets, some council members had harsh words for top officials for their failure to crack down on crime and safety problems. Councilman James Taylor went as far as to call for Pare to resign for his “failure” to protect the city, accusing him of putting political aspirations above the duties of his job.
Pare could not immediately be reached for comment.
Criticism extended across the dais, including with Michael Imondi, president for the Providence chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
“We don’t feel supported by the administration,” Imondi said, explaining how lack of confidence combined with a manpower shortage has made it difficult for officers to do their jobs well.
Imondi joined with other council members in calling for the city to give Clements the authority to run his department without interference from higher administrative leaders.
Clements, for his part, avoided wading into the political fray, instead sharing a series of statistics highlighting the biggest sources of the problem. While crime overall, including violent crime, remains far below historic highs, homicides have risen sharply in the last six months, in part because of access to and proliferation of firearms. Years ago, a shooting left behind a few shell casings. Now, officers are reporting shooting events littered with as many as 60 shell casings at a time, Clements said.
“We have a gun problem more than a gang problem,” Clements said.
Fewer officers in the department exacerbates the problems, particularly when it comes to chasing down ATV riders, who by the very nature of their vehicles can weave through traffic, cutting on to sidewalks and through city parks, making it difficult for officers in cars to chase them and safely seek to charge them, Clements said.
While Clements asked for three more training academies to bolster the ranks – currently around 400 active officers, 100 of whom are eligible to retire – manpower alone is not enough. Asked by Council President John Igliozzi how the city could use a portion of its $100 million in remaining American Rescue Act Plan funds to support local law enforcement, Clements named funding for new police academies as one use.
Data shared by Clements showed that even at times when the city law enforcement ranks were stronger, crime persisted. Community-driven policing in which officers are in frequent contact with local residents and use their feedback alongside regular foot patrols to inform solutions, is a proven solution that has worked, including in Providence, in the past, Clements said.
Councilwomen Nirva LaFortune and Rachel Miller called for alternatives to traditional policing, including nonviolence training and resources and youth mentoring programs. Both were among the six council members who voted against the city’s fiscal 2022 budget, citing their objections to lack of police reform in the spending plan.
“You can have 100 officers on foot, but if they don’t know the community they’re policing … people are not going to engage,” LaFortune said. “What’s missing here is the comprehensive strategic approach to addressing violence in our city.”
Others were much more vague in their calls for reform. Asked pointedly about how to crack down on ATVs, Pare said it was a complex problem with no single solution. He added that the city was looking into additional tools to leverage, but did not share details.
Looming large over the hours-long discussion was Mayor Jorge O. Elorza, who did not attend the meeting. A number of state and local lawmakers have criticized Elorza for what they see as his role in crippling the police department’s power and failing to show up. Elorza was out of town on vacation last week in the wake of several of the most high-profile crimes, including a woman dragged out of her car and beaten by an ATV rider. Also debated was whether Elorza refused the offer from Rhode Island State Police to provide backup to city law enforcement; Elorza insisted in a virtual press conference last week that the two groups were already working together, but some council members continue to frame it differently.
Either way, the consequences of political tension and escalating crime is a city afraid and on edge, with residents afraid to go out to eat, stop at red lights, and, according to Councilwoman Jo-Ann Ryan, even considering moving.
“Public’s perception is part of the story,” Imondi said.
How to move forward remains unclear. There were no votes taken at the meeting, though council members and city officials alike agreed the problems posed require imminent action. Igliozzi called upon Clements and Pare to come up with action plans for bolstering law enforcement resources and addressing ATVs specifically, “as soon as tomorrow.”
