Justice Dept. praises cooperation of Providence police

PROVIDENCE – The Providence Police Department “has made significant improvements” under Police Chief Dean M. Esserman, the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in concluding its five-year review of departmental patterns and practices.
“Credit goes to the rank and file of this great police department for all the success and recognition here today,” Esserman told the gathering yesterday at the Providence Public Safety Complex auditorium, where the probe’s conclusion was announced.
The civil-rights probe was launched in December 2002, the month before Mayor David N. Cicilline took office and brought in Esserman to head the city police, taking over from former Police Chief Urbano Prignano Jr. It followed a federal inquiry into the January 2000 shooting death of Police Sgt. Cornel Young Jr., the off-duty officer mistakenly killed by two white colleagues during an incident at a Providence diner, in what some critics contend was a hate crime.
The first Justice Department inquiry cleared those officers of criminal misconduct. The follow-up probe just concluded sought to determine whether the Police Department as a whole displayed “patterns and practices” of racial discrimination or excessive force. Some problems were found with the use of force and the Internal Affairs Division’s handling of citizen complaints, city officials said, but those problems have been addressed by the department in cooperation with Justice officials.
In a letters to Esserman and City Solicitor Joseph Fernandez, Justice officials applauded the expansion of the IAD, which has doubled its staff, and commended the department for the “many positive improvements,” policies and procedures implemented under Esserman’s direction.
“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,” Shanetta Cultlar, head of the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at Justice, wrote in a letter to the chief.
Since taking over the department in 2003, (READ MORE) Esserman has built historic community partnerships through community policing, a highly successful program that has attracted law-enforcement agencies to Providence from different parts of the world, and has resulted in a 30-percent reduction in crime over the past five years, the city said. He also has strengthened the department’s excessive-force policy and ensured that development training is provided to every member of the department, from the officers on the street to the command staff.
“Chief Esserman has worked hard to break down the barriers of mistrust that once stood between the department and the community,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
“This is a police department that used to exist under a cloud of corruption, low morale and was at war with the community,” added 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.”
Besides Esserman and Cicilline, those present for yesterday’s news conference included the leader of the police union, Lt. Kenneth M. Cohen, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3; City Council President Peter S. Mancini; R.I. State Police Col. Brendan P. Doherty and R.I. Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch. Also on hand were Special Agent Joan Buckley of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Robert Clark Corrente, U.S. attorney for the district of Rhode Island; Cliff Monteiro, president of the NAACP Providence Branch; and Dennis Langley, president and CEO of the Urban League of Rhode Island.
“We at the Urban League certainly appreciate the energy and effort that the new police department is putting forth,” Langley said. “Police officers are now fully engaged in the community, and the fruits of their hard work and commitment are truly making a difference throughout the city.”