• Home
  • :
  • :
  • Member Center
  • :
  • Make This Your Home Page




Providence

Search Legal Notices
Comments | Recommended

State troopers will be back on weekend patrol with city police

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, June 14, 2007

By Daniel Barbarisi

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Providence police and state troopers will patrol city streets again this summer, with teams sweeping high-crime areas every weekend from early July through Labor Day.

State troopers have been joining Providence officers on weekend patrols since 2005, and the city asked the governor to bring them back for a third year.

Governor Carcieri agreed.

“By teaming with the Providence Police Department in past years, the state police have helped deter crime and disorder in Rhode Island’s capital city,” Carcieri said yesterday.

Police Chief Dean M. Esserman said this was one of the initiatives that has helped to keep crime falling in Providence.

“In the capital city of Rhode Island, crime and violence are down [for] four-and-a-half years steadily,” Esserman said. “We do not work alone. We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Rhode Island State Police.”

The state police will assign five troopers to Providence on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from July 5 through Sept. 1. They will ride with Providence officers. The pairs will patrol on Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 2a.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. The program should cost about $49,680, mostly for overtime for troopers.

Since the program’s inception, the joint details have made 1,128 arrests, including 123 felony arrests, on charges that included weapons offenses, disorderly conduct, obstruction, resisting arrest, assault, shoplifting, receiving stolen goods and first-degree robbery. The teams also issued 1,901 summonses.

The state police superintendent, Col. Brendan Doherty, said his troopers were excited about the chance to work the streets of Providence.

“We believe that cross-pollination of personnel and having synergy together can have immeasurable effects,” he said.

dbarbari@projo.com