New Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman

I heard Colonel Dean Esserman, the new Providence Police chief, speak yesterday at the annual meeting of the Jewelry District Association. I have to say that he's a very compelling speaker. He told the story of the problems that he faces in re-building the Providence Police. Up until this point, the Providence Police Department has been answerable really to no one-- that those who rose in ranks had to pay for their promotions, and then they really had no power. How there was no in-service training for cops throughout Rhode Island (once you graduate the academy, that's it. If you become a sergeant, you don't get some additional training, just a new badge. He spoke about how the Providence Police Department had bad communication principles, and up until his tenure, no Providence Police Chief had ever gone to the Statewide Police Chiefs meeting. He spoke about how the brand new Public Safety Building has disfunctional systems, and was designed without any input from the Police or Fire Departments

Mostly he spoke about his plans for shaking up the Department-- returning to Neighborhood Policing (which means permanently assigned cops in each individual neighborhood, thus effectively decentralizing the police force.; permanently assigning cops to schools, and actively getting the cops who are doing the work to have input and pride in creating solutions to problems. He spoke about how he expects results and only results-- but he also expects mistakes to be made. He spoke about some of the remarkable individuals who after 20 years in a police force with a bad culture, still manage to yearn to do good work and to set themselves free.


Most importantly he issued a challenge-- He said that if we didn't feel that real and substantial change had been made within a year-- that if we didn't feel better about our police department, and satisfied with the results, that we should ask him to step down.


While those are pretty bold words, he sounded pretty sincere. Let's see how the next 12 months for the Providence Police take shape!


VISIT THE PROVIDENCE POLICE WEBSITE: http://www.providencepolice.com