During a summer 2001 gathering outside the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, Providence Police Chief Richard T. Sullivan told me that street-level drug dealers were simply too wily for police to be able to make good cases against them. That the chief's unusual expression of defeat was followed within weeks by a major bust against some of the same street-level dealers only confirmed that he had been blowing smoke with the earlier remarks. With his heightened accessibility and visibility in different neighborhoods, Sullivan certainly offered a welcome contrast to Urbano Prignano Jr., but his tenure wasn't without its enigmatic moments.

Last week's decision by acting Mayor John J. Lombardi to replace Sullivan with Major Guido Laorenza, and Public Safety Commissioner John Partington with former lieutenant governor Thomas DiLuglio, sent shock waves through Providence. A majority of city councilors question Lombardi's authority to make the move, and the Providence Journal editorialized about a "management mystery" that left many "shak[ing] their heads in wonder." Others, though, aptly note that there were unresolved issues in the police department long before Lombardi became acting mayor, and his changes were backed by the Urban League, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, and the Rhode Island Minority Police Officers Association.

Few would doubt that many police officers dispatch their responsibilities honorably and with a true sense of public service. At the same time, the Providence department has seemed in recent years to be in a state of suspended animation, in part because of the unresolved allegations of internal wrongdoing involving promotional exams. And even though Sullivan clearly represented progress, particularly in comparison to his embarrassing predecessor (who clung to his job, and enjoyed unstinting public support from former mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., until his position became wholly untenable), the department still has a way to go in delivering the more responsive kind of community policing long sought by residents.

Policing is difficult work and making change in a large bureaucracy is challenging. But to repeat a useful comparison, if a palpable sense of safety can be brought about in Manhattan - considered not so long ago an unsafe city that was beyond repair - it should be much easier to improve policing in Providence. David N. Cicilline, the person most likely to succeed Lombardi in the mayor's office in January, offers the best hope for making this happen.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.

Issue Date: October 11 - 17, 2002