The room didn’t seem quite large enough for all the supporters that came out to watch Governor Gina Raimondo sign the Comprehensive Community-Police Relationship Act into law on Tuesday. The Act, a collaboration between legislators, law enforcement, and community members, seeks to analyze data that officers collect, as well as further protect juveniles and pedestrians.
“I speak as a governor and as a mother of two small children,” Raimondo said, “and I think we’ve all been troubled by the recent headlines all around this country about law enforcement.”
The governor added that this is a significant step in addressing a much larger problem, but said that she believes this will help keep communities safer, and make law enforcement more effective.
“Although this is an important piece of legislation, and one that is going to deliver real results, you all know this one bill isn’t enough. We must be actively engaged in our communities, and be committed to keeping our families and communities safe,” she said.
Representative Joseph Almeida (D- District 12), the main sponsor for the House version of the bill, said that it is a product of working for, and with, the people.
“You have two choices when you get elected,” he said. “You can be a politician and tell people what they want to hear, or you can be a legislator and tell them the truth. And that’s what we’re doing here.”
Senator Harold Metts (D- District 6), who was the Senate sponsor, spoke on how the bill will allow Rhode Island communities to heal with one another, and promote togetherness between communities and police officers.
“We were challenged to take our heads out of the desert sands of denial, and drink from the wells of equality, justice, and brotherhood,” he said. “Instead of having separation, and having the parties be polarized, they decided to work together. Instead of separation, we had collaboration.”
The act requires that law enforcement officers include in the ethnicity of the driver stopped, the reason, whether or not there was a search, and whether or not there was contraband taken from the vehicle in their traffic stop reports. It also prohibits officers from subjecting juveniles or pedestrians to a search without probable cause, and requires them to notify a driver why they are being stopped.
Colonel Steven O’Donnell, the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said that the practices laid out in the Act are already happening.
“Almost all the information in that bill is something that State Police already do by policy. We’ve been doing it for years, so it didn’t take much to sit down with the community, and most of them we know very, very well,” he said. O’Donnell also gave credit to the House and Senate for being open minded about the subject of policing, particularly Senator Metts, who took part in the State Police Training Academy several years ago.
“Better training, better understanding, and better communication is really why that bill passed,” he said. “Everybody sitting down, some people losing some of their egos on both ends of the table, and coming to an agreement.”
Over the next 48 months, data will be collected from every traffic stop to determine whether or not there are racial disparities in Rhode Island’s policing system. Governor Raimondo said this data would be used to make informed decisions concerning the system.
“I think it’s clear there’s more that has to be done in Rhode Island and all around the country. You can’t look at what happened in Ferguson and South Carolina and think we’re doing enough, so what this bill says is that we’re committed to making changes based on facts, and making sure that our streets are as safe as possible, and that we’re protecting everybody’s civil rights in the process,” she said.
Too often we in Providence, and more broadly we in Rhode Island, react to the gun violence tearing apart our communities as an issue specifically confined to the inner city.
The problem of gun violence in our neighborhoods is a problem for all of Rhode Islanders. The safety of all our children is of paramount importance, and in a state so small there is no way to pretend that the problem is too far away or too intractable for us to make a difference. If Rhode Island can come together as one community with a willingness to make real, substantive changes in the way we deal with poverty, crime, violence and guns, we can and will improve the lives of all our brothers and sisters.
I was pleased to hear about Diana Garlington’s 
Officers were on hand from both the state and Providence Police, and of course, this being an election year, the candidates were out pleading their cases to the crowd. Mayor Taveras made a last-hour appearance and spoke briefly to the crowd. Sighted at the event were mayoral candidates Brett Smiley, Michael Solomon and Jorge Elorza. In addition to Taveras, gubernatorial candidate Gina Raimondo and candidate for State Secretary Nellie Gorbea were the statewide candidates in attendence. Several members of the Providence City Council and some of their opponents were on hand as was House candidate Aaron Regunberg, but conspicuous by their absence were the vast majority of the General Assembly, including Speaker Mattiello and Senate President Paiva-Weed. Under their leadership the General Assembly seems unable to acknowledge, never mind deal with the issue of gun violence.
But this was not a political event. This was a community event, designed to bring people together in peace so as to begin changing the conversation around violence and community. Several times people told me that events like this need to be held on a regular basis, not just in reaction to some tragic event. Moreover, leaders and members of communities throughout Rhode Island need to start making time in their schedules to attend these events. It’s only by going to these events and meeting the residents that we can learn that the people here want exactly what we all want: a safe place to raise our children.
