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Providence, State Police Team Up To Patrol City
Joint Patrols Will Be Used Three Nights A Week
PROVIDENCE -- Providence police on Friday announced it is partnering with the Rhode Island State Police to patrol the city three nights a week.
Starting this weekend, one city officer and one state trooper will pair up in six teams.
The new patrols will be out Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights -- a high-impact time in the capital city, especially in the early morning hours, when many nightclubs let out and there's a greater opportunity for violence.
"That will be one area of concern on the weekends, just because the city is a place where more Rhode Islanders and people from all over New England come," Col. Dean Esserman, the Providence police chief, said.
The patrols won't be focusing solely on nightclub traffic, either. Any high-volume events, such as WaterFire, that bring a lot of people together will be heavily patrolled.
The teams can be dispatched anywhere in the city.
"It is most certainly not for downtown," Esserman said. "It is every neighborhood of the city."
The city of Providence has been using state troopers to help patrol big festivals for the last two summers. Now, it is expanding the partnership citywide.
"It can do nothing but enforce to our citizens of the state and the city, that the state police and Providence are tied at the hip, as we know we've been for years and years and years," state police Maj. Steven O'Donnell said.
Gov. Don Carcieri and Mayor David Cicilline approved overtime for the new patrols, which will be in effect through Labor Day weekend.
Joint Patrols Will Be Used Three Nights A Week
PROVIDENCE -- Providence police on Friday announced it is partnering with the Rhode Island State Police to patrol the city three nights a week.
Starting this weekend, one city officer and one state trooper will pair up in six teams.
The new patrols will be out Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights -- a high-impact time in the capital city, especially in the early morning hours, when many nightclubs let out and there's a greater opportunity for violence.
"That will be one area of concern on the weekends, just because the city is a place where more Rhode Islanders and people from all over New England come," Col. Dean Esserman, the Providence police chief, said.
The patrols won't be focusing solely on nightclub traffic, either. Any high-volume events, such as WaterFire, that bring a lot of people together will be heavily patrolled.
The teams can be dispatched anywhere in the city.
"It is most certainly not for downtown," Esserman said. "It is every neighborhood of the city."
The city of Providence has been using state troopers to help patrol big festivals for the last two summers. Now, it is expanding the partnership citywide.
"It can do nothing but enforce to our citizens of the state and the city, that the state police and Providence are tied at the hip, as we know we've been for years and years and years," state police Maj. Steven O'Donnell said.
Gov. Don Carcieri and Mayor David Cicilline approved overtime for the new patrols, which will be in effect through Labor Day weekend.
