Still no answers from Smiley Administration on police officers violating unhoused people's rights
The policy seems to be evasion, avoidance, and denial.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to be the Mayor of the City of Providence,” said Brett Smiley to the police officers and their families gathered in the Bishop McVinney Auditorium across the highway from the Providence Public Safety Complex for the Providence Police Department Commendation Awards Ceremony.1 “It's because I get to work with exceptional men and women every day, starting with the command staff here on the stage with me tonight, but really, getting to know every patrolman and detective and every member of the police department. This is an organization that I'm proud to defend and will continue to do so as long as I am Mayor.” [emphasis added]
Mayor Smiley’s promise of protection, it seems, includes shielding police officers credibly accused of violating people’s civil rights from discipline or investigation. The Mayor’s statement is tinged with bitter irony since he said these words at an award ceremony honoring police officers doing exceptional and important work.
On Monday morning two unnamed Providence Police Detectives, in plainclothes but visibly brandishing badges and guns, sauntered into an encampment of unhoused people looking for drugs and cavalierly violated the civil rights of those living there. The behavior of the police officers was intimidating, said the women who spoke with me, and they conducted illegal, warrantless searches, damaged personal property, and told people living there, “We don’t need a warrant, you live in a tent.” [See: "We don't need a warrant. You live in a tent."]
The response from the Administration of Mayor Smiley was swift: He denied the men were police officers. Lindsay Lague, who does press for the Police Department went so far as to tell me to correct my story, which needed no such correction. When I gave the administration further information about the officers, including the vehicle they were driving, [a white Infiniti with tinted windows] I heard nothing for 48 hours. It was only after a letter from the Rhode Island ACLU and a second piece by me that the Administration came clean and admitted that the two men were indeed Providence Police Officers. [See: After days of denial, Mayor Smiley admits it was police officers at the unhoused encampment]
I asked for an interview with the Mayor. This has not been scheduled. I prepared a list of questions, some admittedly pointed and impertinent, and sent them to Patricia Socarras, Director of Communications for Mayor Smiley. Some of the questions pertain to issues at the camp I haven’t written about yet, to whit:
About a week prior to the visit by the detetcives, people at the encampment woke up to discover that someone had approached their tents in the middle of the night and quietly taped eviction notices to many of the tents. Chief Perez denied that these notices were from the police, telling me that if his department had issued them, his name ould be on them.
Drones have been swooping over the encampment and hovering over tents. As you will see below, the police have denied piloting these drones. Whether or not other city departments are using these drones is unknown.
I received meager answers to my questions.
My questions:
Any luck in arranging time for me to meet with the Mayor and the Chief to answer my questions? I understand if they are afraid to answer.
Are the police department or any city department using drones in the area of the Veazie Street encampment? Drones have been seen in the sky above some tents, especially those of young women. Please don’t deny this one too quickly.
Given that officers lied when the administration asked about their presence in the area, are we still sure that the eviction notices taped to tents in the early hours of two weeks ago did not come from someone in the police department or the administration?
Are the people in this encampment safe from retribution - from either the police who might object to them talking to the press or from the Mayor, who has shown an eagerness to evict encampments that cause him even a small measure of political embarrassment when called out on right-wing radio and television programming?
Are all Providence residents safe from being harassed by rogue police officers disregarding the rules, or is the danger confined to only the protest and most vulnerable?
The officers who harassed that encampment are [thought to possibly be] what people on the street call the “Terror Squad.” What is the record of these officers? How many complaints have been filed against them, who are they, how many cops are involved, and what oversight is provided, given that at any given moment the city has no idea where they are and what they are up to?
What possible sanctions are these officers facing?
Does the Mayor plan to change his strategies around homelessness?
Will the Mayor continue to indulge the right-wing fascism of Gene Valicenti?
I’d love to bring these questions, and many more, to the Mayor and Chief in person.
I received the following response from Director Socarras:
“I want to clarify that officers did not lie about their location. The detectives at this location were working on an investigation unrelated to the encampment, they were in plain clothes with badges and identified themselves as Providence Police. They were not responding to a call for service which is the distinction. They are not in violation of any PPD policies. [emphasis mine]
“The City's policies around encampments work to provide people opportunities to be connected to behavioral health supports and housing opportunities before they are asked to vacate a site that is unsafe for them to live in. Providence has been disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis but has done the most to help address this issue. In addition to this work with local community providers, the City has invested $4.3 million in making shelter beds, transitional housing and diversion services available for those most in need, and we expect to commit another $1.7 million in the current fiscal year.
“Regarding the use of drones, limited members of the Providence Police Department have access to drones and Providence Police have not used drones to monitor encampment sites.”
This did not answer my questions. Further, is the denial about the use of drones believable given the Administration’s quick denial about police officers at the scene on Monday?
I am most worried about the Administration’s opinion that the two detectives, “are not in violation of any PPD policies.” Does violating state law and human rights not violate PPD policy?
I went to the award ceremony last night to try to get the Mayor or Chief Oscar Perez on the record. Both evaded me by slipping out the side exit of the auditorium. I watched the Chief jog across the parking lot to his car. He seemed in a hurry.
I had better luck this morning, getting a brief discussion with the Mayor as he left the ribbon cutting for the new Spaziano Elementary School. He was not happy when I caught up to him outside his vehicle. Here’s our discussion:
Steve Ahlquist: Excuse me, Mayor.
Mayor Brett Smiley: Yeah.
Steve Ahlquist: Are we going to get a chance to have a discussion anytime soon? Because I've asked Patricia about this and she said she’s going to put me on a schedule but nothing has happened with that.
Mayor Brett Smiley: Okay. I'll find out where you're on the schedule. I understand you've been sending questions in, we've been giving you answers.
Steve Ahlquist: I've been getting no answers.
Mayor Brett Smiley: No, you've been getting answers you just don't like.
Steve Ahlquist: No, I've sent in more than 10 questions. I got one-half of an answer in response.
Josh Estrella [Communications and Policy Specialist]: We're working on the questions right now.
Steve Ahlquist: That's not what I'm hearing. Patricia said “close the loop.”2 Closing the loop means the end of the discussion.
Josh Estrella: Yeah, we have your questions though, and we're going to get to them.
Steve Ahlquist: I'm not getting answers I like, but I'm also not getting answers.
I'm wondering about the investigation we're talking about with these two officers: Is that an investigation into these officers, into their behavior? Or is that just not happening?
Mayor Brett Smiley: No, these were officers looking for a specific person. It's not an investigation into the encampment. It's not an investigation into the officers. I don't know if that's the question.
[Note: At no point did the officers tell the people at the encampment that they were looking for a particular person. They said, repeatedly, that they were looking for drugs.]
Steve Ahlquist: I'm asking if the behavior of the officers is under investigation because they said [and did] things that were obviously in violation of the Homeless Bill of Rights. They said [and did] things that were in violation of civil rights in general. I don't know that your administration is taking this seriously.
Mayor Brett Smiley: Okay. I am not in a place where I can answer those questions right now. You submitted them, and a lot is going on.
Steve Ahlquist: Are you aware of a group called the Terror Squad? That’s a street name for narcotic detectives who push people around and stuff. I've been told that these two detectives, I'm not sure who they are, might be members of that unit. I don't know if you're aware of this or if that's something on your radar.
Mayor Brett Smiley: I'm not familiar with that at this time.
Steve Ahlquist: I'm also wondering: Do you think these detectives, when they went to the encampment and told these people that they don't have any rights because they live in tents, were picking up on policies that your administration has pursued when evicting people and treating people as second class citizens?
Mayor Brett Smiley: I assume this is part of the questions that you've submitted.
Steve Ahlquist: It is, but I'm asking that question because I…
Mayor Brett Smiley [to Josh Estrella]: Do we have all these questions we're working on right now?
Josh Estrella nods.
Mayor Brett Smiley: Alright.
Staff Member: And Mayor, we do have to go. I'm so sorry.
Steve Ahlquist: No, that's fine. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
From the press release:
Mayor Brett P. Smiley will join Colonel Oscar L. Perez, Jr. today for the Providence Police Department’s Annual Commendation Awards Ceremony honoring award recipients from 2020 and 2021.
“Our officers work hard to ensure we address the biggest issues of our community, our neighborhoods are safe, and that our residents know we are here first and foremost to serve them,” said Mayor Brett P. Smiley. “I am honored to join Colonel Perez in recognizing the individuals who have gone above and beyond to fulfill this mission and thanking them for their service.”
Awards to be presented include the Mayor’s and Chief’s Awards as well as Outside Agency, Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.), City Council Awards, and others. The prestigious Rhea Archambault Award will also be presented, representing the best overall performance by an individual police officer or officers for a particular calendar year. The Archambault Award is given to the most outstanding police officer(s) of the Providence Police Department, selected by their peers as being most worthy of this distinction.
“Every day I am incredibly proud to lead the Providence Police Department, but the exemplary work of these individuals makes me confident that we are on the path forward to making Providence a national example of excellent policing,” said Colonel Oscar L. Perez, Jr.
December 6 email from Director Socarras:
“Steve,
“I wanted to close the loop here. When we were made aware of the claim PPD had visited this site on Monday we confirmed that no officers were dispatched and no vacate notices or warrants were served. As we continued working to understand what occurred, we were made aware detectives had visited the location on an unrelated assignment. Providence detectives interacted with individuals at the encampment while looking for a specific person, but did not issue any official citations. The City only issues official vacate notices and dispatches police to a site after individuals living in an encampment have been offered assistance. The City has been aware of this particular encampment and has deployed social services, paid for by the City of Providence, to this site over the past few months.
“The detectives that visited this encampment on Monday were working on an assignment that is currently under investigation.”
Mayor is ducking So much for a good administrative city.