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Residents press Woonsocket officials on policing, dispatch response and crime information; city says crime-mapping coming
Summary
Public commenters criticized perceived lack of enforcement, a dispatch response and local disorder; Public Safety Director Eugene Gillette announced upcoming crime-mapping tied to a new records-management system and cited call volume constraints on proactive enforcement.
Several residents used the Sept. 15 Woonsocket City Council meeting to urge stronger policing and to report specific incidents; the public-safety director responded that the police department will roll out online crime mapping and that higher call volumes have reduced proactive enforcement.
Stephen Weber urged the council and mayor to use the police Facebook page more actively and suggested posting offender photos as a deterrent. Weber said social-media updates could “increase public awareness” and help deter shoplifting and other behavior. He also urged a referendum on speed and red-light cameras, saying the community supports them.
Valerie Curtis described two incidents she reported to the Woonsocket Police Department and said a police dispatcher failed to send officers to her home when she reported looters and later a trespasser she described as armed. Curtis told the council she filed an internal complaint and that a lieutenant later told her the department reviewed the call and would handle it internally. She criticized the dispatcher’s response and said she would not be “sympathetic” to explanations based on the dispatcher’s personal difficulties.
Public Safety Director Eugene Gillette responded during the meeting: “We actually have a new records management system. We will have a crime mapping on the... it should be within the next week next couple of weeks.” Gillette added that arrest photos and pre-arrest pictures typically “don’t last too long” and that there is a correlation between calls for service and the department’s ability to issue traffic tickets; he cited higher call volumes in July compared with February as a factor limiting proactive traffic enforcement.
Gillette said he would discuss specifics — such as posting pre- or post-arrest photos on social media and panhandling enforcement — with the chief. The department did not announce new policy changes at the meeting; Gillette characterized his explanation of staffing and call-volume effects as the department’s immediate response to public comment.
