PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The governor is being urged by some people to do more to recruit women and minority candidates in her search for a new superintendent of the state police, but others have argued the agency is so well run that an internal candidate should be promoted to the top job.
Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo is looking for a successor to Col. Steven O’Donnell, who retired Sept. 23 and was widely respected during his five years leading the force.
Raimondo has reached out to at least one woman for the job, but the woman, a retired police official, wasn’t interested. Raimondo said she’s looking inside and outside Rhode Island for a good manager who understands 21st-century policing and the importance of diversity.
“I don’t have a view - male, female, African-American, white - I just want the best person for the job I can find,” she told WPRO-AM last week.
Lt. Charles Wilson, chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, sent a letter to Raimondo last month calling for a wider search. He said constraining the appointment to internal candidates perpetuates the “dismal lack of diversity” in Rhode Island police agencies. He said Brown University police Chief Mark Porter, who is black, is the state’s only non-white police chief.
Wilson retired this year from the Rhode Island College Police Department. His association is based in New Jersey.
A report the group produced last year for the Providence branch of the NAACP found that more than 95 percent of Rhode Island police positions above the rank of patrol officer are held by whites. It recommended ways to improve recruitment strategies so police officers are more representative of the communities where they work. The state, which has about 1 million residents, is about 74 percent non-Latino white.
Wilson said O’Donnell, who’s white, had made some inroads. The state police in June launched a new youth academy to increase diversity among its ranks.
Raimondo answered questions about her search in a talk show radio interview last week on WPRO. A caller from Portsmouth told Raimondo “there’s a very uneasy feeling” about “an attempt being made to make a statement regarding the type of person you’d select for this job.”
The show’s host translated the caller’s comment to Raimondo as: “Don’t make this a question of diversity.”
Raimondo responded: “There’s certainly no political statement being made here. We are going to find someone who will continue the state police, which, as you say, is extremely well run. You have my word on that.”
Lt. Col. Kevin Barry, who’s white, was named acting superintendent after O’Donnell retired and is being considered for the permanent job.
Among those recommending an internal candidate is retired state police Lt. Col. Karen Pinch, who was No. 3 in the force and the highest-ranking woman in the agency’s history. Pinch, now the town administrator in Richmond, said she’s happily retired from her law enforcement career. Raimondo reached out to her to consider the position, but she declined.
Pinch said “somebody internal would be the best option” because that person would have been trained in the Rhode Island State Police culture.
Raimondo’s office said Monday she is soliciting feedback from public safety leaders and community stakeholders. It said she believes the ranks and command staff of the state police should better reflect Rhode Island’s diverse population and she’s committed to recruiting more women and people of color.
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