Jan 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 1

AROUND THE COUNTRY
R.I. Police Commission Adopts
Policy to Prevent “Gypsy” Cops
The policy inactivates an officer’s certification
the moment they leave a police department.
By Katie Mulvaney
The Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Members
of the commission that oversees
police standards and training
in Rhode Island have watched
reports of rogue officers leaving
one department only to be
promptly hired at another play
out in recent years nationwide.
With that in mind and “out of
an abundance of caution,” the
Rhode Island Commission on
Police Officers Standards and
Training adopted a policy this
year intended to prevent socalled
“wandering officers” or
“gypsy cops” from landing in a
Rhode Island police department
without undergoing a review.
The five-member commission,
which sets policies and
standards for certification and
training for police in Rhode Island,
implemented a policy that
inactivates an officer’s certification
the moment he or she leaves
a police department. The officer
must then apply to be recertified
by the commission in order to
take on active status at another
department.
RIPOST REQUIREMENTS BE-
FORE JOINING A NEW AGENCY
The rules require the officer to
produce a letter of good standing
from the previous agency
and meet other criteria before
joining a new agency. The policy
is intended to stop troubled
officers from resigning from one
department to avoid being fired
and restart their careers with
clean hands a few towns over.
“At the end of the day, we are
trying to prevent police officers
from moving from place to place
without a check,” Jamestown
Police Chief Edward A. Mello,
chairman of the commission,
said in an interview with The
Journal last week.
The Rhode Island rule replaces
a long-standing policy that an
officer’s certification would remain
intact for three years after
that person left an agency, Mello
said. Rhode Island does not have
a list of officers who have left
their positions due to misconduct.
“We want to be sure there’s
a review process between that
break,” he said. “This is a stop
gap measure to ensure good
police.”
The new policy has taken effect
as the commission, known
as the RIPOST, is seeing a growing
number of officers seeking
a lateral transfer from one
agency to another in the Ocean
State — an attractive option as
recruitment has been difficult,
Mello said. Advantages include
that seasoned officers bring with
them professional experience
and training.
“It’s a challenging hiring time,”
said Mello, who’s last three
department hires included two
transfers.
POLICE DE-CERTIFICATION
INDEX
In addition to the letter of
good standing, officers seeking a
transfer must undergo a psychological,
drug and medical exams,
submit to a background check,
and verify that they aren’t in the
National De-certification Index, a
national registry of certificate or
license revocation actions relating
to officer misconduct.
The index, which police in
Rhode Island use to vet outof-state
applicants, currently
lists 31,000 disciplinary actions,
according to Michael Becar,
executive director of the International
Association of Directors
of Law Enforcement Standards
& Training, which oversees the
database.
Although Rhode Island’s new
policy inactivates an officer’s
certification, that individual’s
name cannot be added to the index
because it is not a de-certification
due to misconduct, Becar
said. Rhode Island does not have
a list of officers who have left
their positions due to misconduct,
according to Mello.
Rhode Island is one of four
states nationally whose standards
and training commission
doesn’t have the authority under
state law to decertify a police
officer, a process that essentially
strips that person of his or her
badge.
It joins New Jersey, Hawaii, and
California, though state lawmakers
there passed a measure
in September empowering that
state to suspend or revoke a
certificate on specified grounds.
Those include the use of excessive
force, sexual assault, making
a false arrest, or participating
in a law enforcement gang, as
well as demonstrating an abuse
of power or bias based on race,
national origin, religion, gender
identity or sexual orientation,
or disability. The California law
takes effect in January.
From Becar’s perspective, it
is important for the RIPOST to
have the authority to de-certify
problematic officers to prevent
misconduct and an unwitting
agency experiencing a black eye
and civil liability due to officer
misdeeds.
“They need the authority to
investigate officers who have
committed misconduct, to terminate
their license,” Becar said.
“If they don’t have the authority,
there’s nothing to stop that officer
from going from agency to
agency.”
The association recommends
as model de-certification policies
that incorporate an independent
investigation by the commission
and an appeal process,
as seen in Arizona and Oregon.
“It’s a very fair hearing into
whether misconduct occurred,”
Becar said.
But to Mello, de-certification
can only work if every state is
empowered to revoke an officer’s
badge and then ensure the misconduct
is entered into the national
database. The states must
require, too, that each department
check that database before
hiring an officer, he said.
“There’s no point in de-certification
unless every state is
de-certifying,” Mello said
‘A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’
For now, Sid Wordell, executive
director of the Rhode Island Police
Chiefs’ Association, says the
new policy “is a step in the right
direction.”
“Ultimately, everybody believes
there should be a de-certification
process,” Wordell said.
Harrison Tuttle, executive director
of BLM RI PAC, agrees that
the policy represents a step in
the right direction.
“While we celebrate this victory
today, tomorrow we go back
to work,” Tuttle, who is running
for General Assembly, said in an
email.
The BLM RI PAC will stand
with the state’s Black and brown
communities and continue to
call for the repeal of the Law Enforcement
Officers’ Bill of Rights
in Rhode Island, he said. He welcomed
the chance to meet with
the Police Chiefs’ Association “to
do a full analysis on how this
policy change works in practice
... as we plan to hold them accountable.”
Legislation to amend the Law
Enforcement Officers Bill of
Rights failed to pass last session
after advocates, interest groups
and lawmakers were unable to
reach agreement on key details.
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