NEW: Lombardi Responds to North Prov. Female Police Lieutenant’s Complaint
Monday, August 01, 2016
North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi has responded to a complaint filed by a female Police Lieutenant with the Rhode Island Human Rights Commission, alleging a sexually hostile work environment — and retaliation.
Lt. Diana Perez filed the petition with the HRC in July, naming Lombardi and two command staff as respondents, after she sent a personal memo to the Mayor months earlier outlining her concerns — and the union said Lombardi has not addressed the situation.
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“I also started an inquiry and investigation into the matter. We've got Marc DeSisto conducting the investigation,” said Lombardi. DeSisto was the special prosecutor in 2004 when then-reporter Jim Taricani was held in contempt - and jailed - for refusing to identify the person who gave him a videotape showing a top Providence official taking a bribe during the Cianci Administration.
“They're coming in Thursday to speak with me,” said Lombardi of the North Providence investigation. “We have an issue with the department. We have a union that will throw issues at the wall and hope they will stick.”
Contesting Union
“He's got a lot to say,” said Lombardi of union president Dennis Stone’s comments on the Perez situation. “He was just put on probation for four weeks by his peers — he is the last person who should be saying anything.”
“This is an outside investigation. And first of all, I’m not going to comment any further, that's advice from legal counsel — but my conscious is clear,” said Lombardi. “ Again, I called Lt. Perez, she never reached out to me, she said she didn't think it would go this far. So I turned it over to an independent attorney. In my honest opinion, she couldn't wait, and now she's being guided by a union that will do anything they can to take control.”
“And the grievances they’re filing, and the types of grievances they’re filing, in an effort to take the chief out, that's not fair to the taxpayers,” said Lombardi. “At the end of this inquiry, if there's evidence of wrongdoing, anyone who knows me knows I will deal with it harshly.”
Related Slideshow: Police Militarization - Department by Department Breakdown
Below are those fifteen local police departments that have obtained military supplies, listed from least to most items acquired. The list does not include acquisition records for certain tactical weapons and supplies for which the Pentagon has refused to release department-specific data. (In those instances only county-level data has been released. That data is not included below.) Records are for recent acquisitions going back to 2009 and were obtained from the Defense Logistics Agency.
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