EXCLUSIVE: New Accusations of Misbehavior Against Esserman
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Pressure is mounting for Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman to leave amid accusations of previous misconduct.
Esserman was suspended for one day by Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare after shouting at a sergeant the previous Friday for coughing during remarks Esserman made at a training event.
Sources tell GoLocalProv that the incident, far from being an isolated case, is typical for Esserman. “According to officers I’ve spoken to over the years, this is nothing new. The verbal dressing down of officers in front of civilians, the bad attitude, the demeaning have all been part of his M.O.,” said Providence City Councilman Luis Aponte. “This guy’s been allowed to run this Police Department as if it was part of his fiefdom.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“When issues were addressed, they fell on deaf ears,” Aponte added.
The Providence police union alone receives three to four complaints a month about Esserman losing his temper with officers, according to one source familiar with the department. Most involve accusations of verbal abuse. “That is a constant battle,” the source said. In more than three decades of work with police departments, the source said he’s never seen a chief act the way Esserman does.
Several sources say Esserman’s verbal abuse and intimidating demeanor have been apparent from the beginning—and aren’t just limited to officers under his authority.
‘I’ve never seen a person act and react like … Esserman’
“I knew in ’03, back then, that this guy wasn’t playing with a full deck of cards—the way he was using foul language, the way he expressed himself, threatening people,” said Manuel Vieira, the former city communications director. “I’ve never seen a person act and react like this Esserman guy did. It was pretty scary.”
His worst run-in with the chief came in mid-February 2003, on a day when he had to shuttle back and forth between the Public Safely Complex and the hospital, where his wife was recovering from major surgery. At some point in between those back-and-forth trips, he received a message from Esserman demanding a private meeting in his office.
When Vieira arrived in his office late in the afternoon, things got off to a bad start right away.
‘It sounded like someone was banging a coconut with a pencil’
“He leaned over his desk—he had this thing about leaning over his desk, I think that was supposed to intimidate me,” Vieira said. “He leaned over his desk and said, ‘We need to talk,’ and then he takes his index finger and started banging his head.”
“It sounded to me like someone was banging a coconut with a pencil,” Vieira said.
“I said, ‘Excuse me, but I hope this doesn’t take very long. My wife had surgery and I’d like to get to the hospital.’”
Esserman exploded. “He said, ‘I don’t give a [expletive] about your wife in the hospital—we got things we need to talk about,’” Vieira recalled. “When he said that, I just lost it. I just stood up and said, ‘This meeting is over. Colonel, you have a good day.’”
Vieira walked out as Esserman shouted at him to come back.
To this day, Vieira is not sure what Esserman wanted to talk about. (Esserman did not respond to a request for comment.)
Although the two had disagreements over the use of a new recording system in the Public Safety Complex, Vieira isn’t sure if that’s what had Esserman so steamed up that winter afternoon. Just days later, Vieira, who was a Buddy Cianci appointee, was let go by Mayor David Cicilline. He says he wasn’t given a reason for his termination—and Esserman never came up in his conversation with Cicilline.
At first, some people in the Police Department assumed Esserman’s behavior was his way of asserting control in his new position, according to a source familiar with the department. “When he came on, we thought he just wanted to establish his territory, but that’s just his personality,” the source said.
‘To this day it still bothers me’
Stephen Moise, a retired fire alarm inspector for the Providence Fire Department, recounted his own profanity-laden encounter with Esserman. It was 2004 and Moise had just been quoted in a news story saying something critical about an investigation Esserman had supported.
The next day, Moise arrived for work as usual at the Public Safety Complex. As he entered the building, he heard someone yelling over “You got anything else to say to the media?”
It was Esserman.
As Moise headed for the elevator, the police chief intercepted him. “At this point, he gets in my face, pointing his finger at me, telling me I’m a ‘[expletive] part-timer’ and ‘You’ll be held [expletive] accountable.’” Moise says Esserman even threatened to take away his pension—although nothing came of it. (Moise retired in 2005 and city records show he is receiving a pension.)
Moise never filed any kind of a formal complaint over the incident, which continues to haunt him. “It brings me back and I’m telling you … it really hurts,” Moise said. “To this day it still bothers me.”
Councilman: Esserman could still have a future with the department
Despite long-standing issues, Aponte says there’s a clear sign that business as usual has changed: the speed with which Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare—who was appointed by Mayor Angel Taveras—responded to the incident last weekend. “I think that is pretty significant and is a harbinger of how things will be done in regards to public safety,” Aponte said.
He also says Esserman deserves credit for turning the department around. “I would argue today the department is better than it was eight or nine years ago,” Aponte said. He said Esserman rid the department of corruption and brought a new and much-needed emphasis on community policing to Providence.
As for whether Esserman stays or goes, Council President Michael Solomon said ultimately that is up to the Public Safety Commissioner. He said Pare is in the middle of a 90-day review of the department and is expected to make a decision once his review is completed.
Aponte believes that Esserman could still have a future with the department. “He can be part of moving the department forward in the future or he can leave,” Aponte said. “You’re either part of the problem or you’re part of the solution and I think he gets to decide which one.”