Providence FOP Blasts Council President Miller as “Radical Anti-Law”
GoLocalProv News Team
Providence FOP Blasts Council President Miller as “Radical Anti-Law”
In a statement, the FOP blasted Council President Rachel Miller - who was one of the leading advocates to defund police in Providence, following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Specifically, the FOP called out Miller’s position on the city’s noise ordinance, as it pertained to the striking protesters at Butler Hospital on Blackstone Boulevard.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe strike recenty ended after months of action.
“She somehow reasons that the noise violation fines were unjustified when given out, and she used politics to have them dismissed,” said the FOP.
“The City Council needs to stop interfering with the Police Department and the ability of our police officers to perform our duties in a professional way, and for the safety of both the officers and the public,” said the FOP. “If they continue, the City Council runs the risk of undoing all of the gains we have made as a Police Department and a City with community policing efforts and safety for all.”
FOP on Record
The following was released by the Providence FOP Lodge #3 on Monday:
"Council President Miller clearly has an issue with the police officers in Providence. We are witnessing radical anti-law and order members of our City Council blatantly meddling in and interfering with the police department’s ability to maintain community peace and safety within the City of Providence, purely for political reasons.
Earlier this year, after receiving numerous noise complaints from law-abiding members of the City of Providence community who live near Butler Hospital due to unnecessary and inappropriately loud noises disrupting their ability to live peacefully, the City of Providence and the Providence Police Department enforced City Law and issued numerous noise violation fines under the Noise Ordinance to those responsible for the violations. As reported in the news, Mayor Smiley confirmed that the fines were only issued after those responsible had been warned about the violations numerous times and had been told not to use amplified sound. Mayor Smiley stated, “Unlike a strike outside of Rhode Island Hospital or some other institutional zone, this is in the heart of a neighborhood with an abutting childcare center, an assisted living facility, and residential neighbors.”
She somehow reasons that the noise violation fines were unjustified when given out, and she used politics to have them dismissed. The FOP would like to strongly remind her that the City Noise Ordinance and similar State laws exist for the safety, comfort, and well-being of her constituents and the members of the City’s community, and they are not to be simply ignored and worse, changed, for her political benefit.
Our police officers have a duty to keep the peace, to protect and secure the safety and well-being of the members of the community, and to uphold the laws of the State and the ordinances of the City. Our officers did just that in issuing noise violation fines after repeated warnings and repeated abuses by individuals making these loud disruptive noises. Many of those disrupting the peace were not even the actual striking workers. It is now clear that Council President Miller cares more about those who were disturbing the peace and well-being of the members of the community and who were actively and brazenly violating the law, than she does about those members of the community and the residents of the City. President Miller chooses to ignore that there are tax-paying residents in our City who expect the police to do their jobs and to enforce the laws.
Lately, it seems more and more that no matter what our police officers do to address issues within the City, to respond to and handle complaints from members of the community, and to enforce the laws of the City, President Miller and several other City Council members loudly take issue, voice their anti-police rhetoric, and attack our police officers. However, what these members of the City Council need to do is stay in their own lanes, stop mixing their misguided politics with policing for their selfish needs, and stop interfering with the efforts of our police officers to maintain the peace in Providence.
The City Council has made policing in Providence more difficult and dangerous with their outrageous actions, statements, and theatrics. As a direct result, the bad actors within the City more often see the Council as a level of protection for them against the police, which is evidenced by the fact that our police officers are encountering more and more of these bad actors who openly and vulgarly challenge the officers on a daily basis, which can lead to escalation depending on their actions.
Members of our City Council call the Police Department and their District Lieutenants constantly to address specific issues and complaints in their districts, which stem from complaints made by members of those communities. However, many times after our police officers do address these very complaints in a professional and successful way, these same members of the Council will shamelessly criticize our officers and their actions if they sense that the anti-police activist winds are blowing and they can score points with them against the police. It is frankly a shameful and disgusting display, which seems to occur much too often.
The City Council needs to stop interfering with the Police Department and the ability of our police officers to perform our duties in a professional way, and for the safety of both the officers and the public. If they continue, the City Council runs the risk of undoing all of the gains we have made as a Police Department and a City with community policing efforts and safety for all, and their actions will continue to make the retention and recruiting of current and new qualified police officers much more difficult in the City of Providence."