“This Isn’t Law Enforcement, It’s Us ” - Community Leaders, Officials on Recent Providence Homicides
Friday, August 21, 2020
Public safety and elected officials and community leaders on Friday decried the latest violence in Providence, which saw the fifth homicide in two weeks occur Thursday night.
"This is not law enforcement killing our children. It’s not them. It’s us," said Cedric Huntley, Interim of the Director of the Nonviolence Institute, at a press conference Friday morning. "I’m not defending anybody — but I am defending the community. Our black and brown children are killing each other and that’s wrong. All I know is I go to the hospital and I see pain and suffering. That’s what I see."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"I’d like to send my condolences to all those families who have lost a loss one," said community activist Diana Garlington, who lost her daughter to gun violence. "I don’t believe this was a recent uptick in violence — I know for a fact that 52 guns released on the street is a problem for all of us."
Garlington was speaking to the report of over fifty firearms being stolen from a home in Providence last week.
"This is not something I’m going to stand up and say that our community is not responsible," said Garlington. "We’re also responsible. We have to stand up ourselves. It has to be 'we' and 'us' — it can’t just be 'Black Lives Matter.' This pandemic has spiked a large number of weapons being purchased in last few months."
"We must unite — we have to come together in order to curb the violence," said Garlington.
Police React
"We obviously are having multiple homicides and we’re working the cases — one of the problems we’re seeing is more guns on the streets," said Providence Police Major David Lapatin, at an earlier press conference.
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"On Prairie Avenue — [a suspect] shot at one person and then you have two people with the person shot pulling guns out," said Lapatin. "We realize the problem. We’ve been working on it. Detectives are busy with the cases. We’ve brought in intelligence, narcotics, youth services."
Lapatin said that the police will revisit gun control unit that was in effect in recent years -- but disbanded under Mayor Jorge Elorza.
"When guns were at a peak — 3 or 4 years ago — we had a gun control unit here that went after any guns stolen we’d taken in," said Lapatin.
Lapatin at his press conference said he believes the city overall, despite the recent violence, is safe.
"Providence is a safe place — most of these people are targeted, but that doesn’t make it any better — there’s always the possibility someone can get a stray bullet," said Lapatin.
"We’re a decent size, we get problems like this every once in a while and we have to deal with that. It just puts a lot of pressure [on us]…we’re working it," he said. "Hopefully we’ll get this calmed down shortly."
"Providence is not Minneapolis. It’s not other states," said Huntley. "The partnerships we’ve developed have made a difference. If you don’t think that, then we can go back 25 years — 30 years? You want to be there?"
"It’s made a difference. I applaud those fighting their own fights, but the fight of non-violence is all our problem," said Huntley, of questions raised of policing during the press conference.
