The Providence Police Department has seen significant cuts to its federal funding in recent years, with grants decreasing by 92 percent — from $2.9 million in 2010-11 to $243,000 in 2012-2013.
The department’s 2014 budget totaled $65.5 million, a $5 million increase over the previous year, but it pales in comparison to the $78 million appropriated for 2007-2008. The current level of funding stands in stark contrast to the $8.6 million Providence Police received in 2004-2005 and the $7.6 million received in 2008-2009.
Reduced funding stifles the creativity and flexibility of the police, said Michael O’Toole, a program administrator in the Office of Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare. Training opportunities and technology and equipment updates, as well as certain community programs, have all seen their budgets dry up, he said. Overtime expenditures have “been slashed,” O’Toole said, but the department has not had to let any officers go.
Certain specialized programs like gang intervention and the narcotics unit have been scaled back as the department has been forced to make “strategic” allocation decisions, O’Toole said. Despite these reductions, crime has not increased since this time last year, he said.
The reduction in funds allotted for overtime significantly affects officers’ abilities to be present in the community and spend time and resources on specialized programs, said Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, a Providence-based group that frequently collaborates with Providence Police.
The institute has also seen its federal funds reduced in recent years. “You can’t do more with less,” Gross said, so “we have to pick our battles.”
Other cities across the nation have also seen their Department of Justice domestic crime-fighting grants severely reduced. Congress has imposed 43 percent cuts to both DOJ programs — the Justice Assistance Grant and the Community Oriented Policing Services — which provide grants to cities to help local police forces, according to a 2012 study by the National Criminal Justice Association and the Vera Institute of Justice.
With recent national economic growth and an improving economy, Providence Police is “cautiously optimistic” that funding to these programs will be restored, O’Toole said.
The department could receive an influx of new funds soon because the state will receive $6,789,619 from the Department of Homeland Security to “enhance public safety and strengthen Rhode Island’s emergency preparedness,” announced Rep. David Cicilline ’83, D-R.I., and Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., in a press release Aug. 23.
The total allocation consists of several different grants from different DHS programs. About $3.5 million will come from the State Homeland Security Program, which is designed to train emergency responders to better handle crisis situations and events of domestic terrorism. The Emergency Management Performance Grant — which will contribute just over $3 million — focuses on emergency preparedness throughout the state. The Port Security Grant Program is rounding off the total grant, contributing almost $200,000 to support transportation-related security. Congress increased funding for these three programs in the budget for fiscal year 2014.
O’Toole said he thinks Providence, as the capital city, would receive some of this money, noting that Providence Police has previously received money from the Port Security Grant Program. The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency would be responsible for administering the grants, he said. “We’re constantly looking for funding opportunities out there.”
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