Campus Police sport new gear

With sharp-looking police cruisers adorned in college colors, new equipment and a renovated police station, Rhode Island College's Campus Police force is entering this school year with a rejuvenated step in their stride.

"It all helps morale and self-esteem," said Frederick Ghio, deputy chief of Campus Police and assistant director of security and safety.

Sitting in his windowless office in the back of the police station in Browne Hall, Ghio was all smiles about Campus Police's new identity.

"Everything is new, fresh and clean. It's a whole better environment," he said. "When I got here, I said if I ever took over, what would I want this place to look like?" He said the athletic offices in the Murray Center were a good model, "pristine" and organized.

This summer, when President Nancy Carriuolo authorized renovations to RIC's police headquarters, Ghio got his wish. What's more, Athletic Director Donald Tencher was the one who helped make it possible. Tencher, along with Student Affairs Vice President Gary Penfield, was temporarily put in charge of oversight of RIC's security and safety department and Physical Plant over the summer. Ghio said he worked closely with Tencher during the course of the project.

The result is a police station with a considerable facelift. "Our place was a mess before," Ghio said.

The walls were repainted, the flooring replaced and the dispatch desk moved to face visitors coming to the window in Browne Hall. The work is ongoing – the new Campus Police logo, which Ghio said was designed by RIC Signage Coordinate Daniel Gannon, will soon be affixed to the glass partition at the station's front, among other places.

The logo is already found on RIC's upgraded fleet of police cars – now numbering six in all – and on other signage around campus, including new crosswalk signs at key pedestrian crossings on College Road.

But the station itself, which Ghio said had been "depressing, moldy and full of old rugs" before the renovation, was not the only change the department received. The Lincoln Police Department donated two police bikes – with bike uniforms – to RIC, and officers can, for the first time, be seen on campus patrolling by bicycle. Through grants and various funding sources, the department also received a new radio system and replaced old flashlights, safety gear and emergency equipment that was degraded and hadn't been replaced in years, he said.

Ghio, who has been with the department for over four years now, came to RIC from the FBI, where he retired as a special agent with 26 years of service, all in Providence, from 1980-2006.

And with the departure of long-time Chief Cyrille Cote over the summer, Ghio could be next in line for the top job. Cote, Ghio said, retired Aug. 18 after 18 years at RIC.

"After graduation, Chief Cote began to really think about retiring," Ghio said. He added that Cote, who resides in West Warwick, plans to study to become a deacon in the Catholic Church.

Whether Ghio is promoted to the top job or a search for Cote's successor is undertaken is a decision that has yet to be made by college officials, who Ghio said were waiting for new Vice President for Administration and Finance William Gearheart to get settled into his position first. However, Ghio said he would relish the opportunity to lead the department in the long-term, if college administrators decide to promote him.

Meanwhile, Ghio has his hands full. RIC's Campus Police is a fully functioning force of sworn officers, the majority of which have worked in municipal departments and all of which have the authority to place law violators under arrest. Thirteen officers patrol the campus (a fourteenth is being hired soon) in shifts of three or four, seven days and nights a week. A secretary, Manon Nery, works part-time in the station, splitting her time with another campus department, and RIC's fire safety technician, David Benevides, will also have his office there.

From the dispatch desk, one of four lieutenants handles calls to the station and supervises officers on duty. Ghio said one of the department's goals is to hire a weekday dispatcher so that the lieutenant can venture out of the station to directly work with patrolmen, a request he has forwarded to Carriuolo.

One of those supervisors, Lt. Bob Hart, said he was happy with many of the changes to the department so far.

"I'm looking forward to the flat-screen monitor" above the dispatch desk, Hart said. The monitor will allow officers to better view feeds from the dozens of security cameras installed throughout campus over the last four years.

From the dispatch desk, lieutenants, among other duties, monitor cameras, answer the phone, respond to Blue Light emergency calls and send officers to respond to calls on campus, unlock classrooms and write parking tickets.

And that may be the most common interaction RIC students have with Campus Police – parking enforcement. Ghio is frequently visited by students who receive a ticket for double parking, leaving their vehicle in a lot overnight, parking in a handicap space without proper placards or, one of the most common infractions, parking in a faculty/staff-only lot.

Unfortunately for RIC, the revenue from parking tickets doesn't come back to help the campus – fines are applied directly to the state's budget, a process RIC has been trying to change for years through the General Assembly. At times, RIC's Campus Police has avoided giving tickets, as the overtime cost of sending officers to court in case someone decides to dispute the ticket is taxing on the department's limited budget.

But at the beginning of this semester, as the department has done often in recent years, any "parking amnesty" is hard to find. Officers are instructed to give out tickets liberally to violators at the start of the year, in an attempt to curb illegal parking habits that can perpetuate for an entire semester if left unchecked, jamming key access roads and blocking circulation in lots.