North Providence Police Union votes “no confidence” in acting Chief

February 9, 2016 5:36 pm

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

The North Providence Police Union is calling for the appointment of a new Chief after 90 percent voted they have ‘no confidence’ in their acting Chief, Christopher Pelagio.

"It’s not one individual issue, it’s many issues that have come together over the past several years, with a lot of grievances and the union not being able to make any type of contact with the administration here," says Union member, Michael Zaccagnini.

Zaccagnini says the union currently has about 25 unanswered grievances. Lieutenant Pelagio was appointed acting Chief in 2014, leaving the department without a permanent Chief for years.

"You take on the tasks of other officers, so you have to pick up the slack. We are obviously not in the business to be able to put something on the back-burner when there are emergencies," adds Zaccagnini.

A release sent out by the police union gives several examples of Pelagio’s apparent lack of leadership, which include a lack of desire to resolve any grievances filed by the union, almost no promotions or staffing decisions and no motivation to hire new officers, even though the department’s staffing levels are “dangerously low.” Instead of 66 officers, they are currently at 57.

We reached Pelagio by phone, he said this was first he was hearing of the vote, saying in part:

"Unbeknownst to me I was not apprised of the official results of this no-confidence vote. I was not approached by anyone from the union executive board. For them to go to the media to tell you the results before coming to me, to try to advise me of a vote and the potential problems that are on the table, it shows me how committed they are to solving these alleged issues in the police department."

The Mayor who appointed Pelagio as acting Chief would not comment, but North Providence residents have mixed feelings on the issue.

"It’s awful to hear, for them not to have confidence in him," says resident Adrien Brown.

"I feel everything is fine, I don’t really see anything the police chief has done. I think the police do a fine job with the town," says resident Peter Martineau.

A "no confidence" vote does not mean the administration has to take any action.

ABC6 News spoke with North Providence town councilor, Raymond Destefanis, who said he is surprised that they voted "no confidence," saying he thinks the chief is doing a great job, and is serving the town in the best way possible.