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Long-time Providence, Rhode Island Police Chief Dean Esserman resigned last July after news reports surfaced that underage individuals were drinking alcohol at his daughter's high school graduation party in the backyard of their home. Despite the fact that the Chief was chaperoning his daughter's graduation party and abruptly sent everyone home when he discovered some of the guests had brought alcohol to his home, the local news media kept the story going.
Although no wrongdoing was found, Esserman felt the ongoing news coverage had become too much of a distraction for his agency. He was also worried about his 18-year-old daughter's privacy.
As one of a handful of federal monitors in the nation, Dean was recruited in 2003 to take over the leadership of the Providence Police Department. At that time the Justice Department had launched two separate federal investigations. The Civil Rights Division was looking into allegations concerning a pattern and practice of brutality and racism in the agency and the Inspector General had launched an inquiry into the possible misappropriation of federal funds.
"They hoped I would be able to bring down the surge of violent crime," Esserman said. "But even more important, an all-out effort had to be made to bring back the trust between the community and its police department.
During his tenure as the Providence chief, Esserman was celebrated for accomplishing all three of those goals. Today, the Providence Police Department is known for its integrity. Violent crime is down by over 30 percent and homicides are down by 50 percent. But most important, trust has been restored between the men and women of the Providence P.D. and the community they serve.
After Esserman stepped down, the community organized a retirement celebration for the chief, the first time in anyone's memory that anything like that occurred in Providence. Families and churches cooked the food and community members along with members of the Providence command staff, past and present, turned out to honor a man they say changed the face of policing in the city and won thousands of hearts and minds in the process.
The group was a diverse one - dignitaries, community leaders and everyday, ordinary people whose lives Esserman touched - all showed up to pay their respects.
One of those people was Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Paré, who presented Dean with a certificate of appreciation for his hard work and vision.
"I'm sure we'll see you back in law enforcement in the near future," Paré said.
Omar Castro, 24, a student at the Community College of Rhode Island, who is working as a respiratory technician at Rhode Island Hospital, also attended the event.
Castro said he started down the wrong path at a young age and run into trouble with the police more than once. But he was lucky. Castro became a participant in Esserman's, "Lockwood Initiative." In that program police took a select group of accused wrongdoers under their wing and tried to keep them on the straight and narrow rather than arresting them and dragging them into court.
"It was tough in the beginning," Castro told the audience. "But Dean Esserman put me around some good people."
Alfred Amoury, a streetworker for the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, told reporters, "Providence doesn't know what it has - until its lost it."
One of the things that endeared Esserman to so many in the city is the fact that he never seemed interested in self-promotion or getting publicity personally - everything was focused on the people he served.
Providence Mayor Angel Taveras promised that the former chief's philosophy would be carried forward.
"You kept your word that the department would link arms with the community," the Mayor said. "We will never go back on the progress that you started."
When it was his turn to talk, Esserman thanked his former command staff.
He ended with a quote from President John F. Kennedy: "In the final analysis God's work here on earth must truly be our own."
The applause was thunderous.
A short time after he resigned, Esserman was offered an appointment as a distinguished visiting professor at Roger Williams School of Law in Rhode Island.
He was also appointed a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice Studies at New York University School of Law.
Three months later, Dean was recruited by the Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, to return to that city as the new chief of police. He was sworn in last month.
Dean earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and his law degree from New York University. He serves on the board of the Vera Institute and LISC (Local Investment Support Corporation). He is also a former board member of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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