Ticketgate Probe Complete, Calls for Firing of Police Capt., Union Head

Cranston Police Capt. Stephen Antonucci, also the head of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 301, the Cranston Police union, is on paid administrative leave and facing seven conduct violations after a State Police investigation concluded he alone ordered tickets to be issued in retaliation against two Cranston City Councilmen who voted against a proposed police contract last November.

Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung announced that the investigation recommends that Antonucci be terminated and he said he expects the captain to exercise his rights under the Police Officer's Bill of Rights.

Because of the nature of internal police investigations, State Police officials and Fung would not disclose any details about the investigation other to say that it was Antonucci acting alone when he ordered the stepped-up enforcement of tickets in the wards of Councilmen Steve Stycos and Paul Archetto the night after the council vote.

They reiterated that former Cranston Police Chief Col. Marco Palombo was not involved in the ticket scandal in any way, nothing that he was placed on leave when the State Police were brought to give them room to do their jobs.

Fung also said he will call for measures to be put in place to avoid a similar situation from happening again, noting that Antonucci was both the union president and part of the Cranston Police Department's leadership team.

"The [leader] of the police union should not hold the management rank of Captian within the department," Fung said. "This creates a conflict between labor and management."

Fung said he will negotiate terms within the new police contract to make a clearer separation.

At the same time, Fung said that with Palombo announcing his retirement last month, there's a golden opportunity for the department to start anew with a new leader who "can clarify the expectations of all our officers and uphold standards of conduct expected for all law enforcement officers."

"I am looking for a new chief who can unify the department and build a culture of public accountability and transparency," Fung said.

Fung didn't rule out picking a new chief from within the existing ranks of the department.

The conclusion of the report shouldn't come as a major surprise to anyone who has followed the issue closely as Antonucci's name surfaced the same night the allegations of retaliation surfaced. 

The allegations came to light in nine pages of documents released by City Councilman Steve Stycos at the end of a December City Council meeting, including two anonymous letters purporting to be from rank and file members of the department. They suggested the directive came from Antonucci in apparent retaliation for votes against the contract.

Stycos said he and Ward 3 Councilman Paul Archetto both voted against the contract at the Nov. 14 Finance Committee meeting and immediately afterwards, he said department records show the number of tickets issued in their wards skyrocketed.

Both Wards 1 and 3 are part of different policing districts that encompass multiple voting wards, yet, Styocs said, the issuance of tickets were concentrated in their wards alone. In Ward 2, which is in the same policing district as Ward 1, there was just one ticket on Nov. 15 and 16. But in his ward, there were 66. In Archetto's Ward 3, 62 tickets were issued in contrast to the 5 tickets issued in Ward 5, which shares policing district 2 with Ward 3.

"What appears to have happened is following the rejection of the police contract, somehow an order was given to issue tickets in Ward 1 and Ward 3 to intimidate I think not just the two of us, but every member of this council," Stycos said at the time. "This is a serious matter and we need to find out what happened."

The contract in question was rejected by the Finance Committee in a 4-3 vote — a major blow to both the union and mayor's office, which now find themselves looking at another round of negotiations.

Council members who voted against the contract took issue with a provision that gave substantial raises to ranking members of the departments (sergeants, lieutenants and captains) that equate to an 11.5 percent pay hike over three years. The union argued that the raises were to bring ranking officers' salaries in line with neighboring cities and towns like Warwick and South Kingstown.

The city's own cost analysis said the contract would only cost the city an extra $454,000 over the life of the contract when factoring in savings through increases in employee contributions to health care and other post employment benefits (OPEB).

But Stycos, perhaps the most-vocal opponent of the contract, has said he and his fellow council members voting against the contract — Councilwoman Sarah Lee and Councilmen John E. Lanni Jr. and Archetto — believe the contract will actually cost the city an extra $1 million per year by 2015, due in part to the creation of a new step system for ranking members — a first for police contracts in Rhode Island. Normally, only patrol officers see regular step increases during their years of service.

For complete coverage of the issue, see:

Police Chief put On Paid Leave

State Police are conducting a broad review of the department's operations in the wake of an overnight parking ticket scandal.

Councilmen Say Their Wards Mass-Ticketed in Retaliation for Police Contract Vote

After voting against a new police contract, Councilmen Steve Stycos and Paul Archetto say their wards were targeted by a rash of tickets in retaliation.

Fung: "I Do Not Condone Any Type of Intimidating Behavior"

Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung has responded to allegations of abuse of power at the Cranston Police Department over a flurry of parking tickets that two city councilmen say were issued in retribution against their votes.

Map of Tickets Appears to Support Councilmens' Claims

Were you ticketed? Here's the List

Fung Taps Independent Investigator to Review Police Ticket Blitz

ACLU Says Review of Ticket Blitz Investigation Doesn't go Far Enough