Cranston Mayor Fung announced that he has hired a private investigator to review the police department's own internal review of "allegations of improper use of police authority," according to a release.
Fung has hired Louis F. Stephens, Sr., president of Sterling & Stephens Investigations and Consulting, a Mountainside, NJ-based company, to review the police department's internal investigation.
Stephens is a former supervisory special agent in the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has decades of experience as an investigator. He was picked because of his background and because of the "absence of any business or personal relationships in the city of Cranston."
The issue revolves around whether police were ordered to aggressively ticket the neighborhoods served by Wards 1 and 3 Councilmen Steve Styocs and Paul Archetto the night after they voted to reject a new police union contract at a Nov. 14 Finance Committee meeting.
"We have an assumption that policing is fair, that policing is even handed and I think it's outrageous that there has been an apparent attempt at intimidating me directly," Stycos said. "What these tickets say to every member of the council is 'don't mess with the police department because they'll mess with you and that's not what we want from our police department.'"
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.
Fung, who is also running for Governor, said his "administration takes any allegations of police misconduct seriously,” and "due to the political nature of these allegations, an outside review is essential to maintain the reputation of our police Department and faith of our citizens in its integrity and professionalism. Once the internal investigation has been completed and the independent review completed, we will address any evidence of wrongdoing. If these allegations are found to have merit, the citizens of Cranston can expect swift and decisive action from this office.”
Fung said during his time as a resident, councilman and mayor in Cranston, he's always held the police department in high regard and is extremely grateful for the dedication and hard work of the men and women who serve our city," but, "I will not permit the actions of a few, under any circumstances, to tarnish the reputation of the entire department."
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