BY AMY FORLITI, The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The city suspended two police officers Friday and is trying to revoke the pension benefits of a former police chief and a former captain over allegations of cheating on police promotional tests.
The former chief, Urbano Prignano Jr., had admitted while testifying during the 2002 corruption trial of former Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. that he had provided “cheat sheets” to several officers preparing for the exams.
A 16-month investigation concluded that two ranking officers received test materials before promotional exams between 1996 and 1999, when Prignano led the department. The officers identified in the probe were not named and were not fired.
Police Chief Dean Esserman opened a new investigation into the allegations after he was named chief in January 2003.
Mayor David Cicilline said Friday that the attempt to revoke or curtail the pension benefits of Prignano and Capt. Jack Ryan was for dishonorable service. Attorneys for the two men, who are both retired, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The two officers suspended with pay Friday were not identified and it was unclear if they were the two cited in the investigation.
Other charges are expected to stem from the investigation into allegations of cheating on the tests, which police take when seeking a higher ranking, Cicilline said. The investigation’s results were being turned over to the attorney general’s office.
“Police work is a noble job, and it’s a job that’s supposed to be about pride, not patronage,” Esserman said. “The few who have tried to take the shine off the badge are going to be called to task.”
Cicilline called the suspensions the first step in restoring the broken trust in a department that has been plagued by low morale and embarassing revelations, including last year’s discovery that a computerized system was secretly recording officers’ telephone calls, and the 2000 death of an off-duty, black police officer who was gunned down by two white patrolmen who mistook him for a suspect.