New brass: There's been massive turnover among RI police chiefs. What it means for your town.

Thirty-seven police chiefs command the local police officers who work in Rhode Island's cities and towns.

Twenty-one of those chiefs took their oaths less than five years ago.

Fifteen were sworn in less than three years ago.

The count rises to 16 if the grouping of city and town police chiefs is expanded to include the superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police: Col. Darnell S. Weaver took his oath in April 2022.

Of course, neither Weaver nor his counterparts in the cities and towns are newbies to law enforcement. Most logged many years of experience as lower-ranking police leaders before they took the reins of their respective organizations.

Being chief of police presents a whole new set of challenges

But being first-in-command is different. And the number of newcomers to the chief rank, including 10 chiefs who were sworn in less than two years ago, has been noticed at monthly gatherings of the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association .

The executive director of the association, Sidney Wordell, said he can't recall a time when Rhode Island had so many new police chiefs.

"No doubt, we've seen a turnover of chiefs that I have never seen before," said Wordell, himself a former Little Compton police chief who has been at the association for nine years.

What's driving the dramatic turnover of police chiefs in RI?

A collection of societal trends and economic factors have played into the recent wave of departures, according to Wordell.

A big influence, he says, involves the economics that have made it harder for employers everywhere to hold onto employees in general.

Even police chiefs with less experience in the job have management skills that can be desirable to employers, Wordell said.

In recent years, at least five police leaders in Rhode Island have shifted from law enforcement to jobs as town administrators.

The environment for police work itself has been full of new challenges in recent years, from scrutiny and pressure brought by social-justice activists to enormous technological change to the mortal threat related to the willingness of some Americans to kill other people, including police officers, with high-powered rifles such as the AR-15.

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Chiefs also face more difficulty in recruiting police officers.

All of these factors can put a different sheen on moving to a different occupation or retiring sooner rather than later.

Rhode Island has entered a new era, according to Wordell. The time when certain chiefs, leaders like former Johnston police chief Richard S. Tamburini , stay in the job for more than 25 years may be over.

"It's unheard of," Wordell said.

The sage veterans

Rhode Island's most experienced police chief is Middletown's Anthony Pesare.

Pesare logged 18 years as the town's chief before he left the force in 2018.

In February 2023, Pesare returned to lead the force after the departure of Chief William Kewer.

Only nine police chiefs including Pesare are still leading their departments after taking over more than 10 years ago.

Cranston's police chief, Col. Michael J. Winquist, who swore his oath in October of 2014 − after a lengthy state police career − is in the next group of top police leaders.

Both Narragansett Police Chief Sean Corrigan and Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas F. Oates III are close behind Winquist.

What are more experienced chiefs doing to help newcomers?

Oates, who served as a deputy chief in Providence for many years before his appointment in Woonsocket, has noticed new faces at the association's monthly gatherings.

The association has scheduled special sessions specifically geared to help provide some orientation to new police chiefs.

Oates said he has closely coordinated with the new chief in neighboring Cumberland, Matthew Benson, as he has settled in.

All of the chiefs have worked together on projects such as the adoption of body cameras at departments across the state.

Such contact can help them handle crises together, too, Oates said.

"It's great," he said.

Chiefs who were sworn in before the pandemic started more than four years ago are in the next group behind Oates. They are:

• Tiverton Police Chief Patrick Jones
• Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves
• Charlestown Police Chief Michael J. Paliotta
• Little Compton Police Chief Scott N. Raynes
• Portsmouth Police Chief Brian P. Peters
• Bristol Police Chief Kevin Lynch

Police chiefs during the COVID era

Chiefs who were sworn in more than three years ago, during the early pandemic era, include:

• Coventry Police Chief Frederick J. Heise III
• North Smithfield Chief Tim Lafferty
• Central Falls' police chief, Col. Anthony J. Roberson
• Scituate Police Chief Eric C. Rollinson
• Warren Police Chief Roy M. Borges
• Warwick's police chief, Col. Bradford E. Connor.

East Providence Police Chief Christopher Francesconi, West Warwick Police Chief Col. Ernest Lavigne and North Providence Police Chief Alfredo Ruggiero Jr. were sworn in on the back end of the pandemic in 2021.

South Kingstown Police Chief Matthew C. Moynihan took his oath less than two years ago in June 2022. But prior to that, in 2021 and 2022, the former state police veteran had led Block Island's police force.

Rhode Island's newest police chiefs

Benson in Cumberland, Westerly Police Chief Paul Gingerella and Weaver were sworn in about two years ago.

Both Newport Police Chief Ryan G. Duffy, and Providence Police Chief Oscar L. Perez Jr. are now leading police organizations in two of Rhode Island's largest cities after taking their oaths less than two years ago.

Johnston Police Chief Mark A. Vieira also took his oath last year in January. Several months later, Vieira had one of the busiest days of his career when a Simmonsville man shot and killed his own mother. The same man also shot and killed a 44-year-old neighbor and he shot a teenage neighbor before he died in a confrontation with Cranston and Providence police.

Three Rhode Island chiefs took their oaths within the last year: They are Foster Police Chief Gina Lindell, Lincoln Police Chief Dennis Fleming, and Jamestown Police Chief James Campbell.

New Shoreham Police Chief Paul Deane was sworn in on Block Island in February and Hopkinton Police Chief Mark Carrier became a chief in early March.

Newest of new

After serving as an acting chief for a period, North Kingstown Police Chief John J. Urban Jr. took his oath on March 27, rising to become the state's newest police chief.

Urban, a 22-year police veteran who also served in Iraq with the Rhode Island National Guard, became North Kingstown's acting chief in September.

He is optimistic about the prospects for a turnaround in recruiting and has his own strategy for dealing with the many changes of the current era. Flexibility is key, he said.

Urban also recognizes that a leader might reach a point where providing flexibility isn't possible.

"Then you have to go," he said. "I say it all the time, we are just pictures on the walls."

North Kingstown, said Urban, will have a police force long after he is gone, and, for that matter, long after his children, and their children, are gone.

"That's just the facts," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New brass: There's been massive turnover among RI police chiefs. What it means for your town.