SCITUATE, R.I. (AP) - The first woman to lead the Rhode Island State Police said on Friday she plans to focus on better preparing recruits as she works to diversify the ranks of the department.
Ann Assumpico was named to lead the agency by Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo on Thursday. She’s the first woman to lead any police department in Rhode Island.
Raimondo, the state’s first woman governor, said during the selection process that she was committed to recruiting more women and people of color. The department has been criticized for its lack of racial, ethnic and gender diversity, particularly in the upper ranks.
In an interview in her office, Assumpico said the department has a great reputation and traditions that she wants to build off of by being more inclusive and moving into the 21st century.
“We need more diversity, and we will get it,” she said.
A report last year by the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers found that more than 95 percent of Rhode Island police positions above the rank of patrol officer are held by whites.
Assumpico, 59, has been with the state police for 24 years. Before being selected to head he agency, she oversaw the Rhode Island State Police Training Academy and the Rhode Island Municipal Police Academy. In the most recent training academy this summer, seven of the eight minority recruits failed to graduate.
Assumpico said she was surprised by the high number, and added that the problem wasn’t limited to minority recruits. After speaking to other agencies, she said she learned that has become more common in recent years, a problem she attributed to many factors.
The job people see on TV doesn’t match with what they discover when they get to the training academy, she said. Some are not physically ready: They lose 50 percent of recruits on the agility test alone. Some are not used to the structure or don’t want to work nights.
“I think it’s a really hard job. And then other things happen on the news that they see. And they just decide, ’I really don’t think I want to do this.’ It’s a really tough job. It’s a dangerous job,” she said.
Asked if part of the drop has to do with police shootings in the news, Assumpico replied, “I don’t think it’s one thing. I think it’s a number of things.”
Her plan is to get to potential recruits earlier, long before they are ready for the training academy, maybe even as young as middle school. She hopes to hold orientation sessions in the community to give people interested in a career with the state police a chance to connect one on one with a member of the department. They can learn well ahead of time what hurdles they will have to pass to make it, she said.
Assumpico’s predecessor, Steven O’Donnell, who retired in September, said it will help that she comes from a training background and that she’s a woman. People who might otherwise have hesitated might now be more comfortable with the idea of working for the state police, and apply.
It will be important as part of the effort for Assumpico to get out in the community, he said.
“You got to show your face,” he said. “Her voice, her message, will be something to watch.”
Lt. Charles Wilson, chairman of the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, who is retired from the Rhode Island College Police Department, said this week he would like to meet with Assumpico to discuss the issue.
When asked about his comments Friday, Assumpico said she would reach out to him.
“I would love to meet with him,” she said. “We will be speaking.”
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