Public Safety Chief Jim Fry told a great story at the RIOC
Board meeting Thursday morning. It's worth repeating here, both
because it tells the kind of story about Public Safety that we
don't often get to tell, but would very much like to tell more
often in these pages. Herewith, the words of Chief Fry:
Public Safety is not in the business of publicity and stuff.
We just try to do our jobs and let the facts speak for
themselves. But I wanted to give you an instance. We had a
14-year-old female resident and a 15-year-old boyfriend, a
non-resident, run away [about three weeks ago]. Being 14 and 15,
the plan was to go to Los Angeles, California. Both of them play
guitar, and they were going to become rock stars and be
successful.
We did what we're supposed to do, which is notify the Police
Department runaway unit. My Youth Officer, Michelle Williams,
and the officer investigating, Fernandez, spent a considerable
amount of time talking to people, trying to zero in on
friends.
After about five days they were finally able to reach somebody
who could tell them the actual details of the plan. Fernandez
was able to convince a friend of the male that, "You're going to
have to do something for your friend that he is not going to
appreciate now, but years later, if your friendship endures, he
will eventually appreciate." And what he convinced this
individual to do was to meet them at the Port Authority bus
station and take the tickets from them, and notify the
authorities.
This is exactly what was done - to convince [the friend] to
go, to meet them, to take the tickets. They took the tickets,
notified the Police Department runaway unit, and the kids, of
course, never got to run away and become rock stars.
You won't see that in the paper because it won't be reported
because it's not a crime. But it does speak to the kind of
effort that the officers try to put in here. That could not have
been accomplished by the Police Department's runaway unit because
there simply is no personal contact between them and the
individuals. That was the result of... being able to go out and
talk to people and tell [the friends] that you're acting on their
behalf and that this is for the good of the individual.
It was kind of a personal rapport thing.
I'm sure that both sets of parents appreciate that. And I
only bring this up because there are a number of things which are
done that do not and will not receive any publicity. But a
sincere effort goes into everything that we try to do. We try to
do a simple, straightforward, conscientious, professional job.
No fanfare, no publicity.
This week, there is some controversy over the validity of a
report issued by Dr. Joan Dawson, who headed a joint committee of
RIOC Board members and residents that surveyed residents about
Public Safety, and while The WIRE wants to examine the raw
data, we can all unquestionably appreciate the value of the kind
of work Chief Fry described on Thursday. No fanfare, but sincere
thanks for this job well done.
