Smithfield Police – A Concise History
Personal Recollections

By James H. McVey, Deputy Chief, (Ret.)
Originally published in the Smithfield Police FOP 1991 Yearbook

Until after World War 2, most rural municipalities in the State of Rhode Island had little in the area of organized police departments and certainly the Town of Smithfield fell into this category.

In many cases, there was an elected Town Sergeant who handled electoral duties, jury notices, acted as dog officer and may well have performed other law enforcement matters. Also, more than likely there was probably a part time Chief of Police who may have been assisted by several part time officers known as special or reserve officers.

The Town of Smithfield had both an elected Town Sergeant and a part time Chief of Police who was appointed by the existing Town Council and usually served while they remained in power. The appointments were strictly political, the Chief and the special officers knowing very well that they would be dropped or reappointed after each election depending on who won the Town Council seats.

In 1946, the Town of Smithfield began a move into the modern era by creating three full time positions in the police department, consisting of a Chief and two Sergeants. In 1948 a new council took over and toyed with the idea of dropping the full-time positions and going back to a part-time Chief but they eventually kept the three full time posts appointing their own Chief and two Sergeants.

In 1950 the General Assembly passed an act creating and establishing the Permanent Police Department of the Town of Smithfield with the positions of Chief, Deputy Chief, Sergeant and others as the taxpayers might determine at the annual financial meeting. The police department had now moved into a more stable state with the permanent and first appointments of Arthur B. Gould as Chief, Charles Young as Deputy Chief and Adolph Schenck as Sergeant.

There was very little then to attract anyone to a law enforcement career in Smithfield. The work week consisted of 54 hours (nine-hour day for six days). The pay scale was extremely low and anyone who worked at the patrolman’s rate in 1950 earned something like $42.00 (gross) per week. There were no other benefits, no pension plan, no paid holidays, no uniform allowance and no uniform maintenance. The Smithfield Police Association, consisting of full time and special officers ran a ball each year and with the small amount of money earned from that, items of uniform were purchased. But first the officer had to appear at an Association meeting and plead his case for the item needed.

There was plenty of overtime work but it was done without any compensation either money wise or compensated time off. Many times, an officer would work all night, spend the day in court and be back to work that night on his regular shift and collect only his regular pay. There was no such thing as filing a grievance as the machinery for that was not in existence and not even considered. When an officer started to work on the department, he was issued a badge, gun with six bullets, a whistle and maybe handcuffs if they were available. No training was given as there was nothing set up in any way to offer any programs. As the years went on and the Police Academy and subsequent seminars and special courses appeared it was considered an honor and a privilege for any officer permitted to attend. But he had to provide his own transportation and all seminars and classes were in addition to his regular work shift. It is easy to see why at times when there was an opening on the department no one applied for it.

In those days the department operated out of three small rooms in the Town Hall. One of them was the Chief’s office and the other two for regular police business including public complaints, interviews and interrogations, etc. The communications in those days consisted of one telephone line with an extension in the Chief’s home. When the one officer on duty left the station on a call or patrol, he locked the station doors and put a note in the outside window advising anyone needing the police to call by phone.

In this manner if the phone rang several times with no answer, someone in the Chief’s home (usually his wife) would pick up the extension. If the officer on the road was needed for any reason, a phone call would then be made to the State Police barracks in Scituate. At that time the radio receiver on the car was tuned to the old state police frequency (42.62 Megahertz) and the state police would send out the message three consecutive times hoping that it got to the one and only Smithfield police officer in the one and only Smithfield police car. However, the police car was equipped with a receiver only, making contact an extremely hit and miss affair. With no outside speakers or portables if the officer was away from the car for any reason the call could be missed and occasionally was.

One might only imagine now what it was like then with the dangers, problems and frustrations that faced the one officer patrolling the entire town, especially at night, with only a one-way radio and no ready means to call for assistance. Outside phones were a rarity then and the term, “Back Up Unit”, did not exist because there was no such thing as a “Back Up Unit” existing.

Subsequently, though slowly, things began to move for the department, as little-by-little more personnel were added and in 1953 the department got its own two-way radio system and then possessed two cars. However, there were still not enough officers to man the station 24-hours as well as provide patrol service, so a small transmitter was installed in the Chief’s home as a companion to the main transmitter in the station. This of course added more work to the Chief’s wife who not knowing whether the station was vacant or not, was quite fearful of leaving the phone and radio and missing a call.

Police business, of course, began to steadily increase and as the department personnel increased in the sixties, it was finally possible to establish 24-hour station and patrol service and, with officers attending the newly established Police Academy, the department began to assert itself toward a more modern and professional law enforcement organization.

As might be expected, it became almost impossible to operate out of the three small cramped rooms in the Town Hall as they slowly filled up with files, desks, alarms, typewriters and a newly installed teletype leaving little if any space for the police or the public. This was a very demoralizing factor especially as the annual requests for funds for a new police station were usually turned down.

Finally in December of 1970 facing the obvious need, the Smithfield Town Council announced that a new police station was a priority item and approval would be sought from the taxpayers at the annual town financial meeting in May of 1971.

Between December of 1970 and May of 1971, the department members formed a committee to institute a public relations program to impress upon the taxpayers of Smithfield the urgent need for the new facility. This move was sparked by Smithfield Lodge No. 17 of the Fraternal Order of Police. Mr. Orlando T. Spinella of the Smithfield Planning Board drew up a preliminary set of plans setting forth a building with a colonial style as its dominant outward theme. Over the next several months, the committee worked long and hard to win public approval.

At the annual Town Financial meeting in May of 1971 the taxpayers barely approved the princely amount of $150,000 to acquire land, build and equip a new station. Shortly thereafter the Town Council appointed a building committee which met and organized itself on June 29, 1971.

The Committee was organized as follows:

Chairman – Orlando T. Spinella
Secretary – Deputy Chief James McVey
Members: – Chief Arthur B. Gould, Councilmen Allen B. Schwartz and John F. Emin, Jr.
Alternates – Lieutenants Saverio E. Serapiglia and Robert A. Lachapelle and Dr. John P. Pascone

The committee immediately set to work, with its first task, the selection of a site. In this respect the Town of Smithfield was extremely fortunate when Mr. & Mrs. S. Burton Mowry donated a large tract of land on Pleasant View Avenue for this purpose.

The land in itself originally was for the most part underdeveloped and members of the police department took it upon themselves to work weekends during their off-duty hours to develop and prepare the site.

Through the cooperation of Alonzo Thurber, the Smithfield Highway Commissioner, highway department trucks were l loaned to the police on weekends and holidays. Abbot Katzman provided a ·bulldozer and a huge scraper with operators at no cost to the department. Bill’s Greenville Tree Service donated equipment and workers to clear the land. The highway trucks were operated usually by off duty department members (some now retired) such as Captain Prescott J. Williams, Captain Raymond Trombley, and present Deputy Chief Arthur H. Williams along with the late Captain Ralph F. Farrar and the late Lieutenant Saverio E. Serapiglia. This group was usually assisted in one way or another by the late Chief Arthur B. Gould and now retired Deputy Chief James H. McVey along with present Sgt. Robert J. Eberts.

Many persons, some of whom were never identified, dropped off refreshments to the workers as they toiled to prepare the site. Countless spectators added their moral support and more often than not families of the workers would be there and it was not uncommon to see young sons and daughters of the officers happily riding in the trucks driven by their fathers as they bounced from one end of the site to another. After several weeks of hard work this phase was completed and the site was ready for the start of construction. Contractors who witnessed this project estimated that had it gone out to bid it would easily have cost the town at least $30,000.00.

In the meantime, John A. Tessaglia, AIA, of North Providence had been selected as the architect and immediately set forth to draw up and finalize the plans.

In October of 1971 the committee learned of a possibility of obtaining a grant from the E.D.A. (Economic Development Administration) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and in accordance an application was filed. After primary contacts with regional offices of the E.D.A. prospects for the grant appeared very bleak and not hopeful in any way. However, through the efforts of Hugh J. McVey and William J. Lynch both of Smithfield and both now deceased, the good office of U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell was contacted and his assistance requested. On February 23, 1972 Senator Pell’s office publicly announced that the E.D.A. had approved a grant of $237,600 to aid in the construction and equipping of the new station.

It might be well to note here that without this grant the police station would look dramatically different from its present appearance. It would have been a steel shell type (no brick work). There would have been no paneling, no carpets, no air conditioning, downstairs would have been unfinished, no outside lighting and only 50% of the parking area would have been paved.

The project went to bid on April 7, 1972 and on May 6, 1972 the contract was awarded to the Piti Building Co. of Cranston. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on Saturday, May 27, 1972 and at long last the final phase of the long awaited and long overdue project was underway.

Even with unavoidable delays which always occur in construction, the building was completed in what might be considered record time and on November 18, 1972 the police department happily moved into the new facility and immediately began operations.

In accordance with the construction, the selection of the Piti Building Company as the general contractor must be lauded, as its president, Joseph Piti, a Smithfield resident, took more than a passing or business interest in the project. Mr. Piti seemingly made himself available around the clock, never failed to attend meetings, was always receptive to proposed changes even suggesting some himself pointing out ways to save on construction costs. It was not unusual to find him at the project nights and weekends assisting on details and work which were not part of the general contract.

The final cost of the project approached $387,600.00 (1972 dollars) but this certainly does not take into consideration the obviously high value of the land so generously donated by Mr. & Mrs. Mowry, nor does it include the cost of the equipment and the many, many man hours and services donated by so many concerned citizens as well as employees.

The Smithfield Police Department has slowly but surely come a long way since its inception in 1950. It has one of the most attractive yet functional police stations anywhere and from its meager beginning with three full time officers, one car and one-way radio system, it emerged to its present status with 36 authorized full-time officers, eight full time civilian employees, 9 school crossing guards and 25 reserve police officers along with a modern communications system and over 20 motor vehicles.

The department operates with administrative, uniformed, detective, records, computer, auto and building maintenance divisions putting it on a par with, if not ahead of, any other comparable police department.

In compiling a history, brief or otherwise, of any organization it is inevitable to make comparisons between the past and the present leaving the future to the imagination. By way of illustration, if an officer today needs data on an out of state registration, it is possible to get the information even from far away states like California in some 12 or 13 seconds via modern state of the art computer systems and terminals. But in the fifties, if a Smithfield police officer wanted data on a California registration, (other than by phone), he would send a message request on the old slow teletype to the teletype headquarters in the R.I. State House, from there it went by teletype to Hartford, Conn. and then sent to a state police station in upstate New York. From there, it was relayed to the Ohio Highway Patrol by radio and then maybe, and only maybe, it was relayed in this manner to the west coast. With extremely good luck an answer carne back in reverse manner to Smithfield days later. More often than not the message was lost somewhere and an answer was never received.

Histories also provide us with sad memories and these can never be ignored because history is the remembrance of the past and history cannot be changed or altered to serve the whims of the individual or individuals. It is a recording of fact and must remain with us forever.

In accordance thereof we have now recorded the passing of several former members. All are sadly missed by those who knew them and must be respected by those who did not and there must always be a special place of honor for those from the department who died in the line of duty such as Sgt. Norman Vezina, who died so valiantly when, without concern for himself, tried to rescue a drowning boy from an icy pond on December 10, 1968 and Lieutenant Saverio E. Serapiglia who collapsed and died while so proudly leading the Smithfield Police Department’s color guard at the department’s annual ball on May 11, 1975.

History, we cannot change, and history we cannot stop but we pray to the Almighty that the chapter on death in the line of duty is closed forever in the Smithfield Police Department and that the department history in the future will only record the unavoidable and inevitable which coincides with the operation of such an organization so designed and so destined to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

JAMES H. MCVEY
Deputy Chief of Police (Retired)

November 19, 1990
JHM/af

 

* Thanks to Jim Ignasher and the Smith-Appleby House Museum for the preservation and sharing of this recollection from 1990.

** Special thanks to retired Deputy Chief Jim McVey who took the time to document what it was like on the police department in the 1950’s through the 1970’s. This may have otherwise been lost to time.