SPD History

In 2010, the Smithfield Police Department celebrated 60 years as a permanent law enforcement agency.

There’s a nice online collection of historic SPD photos provided by the Smith-Appleby House Museum here.

Smithfield PD Constable Badge

In 1937 the Town of Smithfield passed a Town Ordinance to appoint a police chief and deputy police chief as constables. In 1950, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed an Act establishing a permanent police department, creating the positions of Police Chief, Deputy Police Chief, and Sergeant in the Town of Smithfield.

1955 photo taken outside of Town Hall which was the location of the Police Department until late 1972. Click the picture for a larger version with names.

In those days, there was little to attract anyone to a career in law enforcement. Smithfield police officers worked many hours per week, and pay was extremely low. There were no pension plans, paid holidays, uniform allowances, etc. There was plenty of extra work, but it was performed without compensation. Many times, an officer would work all night, spend the day in court, and report back to work that night for his regular shift collecting only his regular pay. There were no established policies and procedures, and little or no training. A police academy was created and basic in-service training seminars and courses began; however, it was considered an honor and a privilege for an officer to be permitted to attend such schools. When officers did attend, they had to provide their own transportation. All seminars and classes were attended after normal regular working hours.

Photo of an old Smithfield Police car – the sign on the door says “Smithfield Police Department”. The date that the photo was taken is unknown.

The Department operated out of three small rooms in the Town Hall: the Police Chief’s Office, a room for regular police business, and an interview room. Communications consisted of one telephone line, with an extension in the Chief’s home. When the sole officer on duty left the station on a call or patrol, the officer locked the station doors and put a note on the outside window advising anyone needing the police to call by telephone. In this manner, if the phone rang several times with no answer, someone in the Chief’s home would pick up the extension. If the officer on the road was needed for any reason, a message would be relayed to the State Police barracks in North Scituate, Rhode Island.

On a freezing cold day in December of 1968, Smithfield Patrolman Norman G. Vezina gave his life in the line of duty while attempting to rescue five year-old Kenneth Firby who had fallen through the ice and into the frigid water of the Spragueville Reservoir. Kenneth Firby also died that day. Click here to read more.

Sgt. Norman G. Vezina

Over the years, police activity began to steadily climb. As Department personnel increased in the 1960’s, it became necessary to establish full-time police services. It became very difficult to operate out of the three, small cramped rooms at the Town Hall. They slowly filled up with files, desks, alarms, typewriters, and a newly installed teletype machine, leaving little, if any, space for the police operations. In December of 1970, facing an obvious need, the Smithfield Town Council announced that a new police station was a priority item and approval would be sought at the annual Financial Town Meeting in May of 1971. Taxpayers approved the construction of a new facility and formed a building committee, whose first task was to select a site. The Town of Smithfield was extremely fortunate when a prominent family in town donated a large tract of land on Pleasant View Avenue. The land was undeveloped; however, members of the police department took it upon themselves to prepare the site. Many persons dropped off refreshments to the workers as they prepared the site, and countless spectators added their moral support. 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 trucks as they bounced from one end of the site to the other. After several weeks of hard work, this phase was completed, and the site was ready for construction.

Aerial photo by Officer Kevin Proulx

In 1972, it was announced that the Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded the Town a grant to help finance construction of the new station. The project went out to bid, the contract was awarded, and groundbreaking ceremonies were held in May of 1972. The building was completed in record-breaking time. On November 18th, 1972, the police moved into the new facility and began operations.

• Read the flyer from the Smithfield Police Station Dedication Day.
• Read the flyer from the 1977 Smithfield Policeman’s Ball.

1977 SPD cruisers

The permanent Smithfield Police Department steadily progressed since its inception in 1950. It has one of the most attractive, functional police stations in the state. From its meager beginning, with three full-time officers to its present complement of 40 full-time police officers and 13 full-time civilian employees, the Department now operates with administrative, uniformed and detective divisions in its organizational format.

The police department is one of the most respected law enforcement agencies in the state. It’s headquartered in a two-level building on four acres overlooking the Stillwater Reservoir and houses a three-cell, lock-up facility.

During the last decade, the Department has fully computerized all department operations. An IMC computerized dispatching, reporting and e-mail software package was implemented, along with new computerized links to the Rhode Island State Police (RILETS) and the FBI (NCIC). In addition, we have equipped all of our patrol vehicles for supervisors and patrol officers with state-of-the-art mobile data terminals that allow immediate access to federal, state and local files. The front dispatch area has also been completely renovated.

Smithfield Police Officer using a mobile data terminal (MDT)

The Department has also successfully obtained five U.S. Department of Justice/COPS Office grants. Pursuant to the awarding of these grants, the Department hired two full-time community-policing officers, a full-time juvenile officer, a full-time school resource officer, and installed mobile data terminals in all its patrol vehicles. The Department has also received four Homeland Security Grants for surveillance equipment, a multi-jurisdictional mobile command center, improvements in its public safety radio communication system and Incident Command Systems in-service training.

The Department has also implemented a mandatory 40-hour, Department-wide, basic in-service training program for all sworn employees. In addition, it also provides outside in-service training, along with advanced and specialized training for all employees.

Most importantly, the Department was awarded National Accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in March of 2001, and National Reaccreditation in March of 2004. To attain both awards, the Department satisfied 445 professional standards, and these initiatives constituted significant accomplishments in the history of the Department. In March of 2003, the Department formally issued its Policy and Procedure Manual. Formerly, the Department simply compiled its written directives within annual or type-specific binders maintained at the front communication center and other selected offices throughout the police station. While complete and accessible, this system lacked the benefits of an individually assigned, single manual. With the introduction of the Policy and Procedure Manual, the Department can now provide employees with an easily accessible, centralized source of policies, procedures , rules and regulations; a manual that is logically arranged by subject matter and tabbed for easy use; and lastly a manual that raised the professionalism and accountability of the Smithfield Police Department and its employees. The policies, procedures, rules and regulations enumerated in this manual have been approved by the Town Manager, consistent with the Smithfield Home Rule Charter, Article 4, Section 4.04 entitled, “Police Department.”

The Department has also embarked on an aggressive Capital Improvement Program to improve equipment and the physical plant facility. Some of the improvements include new roofing, insulation, new windows and frames, renovation of the men’s and women’s locker rooms, reconfiguration/paving/sealing the driveway and rear parking lot, replacement of all heating/air conditioning units, enlargement and renovation of the Detective Division, conference room, patrol room and front communication center, completion of a new police maintenance garage in the rear parking lot and renovation of the entire cellblock/holding facility area.

Smithfield Police Department Honor Guard 2015

Recent capital improvements include a new generator/electrical system and renovation of the interior offices.

In furthering the Department’s Written Directive System, the Department continued to revise its Policy and Procedure Manual, which was issued on March 1st, 2003. During the last year, the Department revised and updated eleven General Orders.

The Department has also placed a second D.A.R.E. Officer into the school system, a School Resource Officer at the Smithfield High School, reinstituted the Boy Scouts of America Law Enforcement Explorers Post Program, revitalized the Neighborhood Crime Watch Program, established Project Safe Return and created a community policing satellite office in the Apple Valley Mall in an attempt to improve relations between police officers and residents/business owners in Smithfield.

The emphasis of the Department has clearly shifted from a traditional law enforcement role to a more proactive, community policing style to better serve the citizenry of the Town of Smithfield.

The Smithfield Police Station 2019

By Jim Ignasher

     May 10 -16 is National Police Week.  Thank you to all law enforcement officers, especially in these trying times. 

 

     Police patrol cars have fairly short careers due to the type of driving they endure and the amount of miles they accumulate, and when a car is “retired” it’s usually stripped of markings and equipment before being sent to one of two places; a car dealership for resale where it enters “civilian life”, or a salvage yard where it’s cannibalized for parts before eventually being hauled off to the crusher. This is why the recent find of a 1971 Smithfield police cruiser sitting on a rural property in West Greenwich is so unusual.         

     There are those who enjoy restoring and owning vintage automobiles, and within the last thirty years some antique car enthusiasts have established specialized clubs dedicated to restoring and preserving antique police cars.  It was a member of one of these clubs who contacted Bob VanNieuwenhuyze, (pronounced Van-new-enheiz), a retired Deputy Chief of the Smithfield Police Department, about a rumor concerning an old Smithfield police cruiser that might hold certain possibilities.   

     Bob enjoys antique vehicles, and owns a fully restored1972 Dodge, Polara, so when he heard that an original antique patrol car from his department might be for sale he had to investigate.

     On a day in early March of this year, he and a friend traveled to West Greenwich and spoke to an elderly man about the possibility of an old police car being on his property.  Sure enough, the rumor was true.  Sitting in an area thick with brush, was a 1971 Ford, Custom 500, with a large emblem on the door which in bold letters read “Smithfield Police”.       

 

     The car had a black and white color scheme, which hasn’t been used by the department since the early 1970s.  It was, by all indications, the oldest surviving Smithfield police car in existence, and perhaps one of the oldest surviving police cars in the state.  If it could talk, imagine the stories it could tell about the calls it had responded to. It had patrolled in a time when the town’s population was half of what it is today; when Richard Nixon was president; the Vietnam War was raging; and before Route 295 was completed and turned Smithfield into a bedroom community. 

     The car had a numeral 6 on the front fender, indicating that the police department had at least six cruisers at the time.

     Bob had hoped it could once again cruise the streets of Smithfield, but unfortunately it was well beyond restoration, for it appeared the car had been sitting on the same spot for forty-plus years, and the bottom had completely rusted away due to sitting on the ground for so long. 

     And over the years the car had become a dumpster for rusted auto parts.  Furthermore the windows, windshield, and driver’s side door were gone, thus allowing the weather and wildlife to take a toll on the interior. 

    The back of the car was pushed inward indicating that at some point it had been hit from behind, which could be the reason it was retired from service.  In any case, at some point it had been sold for scrap and wound up in West Greenwich.   

     Bob was told it was fortunate that he’d come when he did, for the car had been scheduled to be removed and sent to a crusher a week earlier, but there’d been an unexpected delay.  After some discussion with the property owner, Bob managed to acquire the passenger side door with its vintage Smithfield police emblem, and the trunk lid, with the word “police” across the back.  Shortly after their removal, the once proud cruiser was sent to be scrapped and recycled to one day come back in another incarnation, perhaps, if Fate allows it, as another police car, and hopefully not as a kitchen appliance. 

     Bob has been able to do some research on the car and has discovered that the department had three 1971 Fords in its fleet, and based on a metal emblem on the trunk, this particular one came from the former Notarantonio Ford dealership in North Providence.   

     Bob has since cleaned and polished the door and trunk lid, and plans to use them as wall art in his “man-cave”.  Perhaps one has to be interested in police history to understand the significance of these relics, for they are two of the most interesting and unusual pieces of Smithfield Police memorabilia to be found anywhere, and Bob is glad to have rescued them.    

 

Originally published In Your Smithfield Magazine – September, 2014

By Jim Ignasher

The pitch and wail of police sirens echoed in the night as a caravan of cruisers snaked through the streets of Providence in hot pursuit of a stolen Cadillac.  Blue lights reflected off storefront windows as tires screeched and cars careened around corners.  The Cadillac made its way onto Route 95 towards East Providence driving the wrong way against highway traffic at speeds topping 90 miles-per-hour!  The cruisers followed.  Leading the procession were Smithfield Officers Raymond Trombley and Joseph Parenteau who had initiated the chase.  When they reached the Washington Bridge the Cadillac and cruisers crossed into the eastbound lane.  In the distance ahead Trombley saw a police roadblock and as the Cadillac barreled forward the sound of gunshots rang out.  

In a recent interview Ray commented, “I said to Joe, I hope they don’t miss and hit us!”

It was the late 1960s, and even though nearly fifty years have passed since that incident, Ray can still recall the license plate on that Cadillac – GX-222.

Trombley and Parenteau had been patrolling Douglas Pike on the midnight shift when they noticed the Cadillac with two youths inside.  They activated the cruiser lights, but the driver refused to stop and fled in the direction of North Providence.   In the vicinity of Twin River Road the officers tried to force the Cadillac to the side of the road by pulling abreast of it, but the driver swerved at the cruiser trying to ram it.  As the pursuit entered North Providence, and then Providence, cruisers from those jurisdictions joined in.  The Cadillac was finally cornered in the town of Warren where it was discovered that the two occupants were escapees from the Rhode Island Training School.    

Back in Smithfield the two officers received high praise from the Town Council however, the chief saw things differently. “The chief wasn’t happy with us.” Trombley recalled.  “We blew the motor in the car as a result of the chase.” 

Such multi-jurisdictional high-speed pursuits involving gunfire are rare today, but there was a time when such things weren’t uncommon; when officers could chase a vehicle for virtually any reason and “warning shots” were allowed.  Police work has changed drastically since then, and recently Smithfield’s two longest retired police officers, James McVey, and Raymond Trombley, got together to recall what it was like to be a town policeman in those bygone days.    

Prior to the completion of Route 295 in the mid 1970s, Smithfield’s population was roughly several thousand people, so the officer on the beat knew most everybody, and they knew him.  In many ways Smithfield was still a small town.

Jim McVey was appointed to the force as a special officer in 1950, and recalled that when he joined the department there were only three full-time officers.  The rest of the department consisted of part-time “specials”, later called “reserves”.  Jim was appointed full-time on June 8, 1955.  Shortly afterwards, he was the first Smithfield officer to attend an eight week training academy run by the State Police at URI.  This was a very important step for the department for beforehand new officers received minimal formal training.  “I believe I was one of the first police officers in the state with a college degree to enter law enforcement,’  said Jim, ‘which makes me feel good today to see how changes have evolved from when no education at all was required to be an officer, compared to today when many police agencies require some form of college degree.”    

In the 1950s the department only had one cruiser which was equipped with a one-way police radio that could receive, but not transmit.  Therefore, officers always carried a quantity of dimes to use in payphones in case they needed to call the station, which in those days was located in the Town Hall.  The station, by the way, wasn’t manned 24 hours like it is today.

Dispatching in those days could be described as “hit or miss”.  The police station had a dispatch radio, as did the Chief’s house.  The station was “Station A”, and the Chief’s house was “Station B”, and sometimes calls were dispatched from either location.  The chief’s house also had an extension phone from the Town Hall, so that if nobody was in the station, the chief or his wife would pick up and take the call.  Unfortunately, the radio at the chief’s house had limited transmission capabilities – only 14 watts. 

On other occasions a call might come through from the State Police barracks in Scituate.  They would put out a broadcast such as “Attention Smithfield Police, respond to…”  The message would be repeated three times.  Since an officer couldn’t acknowledge via radio, the State Police never knew for sure if the call had been received, and sometimes they weren’t.  Such a system might seem archaic today, but even a one-way radio was a vast improvement over the days of no radios.

Jim recalled one night where he was on patrol with Deputy Chief Charles Young on a midnight tour. “There was a terrific storm raging that night, with thunder and lightning everywhere.  We drove from the station over to Greenville and checked the businesses there, and then over to Esmond, and up Whipple Hill onto Douglas Pike down towards Twin Rivers.  All of a sudden we came upon a bunch of cars and fire trucks all over the road in front of Bell Farms, (Today known as Twelve Acres.) with the Chief standing out directing traffic.”  

At that time the farm had on its property a small professional fireworks factory.  Unbeknownst to Young and McVey, lightning had struck the building setting off an explosion.  Due to storm related problems, Young and McVey never received a radio call of the incident.

When Ray Trombley joined the department on December 13, 1964, the roster consisted of thirteen full-time officers and a cadre of “reserves”.  “I was the thirteenth officer.” he recalled.  By then the fleet of cruisers had grown to three – Cars 193, 194, and 195, as designated by the police license plates, and each was equipped with two-way radios – a significant improvement.  The day and second shifts used two patrol cars, each patrolling one-half of the town, but the midnight shift used only one car with two officers patrolling the entire town.  This was done for safety reasons, which is why he and Joe Parenteau were riding together the night of the chase.  And with only three cars for the entire department, one might understand why the chief was upset over the blown motor.

Both Jim and Ray enjoyed two-man patrol cars for it gave them someone to talk to when things were slow – “Unless the other guy was a smoker”, Ray said with a laugh.

Ray recalled that all he had to do before going on patrol for the first time was qualify with his department issued pistol – a World War II vintage .38 caliber revolver.  Going to the academy would come later.  

As to police cars, Jim remembered that early cruisers had manual-shift transmissions which were difficult to operate at low speeds while creeping around buildings at night.  “Trying to shift, steer, and operate the hand-held spotlight all at the same time was difficult.” He said.  Luxuries such as automatic-transmissions, and air conditioning for Smithfield’s police cars didn’t come until much later.  

Those early patrol cars also lacked protective cages to separate an arrestee from the officer.  That situation was rectified after a patrolman was involved in an accident while transporting a prisoner. 

While speaking of accidents, one may be surprised to learn that Smithfield’s roadways have borne witness of many horrific car wrecks over the years.

“The very first accident I ever handled was a fatal in front of the Greenville Baptist Church” said Jim.  Unfortunately it would not be the last.  Ray also saw his share, “Especially at Seven and One-sixteen” he said. “Before they put a light up there, there were a lot of bad accidents.”   

Police work has always been inherently dangerous, and even simpler times weren’t necessarily gentler.  A case in point involved a time in 1952 when Jim stopped a car with Connecticut plates on Washington Highway.  He only intended to give the juvenile driver a warning until he learned the car was stolen.  The youth was transported to the State Police barracks in Lincoln where it was further learned that he was wanted for shooting at a Norwich police officer!  When a Connecticut trooper and Norwich officer arrived to take custody of the prisoner, the Norwich officer asked where the gun was.

“I tossed it out at the state line” was the reply.

“Tell the Smithfield officer what you would have done with the gun if you still had it” the officer ordered.

 Looking at Jim he said, “I’d have shot him!”

In another incident Jim recalled the night of May 19, 1961, when he pursued a stolen Pontiac with two men inside who tried to break into Cole’s TV on Route 44.  The chase continued along Putnam Pike and into Glocester where Jim fired a warning shot from his service revolver blowing out the Pontiac’s rear window.  Speeds were in excess of 100 mph, and as glass from the window blew backwards it peppered the front of the police car causing small leaks in the radiator.  As the cruiser began loosing coolant, the chase roared through Chepachet where a state trooper joined in.   Everything came to an abrupt end at Jackson Schoolhouse Road where the driver of the Pontiac lost control and crashed.  Subsequent investigation revealed that both men were armed, and had broken into several other businesses that night in Johnston and Providence. 

Today’s officers have computers in their cruisers that allow for instant information on vehicle and criminal data, but in the 1950s and 60s such was not the case.  When dealing with suspicious persons or vehicles and officer had to rely more on instinct and judgment.  One tool at their disposal was the state’s “two-hour-hold law” which allowed an officer to arrest a person for two hours while a follow-up investigation was done.  This law has since been repealed, but at one time it was a valuable asset to police work.  

Police officers in the 1950s and 60s made far less than other occupations.  Jim worked nine-hour days, 54 hours per week, all for $42.00 before taxes, and officers didn’t receive overtime. By the 1960s Ray had it a little better working 44 hours a week and taking home about $78.00 gross. To help make ends meet, he took a second job at Cavanaugh Company in Greenville. 

As to time off, a Smithfield patrolman in the 1960s got one-and-a-half days off each week.  Ray said some officers would work out a schedule between themselves filling in for each other on the half-day so one week they would have one day off, but the next they would have two full days off.  Only the most senior ranking officers got weekends off.  Ray’s days off were generally Monday and Tuesday.  

When Jim went on the force an officer had to pay for his own uniforms.  Ray recalled how his first uniform was free, but “used”.  “They gave me a shirt and a pair of pants. The pants had a 34 inch waist, and I was a 29!”   

By the 1970s the department had outgrown its Town Hall accommodations, and both Jim and Ray played a role in making the current police station a reality.  Since then, the department has grown far beyond what anyone could have imagined in the 1950s, and is once again facing a similar situation.

Jim retired as Deputy Chief in 1977, and Ray in 1984 as a Captain.  Sometimes they still miss police work, for the job is like no other, and they loved doing it.  Despite that, having worked in the era that they did, each doubted they would want to go into law enforcement today.  The world has changed, and the way they were trained for the job might not fit today’s way of doing things.  Modern police officers are forced to operate under restrictions and mandates that weren’t a consideration when Jim and Ray wore a badge.