(bright music) - [Pamela] Tonight, Providence's Police Chief on his first year.

- So when you look at 14 homicides, one is too many.

- [Pamela] And we meet the winter birds of Rhode Island.

- So there's harlequin ducks.

Let's see what else we have.

- [Pamela] And we look at the governor's proposed state budget with Ted Nesi.

(bright music) (bright music continues) Good evening.

Welcome to "Rhode Island PBS Weekly."

I'm Pamela Watts.

- And I'm Michelle San Miguel.

It's been one year since Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, named Colonel Oscar Perez to be the chief of the Providence Police Department, - A 30 year veteran of the force, an immigrant from Columbia who grew up in South Providence, Perez was an historic pick as the first Latino chief.

Contributor Steph Machado sat down with Colonel Perez to hear about his first year on the job, the state of crime in 2023, and his plans for the future of the Providence Police Department.

- What's the biggest thing that has surprised you since becoming chief?

- You are the, you know, the person that keeps the city safe, and so it's a huge responsibility, which I knew for when I, when I took an oath back in 1994.

But as being the Chief, you are responsible for so many lives.

The population, the safety of the city, the wellness of your officers.

And so, and it's busy.

(laughs) It is busy, but I love it.

- When you were named chief last year, of course you were the first Latino police chief, which was a milestone in the city.

A lot of people really celebrated the fact that there was a police chief that looked like them, who spoke Spanish.

Now, that you've been on the job for a year, what impact do you think that's had on the city to have a Latino police chief?

- As a person who grew up in the city of Providence, seeing someone that looks like them, made them think that, you know what, I can do that too.

We come from disadvantaged neighborhoods, and sometimes we feel that we don't have the same advantages as others.

And so when you see someone like me in this position leading this department, knowing that he grew up in this city, I would hope that opens the eyes of our youth to ensure that can tell themselves that, guess what?

I can do that too.

Even though I may face some social disadvantages, some economic distress, some issues that we face in urban inner cities, and so I would hope that they see that they can do it too.

It's just that they gotta stay focused and always stay hungry for their goals.

- Violent crime rose in the city in 2023 after a historically low year in 2022.

There were 54 shootings last year up from 44 in 2022 and 14 homicides, after that number dropped two single digits in 2022.

Why do you think that went up?

And is that the start of an upward trend?

- Violent crime in the city is trending down, overall violent crime.

We talk about robberies, shootings, homicides, rapes, trending down, for years.

So when you look at 14 homicides, one is too many.

Definitely we were higher this year than last year, but we were still below the average reported yearly since 2010.

And so when we look at that data, right, we look at how does it occur?

There's a lot of firearms out there.

86% of the homicides, a firearm was used, and 87% of the victims were males between the ages of 18 and 30, of color.

So there's young men in our city that are getting killed, and they're the ones that are carrying the guns.

And it is unfortunate.

As a person of color who grew up in the city, it's sad to see that.

For me to sit hear and tell you I'm gonna prevent every homicide that occurs is impossible, but we can mitigate a lot of that stuff (sirens wailing) by having different tactics.

And in the past few years, I'll tell you, we have seized 312 guns, the most we have seized since 2010.

- Yeah, I looked at the gun seizure statistics, and that number just keeps going up every single year.

The Providence police are seizing more guns.

So is that because there are more guns on the street to find or because you've allocated more resources to go find them?

- It's a combination of both.

Again, proactive work of policing is needed with any police department.

We also implemented some initiatives, crime reductions in certain certain neighborhoods, certain hotspots has helped out, but without a doubt there's more guns on the street.

And we saw that, right, in 2020 as people, you know, during the pandemic, people were isolated socially, more guns 'cause they were scared, and so we saw a lot more firearms.

- Property crime in the city dropped by 24% last year, driven by decreases in reported larcenies and motor vehicle thefts.

- It's great.

Again, it's a proactive work of the men and women of the Providence Police Department.

Good detective work as well.

We got an outstanding detective division.

Last year alone, we implemented this Digital Intelligence Unit.

They were able to use intelligence, social media, phones, things of that nature to investigate further.

- Something that was driving the property crime numbers was catalytic converter thefts.

- Correct.

- Have those decreased?

- It has.

It has decreased a lot.

Last year, obviously after the law was passed, and when we hold business accountable, recycling business, metal dealers accountable, and now when someone steals a catalyter converter and goes to try and sell it, they gotta provide documentation, and so in essence, I think it helped out a lot.

Plus also the collaboration between different federal agencies, municipalities, the Providence Police Department, the proactive work of detectives, that all helped.

The fact that we stepped up to stay on top of that, it has minimized and lower those numbers.

(sirens wails) - Like many departments, Providence has struggled to recruit officers recently.

Perez says he's hoping to get 60 qualified applicants for this year's police academy class once the rigorous background checks and testing are complete.

Around 400 people applied for a spot, a number that used to be in the thousands.

So 400 is pretty low.

- It's pretty low.

But it's not just Providence.

It is nationwide.

All the municipalities had nobody applied, from what I heard, and so for us, it's a good number.

I'll tell you this is the first time, from what I heard, I just looked at the demographics the other day, that we have more minorities in the process than Caucasians applying for the job, and I don't say that in any way, 'cause I always said it, we come in all different colors, and I grew up with some white guys in South Providence, and they dance better salsa than I do, they do rice and beans is better than I do as well.

And so I think it's important to say that they have the right life experiences to become a police officer.

But I do think that, you know, the fact that we have a high number of minorities applying for the job is telling me that there's an interest, kids from our city thinking about applying and becoming Providence police officers.

And that, to me, is great, because when you grew up in a certain environment, and you want to make a difference in that environment that you grew up in, you have the skills and the talents.

And if we can hire more of those guys and women in this department, that would be great for us.

- Would you consider the department to be short-staffed right now?

- Yes we are.

I think that, you know, the city's growing, we have a lot of events and as you know, this past year we had a lot of different incidents that occur that come up, protests come up, population changes.

It's a great city.

People like to come to the city to enjoy the city, to enjoy the entertainment that happens in the city, and you need sometimes policing.

And unfortunately, we have our challenges.

And so yes, it would be great to be able to have more officers, to be able to have more officers on foot, to be able to create different units to do certain police work that needs to be done in the city.

- I know when the ranks are low, sometimes community policing is what goes out the window, 'cause you don't have as many foot patrols, you don't have as many bike patrols.

Maybe the district commanders are covering multiple districts each.

What is the current status of this community policing program in the department?

- It's still in effect.

That's the mentality of the Province Police department.

We're a model example, and I'm proud to say that the men and women of this department truly believe in that.

And it's not just walking on your beat.

It is not just, you know, like you mentioned, you know, all these extra luxuries that I always called it, to have extra officers, but it's the fact that you have an officer who truly believes in mentoring somebody, adopting a school that's on his post or her post.

They go meet the principals.

They come in and speak to the kids in the schools.

They write a post.

They interact in the summer with the kids that are playing outside in the streets, even though they're in a police car.

That's what community police is about, working with different nonprofits, the lieutenants, themselves, knowing that they need to be part of certain boards in the city.

Every officer has the mentality that they need to integrate themselves for so many reasons, for community policing, as well as legitimizing the department and building trusting relationships in the community.

That's, in my idea, what community policing is about.

- So it's sort of a mindset, but what about the resources that you're putting into it?

How many district commanders do you have at this point?

- Five district commanders.

- For how many districts?

- For nine.

- Nine.

- And so some districts are combined, but we have captains in the patrol division.

So yeah, we are short.

We were short last year.

We are doing a lot with less, and one of my goals is to be able to increase the numbers in the department, and that's what we're striving to do right now.

- Do you wish you could have more school resource officers?

I think you have five right now.

- Five, yeah.

Correct, that's what we have.

And yes, I think definitely good.

It all depends on the principal.

I would always leave that to the principals that need it in the schools.

But I think it is good to be a role model for some of these kids, and when you become an example to kids that are living under difficult circumstances, you could potentially change their life.

I'm a true example of that.

The reason I'm sitting here as a police officer is 'cause a cop talked to me about this profession.

I was boxing at the time and that's how I ended up sort of following it.

And sometimes all it takes is a little bit of luck and the right timing to be able to change your life.

And I think that can happen to anybody.

- Colonel Perez is aiming to get the new police academy started by this summer.

If he's able to get 60 qualified recruits, it would bring the ranks of the Providence police force up to 480 officers.

Up next, from harlequin ducks to snowy owls, Rhode Island attracts migratory birds from as far as the Arctic Circle.

As we first told you last January, as the temperature in the Arctic starts to plummet, many bird watchers hope to catch a glimpse of these winged visitors as they pass through the ocean state.

(waves crashing) (seabirds calling) Soon after the sun rises over this rocky coastline, (waves crash) bird lovers gather.

- Have any of you been to Black Point before?

Some of you, maybe?

Okay.

(water splashes) - Excited for what winter wildlife They might find - You had a catbird?

- Yeah, it was a big gray.

- I didn't see it, but good.

Oh, there it is.

- Flying, yeah.

- Yep, indeed.

Yeah, in this shrub back here, there's a catbird.

- [Michelle] Every Wednesday morning, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island organizes a birdwalk.

- So I'm gonna leave this low for people.

- [Michelle] On this day.

The group is trekking through the Black Point Fishing area in Narragansett off of Ocean Road.

- So in my scope, if you wanna look, there are some surf scooters.

- They're looking for birds that flock to Rhode Island during the winter time.

- [Participant] Don, they have that orange beak, right?

- They have an orange beak and they have that white patch on their chin and on the back of their head, - [Michelle] Including the ever-popular harlequin ducks.

- You typically see the harlequins in close to shore where the waves are breaking.

They like the stirred up water.

- [Michelle] These enthusiasts know there's a short window of time to get the best view of these colorful ducks.

- So there's harlequin ducks.

Let's see what else we have.

- But birders don't have to travel to the coast to spot winter wildlife.

(camera snapping) Photographer Jason Major likes to venture into the woods along the Pawtuxet River Trail in Cranston.

(camera snapping) - So the Pawtuxet River Trail has a few owls, resident owls of its own.

I've spotted some barred owls here.

They're pretty easy to spot, and they're very photogenic.

(birds chirping) - [Michelle] Some of those walks have resulted in mesmerizing pictures.

(camera snapping) He's captured it all from these black scoters in Charlestown to mergansers in Connecticut.

He's also photographed a short eared owl in flight and on the ground, as well as a group of seals he found resting on rocks in Sakonnet Point.

(birds squawks) - That was a kingfisher.

- [Michelle] The one that just perched up on- - The one that made that squawky sound.

- [Michelle] We set out one January morning to see what we could find, and soon into our hike, Major was clicking away.

(camera snapping) He spotted a green winged teal in the river.

There was also a male belted kingfisher perched on a tree, and a dark eyed junco near the banks of the river.

He says these are all birds that can be spotted there in the wintertime, - Wandering over to the other ones.

That's nice.

- Is it easier to spot animals during the winter months?

- Well, just for the sake that, you know, all the leaves are down, so now you can look pretty far into the woods up into the trees, where a lot of birds and other animals are, you know, hiding out, especially during the day.

- So, let's see if I can find.

There they are.

- [Michelle] Over in Middletown, there's another flock of birds bobbing around.

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge is home to the second-largest wintering population of harlequin ducks on the Atlantic coast.

- This is the stopover, too, so it's not only a wintering site, a refuge, it's also a stopover.

So if they're migrating through, this is a place for them to rest and rejuvenate, refuel, and then head more south.

(Janet continues faintly) - [Michelle] Janet Nepshinsky is the visitor services manager for the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuges.

What a beautiful day.

- It is.

And yeah, it's not bone-chilling.

It's comfortable.

- Yeah.

- [Michelle] She showed us some of the winter birds that migrate to Rhode Island for part of the season.

- [Janet] Sometimes there's some up on this edge around the corner.

They're still in the water there.

- [Michelle] Sachuest Point sits on 242 acres, complete with marshes, meadows and beaches.

- [Janet] And this is where a lot of birds will come to rest and to feed.

- [Michelle] Nepshinsky led us down a path on the preserve to spot some wintering waterfowl.

- Look right in here.

You see the two ducks?

- Oh I do.

How beautiful.

- You wouldn't have noticed.

(laughs) - Oh I see them.

(waves splashing) - They bop up and down.

- Yeah, because now I don't see them.

(laughs) - No down.

(laughs) - Oh, now I see them again.

(laughs) Wow.

- And you can always look for them in the whitewater, rafting.

- It didn't take long to find our share of winter birds.

- How beautiful.

The day Michelle became a birder.

Oh, I see four.

(laughs) Nepshinsky says they come down from Canada and the Arctic Coast to bask in the relatively warmer Rhode Island waters.

- Many of them spend the whole season.

Sea ducks will spend the whole season, so you got the common eider, bufflehead, harlequin, scallop, mergansers, quite a few.

- You light up as you're talking about this.

- I know.

They're just beautiful.

- It's exciting.

- Yeah, it is.

So I, that's why people will brave it, the winter cold out here, but then I see people just enjoying walking.

(footsteps crunching) You can just tell.

they get fresh air, their spirit, you know, get refreshed.

It's almost like the migratory birds, when they stop over, the people are also stopping here to rest and to refuel their spirits, just like the birds.

- Come on.

There she is.

(camera snapping) - [Michelle] Major says going outside has been therapeutic for him, too.

- A lot of times during those really tough winter months that we've had previously, I just don't feel like doing anything, and getting out and getting my camera and getting my gear and going out into the woods sometimes is a little bit, I have to push myself to do it.

But every time I do, I feel so much better being, you know, spending some time outdoors, even if it's only half an hour.

Now, what are those over there?

- [Michelle] He's on the search for a snowy owl this season.

No luck yet, but he's hopeful.

He's photographed them in previous years at Sachuest Point.

- The snowy owls are always your more exciting animals, your more exciting birds, just because of their rarity.

You know, some years they might not show up at all.

So when one does, they usually attract a lot of attention.

- In the winter, we could be fortunate enough to see the snowy owl 'cause they come here to feed.

- [Michelle] But Nepshinsky says it's important to keep distance from these majestic birds, and stay at least 200 feet away, - Even though it's kind of looking at you and you think that, oh yeah, look, they want attention.

They could be having a lot of stress go on, and they're hunting.

So if you disturb when they're hunting, they're not getting enough food to go back to where they come, like the Arctic coast.

And they will die on the way.

We had four snowy owls were dead from malnutrition.

They didn't have enough food in them.

(camera snapping) - Those might be more females.

Interesting.

- [Michelle] Once Major spots wildlife along the Pawtuxet, he enjoys coming back to check on them from a distance.

- I think it's really neat to be able to experience them while they're on their long journeys.

- [Michelle] And you'll be out here even when it's in the teens, 20 degrees.

- Mm-hmm.

- That won't deter you from coming out?

- Well it doesn't stop the birds from coming out, so it's not gonna stop me from coming out.

- The worst thing you can do is try to find a bird in the scope (participant laughs) before you know where it is.

- [Michelle] And it's also not stopping these birders from scanning the skies.

- [Don] It looks like a loon to me, but let's see.

- [Michelle] They know the change in season comes with unique sights and sounds.

- [Don] Who would think this is January?

(participants laugh) - Finally, tonight on this episode of Weekly Insight, WPRI 12 Politics Editor Ted Nesi and I take a closer look at the governor's proposed budget.

Ted, it's good to have you back.

Governor Dan McKee recently shared his $13.7 billion budget proposal with state lawmakers.

And there were several things that caught my attention.

One is the increased funding that he wants to set aside for multilingual learners.

As you and I have talked about in recent weeks, we've seen a really big increase in the number of students in Rhode Island schools who are learning English.

So the governor is proposing setting aside $16.6 million for these students, which is still short of what the Education Commissioner is requesting, which is roughly $20 million.

- Yeah, Michelle, and the money for the multilingual learners is I think, one of multiple moving parts we're gonna see a lot of discussion and scrutiny of in the coming months, because the governor also put in sort of arcane tweak to the inflation adjustment for how much they give the school districts per pupil.

It's obscure, it hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it leads to an almost an over $20 million cut for the districts.

School committees are worried about that.

So I think there's gonna be a lot of focus on the education funding in the hearings.

- Speaking of education, let's talk about early intervention.

The governor is proposing nearly $4 million in addition for early intervention.

Rhode Island PBS Weekly contributor, Steph Machado, of course a Boston Globe reporter has been covering this extensively.

And she found there are hundreds of children three and younger who have developmental disabilities and delays who have not been given the services they need in a timely manner.

We should note, this is mandated for states to do this by federal law.

- Well, and it's telling to me, Michelle, that this is the only one of a bunch of Medicaid rate increases that are being talked about, where the governor's budget puts in the full amount of money this year, and I think that's a credit to Steph's reporting.

Advocates say the same thing.

It put a real spotlight on this program, and these children not getting the services they need, which need to be provided in a timely way.

So I think it does show the importance of that kind of reporting that scrutinizes these individual programs.

- Absolutely.

As you were looking at the budget, what stood out to you?

- Well, being a nerd, (Michelle laughs) I always like to flip to the back where they project the deficit in the future years, 'cause it really gives you a sense of the kind of the fiscal health, the financial health of Rhode Island.

And you know, I had thought maybe with the federal money that's come in huge amounts in recent years, as we've talked about, the state might be getting to a more sustainable budget path post-COVID, but the deficit they're projecting for a year from now, the budget that'll come out next January is a quarter billion dollars, almost.

And so I think once again, Rhode Island is stuck where tax revenue is just not rising as quickly as the spending commitments lawmakers are making.

- Sure.

- And so it looks like the state's gonna be continuing down that same kind of challenging path in the future years.

- A lot of people are also talking about these questions that the governor wants to put before voters in November, bond measures.

Let's talk about two of them.

There are a total of four.

One would ask voters to approve borrowing $100 million to increase affordable and middle-income housing and infrastructure.

Another proposal, a $60 million bond for a state archive and history center.

At this point, it's not clear if general assembly leaders would support all or even some of these bond measures.

- Yeah, what's interesting is each one has a problem with a different assembly leader.

- Yeah.

- So Speaker Shekarchi, House Speaker Joe Shekarchi is not sure that $60 million of bond money should go into this new state archive center that Secretary of State Amore wants.

He suggested looking for other sources of funding.

And then Senate President Ruggiero has suggested maybe another $100 million for housing isn't needed right now when so much money's already put into that, much of it unspent.

So very curious to see where those two come down on this.

- A few days before the governor released his proposal, he gave the State of the State address, let's take a listen to one of the things he wants to be a priority.

- This year we're going to set a goal to raise per capita income by a minimum of $20,000 by the year 2030.

(audience applauds) Just think.

Just think how much housing insecurity and food insecurity we could address as a state if we doubled down and work to raise per capita income across Rhode Island, helping every family in our state.

- Ted, I know that statement really caught your attention and you've had questions about what the governor actually meant.

What have you found out?

- Well, because $20,000 is the gap in income between Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

It's driving part of why the state struggles to keep up on education, on hospital funding, things like that, and so when I first heard it, I thought, oh, he's setting a goal to leap to match Massachusetts by 2030, but then when we asked the governor's office, is this adjusted for inflation?

What does the goal really mean?

They couldn't answer those questions, not just to me, but other reporters as well, so right now it's unclear what the governor's goal is.

They say they're gonna have a plan in 100 days that'll put more details on it, but unclear right now exactly how ambitious he's really being with that.

- And that's a pretty quick turnaround, by 2030.

- The state's been losing ground to Massachusetts since World War II, so it would be a quick catch up, yeah.

- Wow, yeah.

Ted, thank you so much for joining me.

- Good to be here.

- And that's our broadcast this evening.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Michelle San Miguel.

- And I'm Pamela Watts.

We'll be back next week with another edition of "Rhode Island PBS Weekly."

Until then, please follow us on Facebook and X, and visit us online to see all of our stories and past episodes at ripbpbs.org/weekly, or you can listen to our podcast on your favorite streaming platform.

Good night.

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