Hearing set on Winquist appointment

Daniel Kittredge
Posted 9/17/14

The approval process for Mayor Allan Fung’s pick to lead the Cranston Police Department begins this week.

A special public hearing of the City Council’s Finance Committee on the selection of …

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Hearing set on Winquist appointment

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The approval process for Mayor Allan Fung’s pick to lead the Cranston Police Department begins this week.

A special public hearing of the City Council’s Finance Committee on the selection of Rhode Island State Police Lt. Col. Michael J. Winquist has been called for Thursday, Sept. 18, at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall’s Council Chambers.

Winquist, of Barrington, was revealed as the mayor’s selection in late August. A 24-year veteran of the Rhode Island State Police, he was chosen to serve as the deputy to Col. Steven O’Donnell in 2013.

He began his career as a trooper in the 1990s, moving up through the ranks to become a detective and spending time with a number of major crimes units and task forces. Perhaps most significant among his achievements has been his role in the establishment of Rhode Island’s Fusion Center, an intelligence-sharing outfit funded through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

If confirmed, Winquist would become the first chief from outside the Cranston department in recent memory. Fung at the introductory press conference also touted that Winquist has agreed to take part in a 401(k) retirement plan rather than a traditional pension, which would be another first.

Six candidates applied for the chief’s position, which became open when Col. Marco Palombo Jr. retired in March. State Police Capt. Kevin Barry has been serving as the interim chief since January.

The members of the selection committee that reviewed the applicants for the chief’s position and recommended finalists to the mayor were Chief of Staff Carlos Lopez, Director of Administration Gerald Cordy, South Kingstown Police Chief Vincent Vespia, New Shoreham Police Chief Vincent Carlone, attorney Christopher Stowe and NAACP Providence branch president James Vincent.

The administration is eying an Oct. 1 date for Winquist’s swearing-in, with his appointment subject to approval from the full council. Barry and his second-in-command, State Police Lt. Matthew Moynihan, will remain until the new chief is officially in place.

Ahead of Thursday’s hearing, council members met behind closed doors Monday to discuss several other police-related matters. On the agenda were Police Capt. Todd Patalano’s pending lawsuit; a report on the status of other “pending and potential” litigation; and a report from the Fung administration on the applicants for the chief position and the process through which Winquist was selected.

In another related matter, the Fung administration recently confirmed that contract negotiations with International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 301 have recently resumed.

Cordy told members of the finance committee on Sept. 11 that one meeting has already been held, with another scheduled. He said the talks had been delayed to give time for the union to elect new leadership, which occurred in June. Patrolman Robert Santagata is now the president of Local 301.

Local 301’s previous contract expired in 2012, and the finance committee in November of last year rejected a proposed three-year pact. On the same night as that vote, the mass issuance of parking tickets in two wards led to allegations of retaliation on the part of police.

That, in turn, has led to months of unrest surrounding the department, and ultimately resulted in the involvement of state police.

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