As Cranston’s Mayor for 12 years, I worked with the men and women of our police department to protect our neighbors every single day.
I started the first police detail program to monitor and protect our children at schools, and ensured funding for our School Resource Officers. Together, we are building good relationships between the police department and our kids, and giving peace of mind to the parents dropping them off at school in the morning.
The day after rioters destroyed areas of downtown Providence, they threatened to come into Cranston and loot homes and destroy the central business district. That was NOT going to happen on my watch. Not in our city. Not with our tremendous team. Not ever.
I coordinated across the aisle with state officials, the National Guard, the RI State Police, and officers from many different local departments to create a strong ring of protection. When they came, they saw that we were not going to let any of that nonsense happen, and they left!
I also worked in Cranston to expand community policing, opening substations in senior manors in Edgewood and Knightsville. We worked on recruiting, and diversified the workforce. And we initiated our high-tech training simulator program to improve our officer’s responses in highly stressful situations.
While Seth Magaziner says he is proud to march alongside those who want to DEFUND and ABOLISH the police, I will ALWAYS stand with our brave law enforcement officers at home and in Washington DC.
Allan’s Public Safety Plan
Our selfless law enforcement officers are navigating a minefield and have genuine concerns about whether they’ll be able to protect our communities
I’ll advocate for getting to the root of criminal behaviors, such as poverty, mental health issues, and dependency. We need to address these issues by being active and present in our community and advocating for common-sense bipartisan initiatives.
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• Expand funding to help communities establish more community policing programs. These programs worked in Cranston to nip some quality of life issues in the bud, and keep our seniors and families safe. When friendships and trust between officers and the neighbors grow, we see safer and stronger communities.
• Allow for more wellness checks on our elderly and those struggling with mental health issues
• Increase coordinated efforts like the RI HOPE Initiative that partners law enforcement and substance abuse professionals to get those struggling with addictions the help they actually need.
• Protect our schools with properly trained School Resource Officers
• Foster inter-agency cooperation between schools and police.
• Recognize the many responsibilities and roles of school resource officers (SROs), as an educator, an informal counselor, and a law enforcement officer. As an SRO, you are a resource for education and counseling. Work towards the shared goal of safer schools and safer children.
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• Ensure cities and towns can support the police complement they need to keep our streets safe with federal funding from the COPS Hiring Program Grants.
• Increase RI’s federal funding to combat our growing opioid and illegal drug epidemics through more COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Grants & COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Grants.
• Fund studies that get to the root of criminal behavior in order to address issues before they’re elevated to interactions with law enforcement and use data from those studies to inform advocacy for common-sense crime reduction policies.
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• Implement the highest standards of policing, through standardizing complex training that rewards leadership and situational awareness.
• Increase our officers access to increased educational opportunities, like through federal APEX grants, to improve their skill levels and provide growth opportunities.
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• Keep the National Blue Alert System to ensure that violent criminals who take aim at our law enforcement officers are met with swift justice.
• Re-authorize the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program to ensure that our officers are protected in the field.
• Promote mental well-being in our ranks by increasing education around wellness and self-care practices for our officers in these high stress jobs. The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Grant program can provide more federal funds to expand these programs to our local communities.
• Normalize and de-stigmatize healthy self-care practices in law enforcement.