In correspondence dated March 5, Councilman John J. Lombardi (Ward 13) has asked Colonel Dean Esserman, Chief of the Providence Police, to disclose how his department will address criminality at the Providence Place Mall.  He further requested an explanation for the alleged statement by a member of the PPD that Ms. Catherine O’Rourke, who was accosted at the mall on February 24 by youths who threatened to steal her jewelry, was responsible for that criminal behavior.

“When one of your officers allegedly informed [Ms. O’Rourke] that, by wearing expensive jewelry while walking through the mall at night, she was, to use the vernacular, asking for it, a Providence law enforcement official all but confirmed that we have thrown up our hands in surrender to forms of criminality which we have neither the will nor the means to forestall,” Councilman Lombardi wrote.

“Indeed,” the letter continued, “what is the difference between that response to Ms. O’Rourke and those of other law enforcement agencies that inform victims of rape that, by wearing short skirts or tight blouses, they got what they were begging for?  One of degree?”

Citing the city’s “huge investment” in the so-called Providence Renaissance “of which we boast and for which we all have worked so diligently,” Councilman Lombardi asked rhetorically, “What message is being sent to the people who we invite to experience [our reborn city] when they read of this incident?”

Councilman Lombardi closed his letter by suggesting to Chief Esserman that it may be convenient for him to address “these critical issues” with the City Council “prior to our upcoming deliberations on your new contract.”