He Wanted To Make a Difference

By: Michelle Aveyard
Posted In: News

Sergeant Fitzgerald is no stranger to the Newport community, having been born and raised here. He even attended Salve Regina University, graduating in 1981 as an Administrative Justice major.

Having always been interested in law, Sgt. Fitzgerald originally was interested in becoming a state trooper and later became very interested in working with the Federal Bureau.

However, this aspiration never materialized as a result of President Reagan’s job freeze. Sgt. Fitzgerald decided, then, to join the Newport Police Department and has now been there for about 22 years.

While working for the department, Sgt. Fitzgerald implemented many changes. He was one of the first community police officers in Rhode Island. He is often asked to give lectures at various schools, including Salve, and was even offered a teaching position with the school.

Sgt. Fitzgerald also designed the “Positive Role Model program,” which was created in 1991 and is still around today. This program matches up Salve students with kids from varying backgrounds in group homes and promotes a positive interaction between the two.

Due to the strength of this program, many of the kids have gone onto lead very successful lives. Some kids even go on to work for the Newport Police Department. As head of the Community Policing Unit, Sgt. Fitzgerald is a very active part of the community.

MA: Is it different working with the Police Department during the summer and more specifically during tourist season, as opposed to the rest of the year when Salve is in session?

SF: It’s pretty consistent between summer and winter. The perception is that Salve causes problems, but that’s not necessarily the case. The total crime rate is down 21%, and it’s down 61% since 1981.

MA: Do you receive a lot of complaints from Newport residents about college parties?

SF: We have a list of known party houses we keep maintained. When you look at the noise complaints from last year they do have a 19% increase, but from 1981 it’s an 89% decrease. Residents are more vocal now when something happens. …All I can say is talk to the neighbors before you sign a lease. If they say it’s had problems in the past, get the hell out of there. Like we’ve always had a lot of problems on Howard Street, but a lot of the people living there now don’t know that. Kids get put into houses that had past problems, and kids don’t realize. It’s very important that the kids talk to the residents.

MA: Have you had any calls recently that turned out to be residents’ wrong assumptions?

SF: We investigated a house down on Berkley Avenue, but it turned out to be a perceptual issue. The neighbors saw that it was Salve students living there and assumed it would be a party house. Kids are going be kids, they can have friends over. Don’t call the police because they have friends over. We try to educate everybody and locate the problems and solve them, not wait for it to become a fire and out of control.

MA: Did you ever get into trouble when you were a student at Salve?

SF: No, not really. I was a poor kid going to a yuppie school. I was paying for it…didn’t have the Beamer in the driveway; I had the beat up car. It makes a difference when you’re paying for it yourself. But I really enjoyed going to Salve. I didn’t really get into trouble, kind of a boring kid. No parties really. There was a little bar on campus back then though, at the Boathouse. The drinking age was 18 then.

MA: What’s the most unusual call you have gotten? Anything that stands out?

SF: Too many! I personally got a call about a noisy street light and they wanted us to fix it. You know how a street light makes that hum? I don’t know what she wanted us to do, shoot it or something.

MA: How has this year been going so far? Has it been fairly normal, complaint-wise?

SF: In the beginning of every year, pretty much every time we have a noise complaint we follow it up, but we have a lot of college kids in the area besides Salve, Roger Williams. Salve is probably very minimal. Noise isn’t really even a big issue. We had a total of 169 (noise complaint) calls last year. Look at 1981 and it’s about 1500.

MA: With all the parties and the college students in the area do you find you get a lot of call-ins in conjunction with drunk driving?

SF: DUI’s have a 61% increase from the previous year. I think we have a major alcohol problem in Newport. Our crime rate is directly related to alcohol. You go to a domestic call, usually when it gets to that point, alcohol is involved. Newport has one of the highest liquor densities in the Northeast. There are over 60 establishments in Newport for people to drink, and they don’t have to drive! Alcohol is a very big, powerful industry in Newport. There is a big correlation between alcohol and violent crime.

MA: Any other calls that stand out in your mind?

SF: Basically what the police see is the worst the city has. Seldom do we get happy calls. How many times have you invited the neighborhood police officer to your birthday party? But if there’s a fight, who’s the first one you call? Most police officers, within the first five years, they’ll retire. You see a lot of death, a lot of negative…people hurting each other. You wonder how a human being could do this to another human being.

MA: Would you say that overall you enjoy your job?

SF: I enjoy it. Obviously there are good and bad days. As head of the Community Policing Unit, there’s a lot we’ll be developing that is cutting edge. A lot I’ve been designing that no one else is doing. It’s exciting to be a part of that. A small police department ahead of the curve in doing this. We all go into the field for a purpose and my thing was I wanted to make a difference. If I retired today, I would feel I made a difference.