2016 -- S 2085

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LC004086

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2016

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING WOONSOCKET POLICE CHIEF THOMAS S. CAREY ON HIS

RETIREMENT AFTER THIRTY-THREE YEARS OF FAITHFUL AND DEVOTED PUBLIC

SERVICE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

     Introduced By: Senators Cote, Picard, Goldin, Satchell, and Metts

     Date Introduced: January 21, 2016

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas S. Carey left his position as Detective

Major in the Crimes Against Property Unit with the St. Petersburg, Florida, Police Department in

2008, to assume the position of Police Chief of the Woonsocket Police Department. He inherited

a department in turmoil, suffering from a high turnover rate within its leadership and low morale

amongst its officers. All of that would change under the command and leadership of Chief Carey;

and

     WHEREAS, Chief Carey immediately went to work bringing everyone together and

building strong relationships between his department and vital community organizations such as

the Woonsocket Prevention Coalition and Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley. Chief Carey

set a high standard for professionalism and integrity and ensured that all those under his

command met this high standard of personal integrity; and

     WHEREAS, Chief Carey felt strongly that community outreach was a vital component to

successful police work. He served as a member of the Martin Luther King Day Committee and

served as King Jace at the city's annual Mardi Gras celebration. Chief Carey regularly attended

school cleanup days, neighborhood block parties, and many other functions as a way to put a

human face on the police department and as a way of telling the community that his department

and his officers served the public and would always be there to assist those in need of help; and

     WHEREAS, Chief Carey has also been a superb administrator navigating the City of

Woonsocket in a safe and steady direction despite dealing with shrinking budgets, a reduction in

the number of police officers, and facing a narcotics epidemic that has been sweeping the nation.

His steady hand, innovative policies, and strong support within the Woonsocket community will

be sorely missed; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby congratulates Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas S. Carey on his retirement after thirty-

three years of distinguished and devoted service as a law enforcement officer. We wish him a

most happy retirement in Florida with his family, and we wish him continued success in all his

future endeavors; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Woonsocket Police Chief, Thomas S. Carey.

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LC004086

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