WHEREAS, The vital responsibilities of the Rhode Island State Police include: providing a uniformed force for law enforcement; preparing rules and regulations for law enforcement; maintaining facilities for crime detection and suppression; and, controlling traffic and maintaining safety on state highways; and

WHEREAS, Throughout the long, honorable history of the Rhode Island State Police, the men and women who have devoted themselves to protecting the grateful citizens of the Ocean State have always conducted themselves in a thoroughly accomplished and professional manner. They are certainly amongst the very finest law enforcement officers in the nation; and

WHEREAS, Under the enlightened and innovative leadership of Colonel Edmond S. Culhane, Jr., the Rhode Island State Police have not simply maintained the superb standards for which the Division is justly famed, but the dedicated officers under his command continually surpass and establish even more exacting standards of excellence; and

WHEREAS, Two-thirds of the candidates for the State Police are currently coming from outside of Rhode Island. Given that the Ocean State has no shortage of educated, properly motivated and deserving young men and women, many with exacting military experience, who are eager to serve in such a responsible capacity, it seems only fitting and just that residents of the Ocean State be given first consideration for these new positions; and

WHEREAS, Many Rhode Island cities and towns require municipal employees, especially those in such critical services as fire fighting and law enforcement, to reside in the municipalities in which they serve. In times of crisis, where moments may mean everything, would it not be prudent and wise if the members of the State's highest law enforcement agency lived in Rhode Island?; and

WHEREAS, Just as local law enforcement agencies are being called upon to become increasingly sensitive to the particular social needs of the communities they protect, it seems but a natural extension of this policy for the protectors of all of these communities to be familiar with the needs of their fellow citizens; and

WHEREAS, Residents of the Ocean State, the people whose labor and taxes sustain State government and its institutions, would surely enjoy greater confidence in the State Police if they knew that its membership was composed primarily of friends and neighbors who share a similar stake in the well-being of Rhode Island; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby respectfully requests that Rhode Island residents be given the highest priority in the selection of future candidates for the Rhode Island State Police, and that residents of the Ocean State be actively recruited by the State Police.

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Governor Lincoln C. Almond and Colonel Edmond S. Culhane, Jr.