Despite the Justice Department's own statistics showing the Providence area as problematic in terms of civilian complaints of excessive force, prosecutions of officers there are rare. In a summary of civil rights prosecutions (noting charges, indictments, pleas, convictions and acquittals) between October 1991 and July 1996, as compiled by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, no Rhode Island case appears.39 In March 1998, a Providence police officer was indicted on federal criminal civil rights charges in relation to two separate beatings in 1995 and 1996; he reportedly was the first Providence officer indicted on federal civil rights charges since 1991.40 According to a police department spokesman, the department had no record about one of the incidents.41

In 1996, of the thirteen cases decided by federal prosecutors for the federal district containing Providence (Rhode Island), none was prosecuted (i.e., presented to a grand jury to seek an indictment).42 Between 1992 and 1995, 164 cases were considered, of which three were prosecuted.

39 Civil Rights Division, "Official Misconduct Cases," provided to Human Rights Watch September 16, 1996.

40 Jonathan D. Rockoff, "Providence patrolman indicted for alleged assaults," Providence Journal-Bulletin, March 28, 1998; Rockoff, "Patrolman denies civil rights violations in 2 alleged assaults, Providence Journal-Bulletin, April 2, 1998; Richard Dujardin, "Police officer charged with taking money from department funds," Providence Journal-Bulletin, May 5, 1998.

41 Rockoff, "Providence patrolman indicted for alleged assaults," Providence Journal-Bulletin, March 28, 1998. An IAB representative refused to provide Human Rights Watch with specific information about the cases, citing the state's "bill of rights" for officers. Telephone inquiry, May 26, 1998.

42 According to data obtained by TRAC from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, Justice Department. Cases prosecuted or declined represent only a portion of the total number of complaints alleging federal criminal civil rights violations in each district in a given year. Several steps prior to this decision narrow down the number of complaints actually received to those considered worthy of consideration.