WPRO Newsroom and The Associated Press
Cranston Mayor Allan Fung is apologizing to the people of his city following a scathing report on the Cranston Police Department from the State Police.
“I want to apologize. Apologize to the residents of Cranston.”
Fung said he will not be resigning despite the blistering criticism.
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In a news conference Wednesday afternoon in his City Hall office, Fung said he put too much trust in former Police Chief Marco Palombo, who resigned amid fallout from the so-called “ticketing blitz” where officers were ordered to blanket two wards in parking tickets. Fung said Palombo misled him.
Fung said “hindsight is 20/20” and he wishes he had done things differently.
“But the bottom line is this, I take ownership of fixing the problem. I’m going to do better. I will do better.”
Fung’s remarks follow Monday’s release of the State Police assessment of the Cranston Police Department in the months following the ticketing scandal. State Police say bullying, intimidation and favoritism were the norm, and that Fung, Palombo and other leaders fed into the problems.
Fung says he tried to reinstate Captain Stephen Antonucci, who investigators say orchestrated the ticketing blitz, to avoid costly litigation, not because Antonucci was a friend.
“I recognize that I’m not perfect,” Fung said. “But, the measure of the man is not the mistakes he’s made in the past, but how he grows from them.”
Fung said he does not regret bringing in the State Police to analyze the city’s department.
Fung, a Republican, lost to Gina Raimondo in the race for governor in November. He said “it’s up to the voters” whether he has a future shot at higher office, but added, “I’m almost confident that I will be, you know, back as mayor,” in 2016.
