INVESTIGATION 23 Days in Providence: 119 Assaults, 18 Sexual Assaults & 10 Shootings
GoLocalProv News Team
INVESTIGATION 23 Days in Providence: 119 Assaults, 18 Sexual Assaults & 10 Shootings
It is an average of more than six reported violent crimes per day - every day.
The GoLocal investigation was sparked by the Providence Police Department's crackdown on releasing crime information to the media.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBetween July 1 and July 23, the police department issued no press releases about crime in the city. Prior to this time period, on June 30, the public safety department issued a press release titled "Mayor Smiley to Announce the City of Providence’s Preparations for Hurricane Season and Extreme Weather."
Data secured by GoLocal via a public records request shows that during the 23-day period, there were 119 assaults, 18 sexual assaults, and 10 shootings. In just 23 days, a total of 147 violent crimes occurred in Capitol City.
Questions about this violent crime data were submitted to the Providence Public Safety Department spokesperson requesting comments from Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez, but they were not responded to at the time of publication.
The data requested by GoLocal was narrow. It focused only on violent crimes. GoLocal did not request gun charges, robberies, drug charges, or property damage data.
July 13 - Especially Violent
The trends are disturbing.
On Saturday, July 13 — just one single day — there were nine reported simple assaults in Providence. The assaults were reported across the city, including downtown, just across from Providence City Hall.
On July 5, the Friday night of the 4th of July weekend, there were four felony assaults.
Ten Shootings - Two on the East Side
The data secured by GoLocal unveils that during the 23-day period, the shootings took place throughout the city. The East Side neighborhood suffered two shootings.
One of the shooting incidents took place at 25 Ellery Place in the University Heights apartment complex on July 11. That shooting took place just a few hundred yards from the murder of Miya Brophy-Baermann, a 24-year-old Warwick woman who was gunned down in August 2021.
At the time of her killing, Brophy-Baemann had received her Master’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology — with a 3.94 GPA— from Northeastern University. She received her undergraduate degree from URI in 2019.
Also, during this 23-day period, there was a second shooting in Providence's East Side a few days earlier, and just 14 blocks away. On July 6, a shooting took place at 177 Ivy Street.
Similarly, on the South Side, two shootings occurred in close proximity to one another. One of the shootings was on Broad Street, and the other just a few of blocks away was on Maple Street.
Withholding Sexual Assault Data
Only after seven requests did the Providence Police release data on the number of sexual assaults in Providence between July 1 and 23 — nearly one per day during the time period.
The Police did not release the data on the neighborhoods of the sexual assault locations.
As a policy, GoLocal does not report the names or exact locations of sexual assaults unless the victim has specifically requested the release of that information.