Richard Sullivan, Providence police chiefSlow to drop charges

Last September 12, Americans were frightened, horrified, and ready to lash out at anyone who looked or acted different. It wasn’t admirable, but it was, under the circumstances, understandable.

That afternoon, a young engineer named Sher Singh was hauled off an Amtrak train in Providence, handcuffed, and charged with illegally carrying a small knife — a ceremonial symbol of his Sikh religion. No, it shouldn’t have happened, and yes, the dark-skinned, turbaned Singh was a victim of ethnic profiling. Realistically, though, it was a miracle that he wasn’t torn apart by his enraged and panic-stricken fellow passengers.

But if there is at least some excuse for the way Providence police handled the situation on that day, there is absolutely no justification for their taking until October 25 to drop the charges against Singh — and for doing so only after state attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse wrote a letter to city officials saying that he would refuse to pursue the case if it reached his office.

There is plenty of blame to go around. A little more than a week before the charges were dropped, the city’s extremely honest mayor, Buddy Cianci, was quoted as saying, "The fact is that he was in violation of state law." But a mayor’s job is to posture and fulminate, not immerse himself in the details. The city official most accountable for Sher Singh’s ordeal is Providence police chief Richard Sullivan. The chief knew within hours of the arrest that Singh was no threat to anyone. Yet he let the possibility of a one-year prison sentence hang over Singh’s head for seven long weeks.

Singh was carrying a kirpan, a dagger that all Sikh men carry as a religious obligation. As Singh explained to the Providence Journal, the kirpan is "a symbol of our connection to God." Though it shouldn’t matter, it is notable that Singh, who was 29 at the time of his arrest, is neither an Arab nor a Muslim, the two groups singled out for suspicion after the terrorist attacks of September 11. He was on his way back to his home in Virginia after visiting his wife at Tufts University.

The facts of the case cried out for the charges to be dropped as swiftly as possible, but Sullivan’s attitude was: the facts be damned. As Rhode Island ACLU executive director Steve Brown said in a letter to the city dated October 16, more than a month after Singh’s arrest, "Absolutely no public interest is served by prosecuting Mr. Singh for what, ultimately, is the ‘crime’ of practicing his religion. Therefore, in the interests of justice, we urge you to have the charge against Mr. Singh dismissed. Only in this way can the City end the nightmare that he has experienced, a nightmare brought on solely because of his appearance and the color of his skin."

Singh himself responded to his ordeal with equanimity. After the charges were dropped, he was quoted in the Journal as saying, "What the police did was justified. I feel America is a nation of brave and intelligent people, and I feel we have all acted that way." He added, "God bless America."

No doubt Singh was relieved that justice had finally been done. If Chief Sullivan had gotten his way, Singh might still be waiting — behind bars.