State Police Take Helm of T.F. Green Airport's Police Force

WARWICK - The state Airport Corporation has asked the state police to assume leadership of the police force at T.F. Green Airport for the next six months and report on what it does well, where it needs to improve and what qualities it should look for in its next chief.

Lt. Kevin Hopkins, a former detective who heads the State Police Training Academy in Foster, will serve as acting chief of the 48-member Rhode Island Airport Police Department through mid-June.

Mark Brewer, president of the corporation, said yesterday that Chief Edward Carter left his post in mid-December and officially retired on Dec. 24, and that Deputy Chief Robert St. George worked his last day a week ago and will retire effective today.

Brewer praised both top officers and said their retirements were voluntary and "not encouraged."

Carter, who became chief in 1996, "took what was basically a security department and turned it into a full-fledged police department," Brewer said. "He did a great job."

St. George "did a lot of good work for us" and is "highly regarded," Brewer said.

"When [Carter] gave us the word that he was going to retire, we asked the state police if they would mind coming in and providing us an acting chief," Brewer said. "We asked them to come in for six months, take a look, determine the strengths and weaknesses of the department . . . and give me some feedback as to the attributes the new chief should have."

The airport police perform all the law-enforcement duties of a typical police force, and also are trained to assist the federal Transportation Security Administration in some aspects of aviation security.

Maj. Steven O'Donnell of the state police said yesterday the first discussions on the nature and duration of the assignment took place in November. Some time last month, he said, Brewer and state police Supt. Col. Steven Pare signed an undated "memorandum of understanding" that outlined the temporary duties to be assigned to Hopkins.

O'Donnell declined to make the memo public yesterday, calling it "an internal document."

When Hopkins completes the assignment in June and makes his report to the Airport Corporation, the agency is free to adopt all his recommendations, some of them, or none, O'Donnell said.

Many airport police officers are retired from other departments, or otherwise working second careers at Green.

Carter, a former Navy flier qualified to pilot both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, was hired at Green as an aeronautics inspector on Nov. 18, 1987. He became chief of police in 1996.

St. George was a veteran police officer when hired on Sept. 16, 1996. He had retired from the Narragansett Police Department.

Hopkins assumed command of the Airport Police Department about three weeks ago, with little fanfare. Indeed, the police in the airport's host community, the immediate backup force, were never notified.

Informed of the change in leadership yesterday, Col. Stephen McCartney, chief of police in Warwick, said, "I've known Kevin for a lot of years, he's a good man . . . a real professional. I think he's a great choice."

Mayor Scott Avedisian expressed surprise, saying, "I would have expected to hear something. We were there last week for a meeting and nothing was discussed about that."

Avedisian said St. George "has great leadership qualities" and was increasingly visible in recent months as the Airport Police Department's representative at civic events.

Attempts to reach Hopkins, Carter and St. George were unsuccessful yesterday.

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