EAST PROVIDENCE — The City Council, at its meeting Tuesday night, Sept. 2, swiftly dispatched a license application submitted by one-time East Providence Police Department member and former Rehoboth Police Chief Stephen T. Enos.

Mr. Enos, whose tenure as Rehoboth chief unceremoniously ended as a ramification of an alleged drunken incident in city in December of 2010, was requesting to become licensed as a private detective in East Providence.

The Council, on a motion made by Ward 4 representative Chrissy Rossi, moved to deny the vote prior to any discussion. Mr. Enos did get a chance to speak, telling the Council he previously held a similar license from 2006-08 and has been working with an investigation firm for the last five months. According to Mr. Enos' Linkedin page, he is currently employed as an Investigations Specialist at International Investigations Firm in Providence.

That information did little to persuade the Council, which ultimately voted 5-0 against Mr. Enos' application.

The move doesn't come as a shocker. Despite Mr. Enos having been a former EPPD officer for nearly 26 years and reaching the rank of lieutenant, the circumstances surrounding his departure from Rehoboth obviously played a role in the matter.

According to a May 2011 report in the Taunton Gazette newspaper at the time, Mr. Enos was "under fire" from the Rehoboth Board of Selectmen "when he was found distressed and lying on his side in a residential driveway in East Providence (in December 2010). His behavior that night was deemed 'an adverse reaction to a medication,' as Enos admittedly mixed a prescribed dose of Vicodin with an alcoholic beverage."

The union of Rehoboth police subsequently issued a "no-confidence vote" and "an investigation by the Board of Selectmen and an independent investigation by a private detective all sprouted from what Enos referred to as an 'error in judgment' in a prior interview," the Gazette article continued.

Mr. Enos was eventually put on administrative leave. The Rehoboth Board of Selectmen ultimately voted not to renew the chief's contract at the end of the summer of 2011.