A growing number of Sakonnet-area residents, and now a town council member in at least one town, are concerned about the implications of separate police department plans to bring six FLOCK Safety cameras to Little Compton and Tiverton.

Tiverton

Tiverton Town Council members months ago approved a state police plan to install a FLOCK safety automated license reader/camera on Route 24, and are now considering a Tiverton Police Department request to spend $23,000 this coming fiscal year on four new cameras. If approved, they would augment the three that have been in town for more than a decade, though police have declined to comment on where the existing ones are.

Councilor Deborah Janick said this week that after talking with residents opposed to the cameras on privacy and data security grounds, she now questions whether they are right for the town as well, joining fellow councilor Mike Burk, who has also questioned the plan.

“I have full trust in our police department,” she said Monday. “But I don’t know what happens with the information when it goes outside of our town, when it goes outside of our state and what happens with that information.”

“I don't think we as citizens should spend our tax dollars on mass surveillance,” resident Maureen Morrow, speaking from the audience, added.

Other councilors still support the police department request, saying the FLOCK system has benefited the town. They include president John Edwards, who has expressed faith in the cameras since discussion on the request began earlier this spring.

“My opinion on the matter hasn’t changed,” he said Monday.

“In Tiverton alone, I think we have some great history of how it helped with several cases,” Craig Committo added. “At least 15 to 18 cases that I can see that had tremendous outcomes."

The police request is expected to be discussed further during 2026-27 budget deliberations at the council's Monday, June 22 meeting.

Little Compton

Meanwhile in Little Compton, residents opposed to a police department plan to purchase two cameras continue to pepper the town council with letters, speak out in public and have launched two petition drives.

Police chief Scott Raynes has continually advocated for the installation of the cameras and did so again last Thursday's town council meeting, calling them "a tool we can use and add to our tool belt, so to say."

But residents questioned the need in quiet, rural Little Compton.

“I just don’t see the level of privacy that will be invaded in our community equal to the demand that we would actually need this,” said Bonnie Phinney.

Apart from Phinney's remarks, councilors also received several letters of opposition and were forwarded copies of separate petition drives opposing the cameras, which contain 31 signatures total.

Answering critics, Raynes said the cameras can be an important tool used in worst-case situations, such as missing children, and can add to the success of amber alerts and other law enforcement efforts to solve crime. Council president Patrick McHugh said the plan, which would cost the town $3,000 per year, will likely come to a vote at the next council meeting on Thursday, June 18.