Barrington will not be part of a statewide rollout of Flock Safety automated license plate-reading cameras. According to Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia, the Rhode Island State Police initiative does not include installing a camera in Barrington.

During an interview on Monday morning, Dec. 8, Chief Correia said the state police program includes cameras in nearby towns, and therefore officials did not see a need to include one in Barrington. He said Bristol is intended to be part of the program, and possibly Warren. Chief Correia said East Providence already has Flock Safety cameras. 

Chief Correia said that if managed correctly, the cameras do offer benefits to the community. He added that there are safeguards in place to prevent misuse of data collected by the cameras. He said the data collected by the cameras is erased every 30 days. 

Rhode Island State Police officials have been visiting other communities across the state requesting permission to install the Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras — the program calls for the installation of 39 Flock cameras. Recently, the Portsmouth Town Council voted to table the issue until the state police returned with a completed memorandum of understanding, which would detail who owns the camera data, how it could be shared, and what safeguards would prevent misuse. 

According to reporting in the Portsmouth Times, the Flock cameras do not record faces, track speeds or collect other biometrics. In addition, there are at least 14 Rhode Island municipalities, as well as colleges, housing communities and commercial properties that already use the Flock technology. The system could speed also respond to Amber, Silver and Purple alerts and assist departments facing staffing shortages, a Rhode Island State Police official said during a Portsmouth Town Council meeting. 

— With reporting from Josh Bickford and Jim McGaw