My name is Joseph Aguiar, candidate for Bristol Town Council. I am running to protect our constitutional rights from unconstitutional mass surveillance. Prior to immigrating to America my family suffered under the brutal Salazar dictatorship in Portugal with people being jailed for being affiliated with “opposition” groups.   

On our nation’s 250th anniversary of “freedom”, Bristol is zealously prescribing to big government overreach. The lack of transparency by current Bristol leadership demonstrates that they cannot be trusted with this technology. However, we the people are transcending the political divide to galvanize a bi-partisan movement to preserve our 4th Amendment.

On November 12, 2025, the council delayed their decision to approve 1 Flock Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR). However, within days of that decision, the town quietly installed 5 Genetec (Flock competitor) ALPRs without any public disclosure.

During the January 28, 2026, the council refused to respond if they approved the Genetec ALPR surveillance. Shortly after, all 5 ALPRs were quietly removed. On September 24, 2026, I questioned the council again on the mystery ALPRs which they refused to respond.

This lack of transparency led me to file 2 Access to Public Records Requests (APRA) with Bristol & the RI State Police.  Bristol denied the request, claiming they never deployed ALPRs thus have no data.

However, in appeal, I highlighted that the totality of my request has been ignored. Specifically, 3. clearly requested "list of any and all previous, active or proposed ALPR camera locations within the town of Bristol and subsequent date of installation ".  

My appeal cited evidence that on November 12, 2025, Chief Lynch disclosed that Bristol deployed Flock in 2022 for 1 year.  Secondly, on January 22, 2026, the Bristol Pheonix published a photo of the ALPRs in an article. Finaly, during the January 28, 2026, Town council meeting disclosed that in November 2025, Bristol town trucks were observed installing 5 Genetec ALPR cameras. Therefore, the above facts establish historical ALPR municipal deployment, thus my records request remains active and valid. I have appealed to Chief Lynch to be forthcoming and release the data.  

Ask yourself this, since is illegal for 1 police officer to photograph 1 car for 1 day without a judicial warrant, then how is it not illegal for dozens of police owned AI cameras, located across dozens of locations, to photograph thousands of cars, indefinitely, stored in for profit big-tech datacenters which builds an AI algorithm on a driver’s daily habits and affiliations without a judicial warrant be legal? It is NOT.

This mass surveillance debate is now overshadowed by municipal overreach, obstruction and lack of transparency illustrated in current Bristol leadership. Vote for me and let me earn your trust and fight for transparency and our constitution for the people and by the people. Finally, I test those who oppose our efforts to preserve the constitution by quoting,

"The fourth amendment was not written for people with nothing to hide, anymore then the first amendment was written for people with nothing to say.”

Joseph Aguair
Bristol

Joseph Aguiar is a Republican candidate for Bristol Town Council.