(The following is not a verbatim transcript of comments or discussion that occurred during the meeting, but rather a summarization intended for general informational purposes. All motions and votes are the official records).
CRANSTON CITY COUNCIL
Notice of Special Meeting
SEPTEMBER 13, 2021
A Special meeting of the City Council was called held on Monday, September 13, 2021 in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Cranston, Rhode Island.
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 P.M. by the Council President.
Roll call showed the following members present: Councilwoman Marino, Councilman Ferri, Councilwomen Renzulli, Vargas, Germain, Councilmen Donegan, Reilly and Council President Paplauskas -8.
Also Present: Mayor Kenneth Hopkins; Anthony Moretti, Director of Administration; John Verdecchia, Assistant City Solicitor; Stephen Angell, City Council Legal Counsel; Colonel Michael Winquist; Major Robert Quirk.
DISCUSSION WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT REGARDING LICENSE PLATE CAMERA PILOT PROGRAM
Council President Paplauskas stated that this meeting is not to defund the Police, it is to ask questions regarding this program. He asked Colonel Winquist to speak regarding this program and then the public will be allowed to speak.
Colonel Winquist stated that during the past few weeks, there has been a lot of mis-information put out and through the media and ACLU and some other organizations. He is present this evening to provide some factual information so everyone can form their own judgement about the program and also spoke about how he became interested in the license plate reader technology. This is not new technology. This has been in existence for decades throughout the Country. Back in July, he received a message from a representative from Flock Safety, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and they provided some results of plate reader camera that they tested in Fall River, Massachusetts and when he looked at the results from one camera they had placed in a location, he was thoroughly impressed with the results and he thought this would be a good technology that we could possibly test in the City of Cranston. Shortly after that, he had a meeting with Flock Safety and they went over their camera system and they had every single safeguard that you could imagine placed on this system. All the recommendations that the ACLU has, Flock Safety addresses those. He felt very comfortable with what they had. This is not costing the City anything. We have sixty days free no obligation to purchase to use the camera system. They recommend where the cameras should be placed and they are evenly distributed throughout the City. Currently, there are 24 cameras actively in use. There is a recommendation for 27 cameras. Those three cameras will be installed. They are all on City property and highly visible. At some point, after August 11th, he approached Mayor Hopkins and had a conversation with him stating that he would like to install these plate readers and try out this technology. He also explained the safeguards and the Mayor gave him the go-ahead to do this. On August 18th, there was a press conference. He found out that Woonsocket Police and Pawtucket Police Departments were testing this technology and he thought it would be prudent to introduce this technology together jointly at a press conference and it took place at the Cranston Police Department. This press conference was attended by multiple media agencies and the Mayor did attend this in support and left it up to him on how to communicate this plan to the citizens. The press release was immediately put up on the portal for citizens to see how the system worked. That was up on the 18th and he believes that the Mayor’s Communications Director also sent that press release to the City Council. We did not start monitoring the system until August 23rd and that is because we have policies that were put in place on how this system is to be used. The system as of today, has been in place for three weeks. As a result of this system, it has resulted in numerous arrests, recovery of stolen property, located a missing person, located a person who was suicidal and located a person wanted for domestic assault. The system has been very impressive in a short period of time. This is a tool that the Officers have embraced. The information is not shared outside the Police Department, it is not resold. Within thirty days, if your plate is in the system and you do not commit any crime, the information is automatically purged. This system does not have video capability and cameras do not record speed or faces. These flock safety cameras are in forty-one states. It is 100% legal under federal law. These cameras are being used by D.O.T., Airport, Bridges and Turnpikes. 1200 Police Departments are using these cameras. This system will be used responsibly and routine audits will be done to make sure this system is used properly.
Councilman Donegan asked where the data goes and who has access to it. Colonel Winquist stated that it goes into a cloud secured storage and the only ones who have access is the Cranston Police Department.
Public Speakers in Person:
Representative Barbara Ann Fenton Fung, 1581 Phenix Ave., appeared to speak and stated that these cameras are in over a thousand different cities in the US and they are praised by many of the leadership in those different cities.
Kevin Courneyour, co-founder of Center for Dynamic Learning in Providence, appeared to speak and stated that he is in total support of this program. If you did not do anything wrong then don’t complain.
Pat Ford of Coalition of Radio Network on Admiral St., Providence, appeared to speak and stated that the notion that you can’t get caught up with one of these systems, he would beg to differ. As high tech these systems are, they are run by people and there are failures both moral and intentional ad unintentional. He thinks that before we go this route, perhaps legislation should be in place ultimately to establish limits to protect the rights of the individual.
Andrew Rivelli, 22 Valley View Dr., appeared to speak in favor of this program and stated that he thinks it will keep crime out of Cranston and give the Police a tool to keep crime out of Cranston.
Public Speakers Via Zoom:
Hannah Stern appeared to behalf of the ACLU of RI, 128 Dorrance St., Providence, and stated that the reality is that these cameras are not just automated plate readers. The Flock Safety website notes that this technology allows for Police to search by identifying features like bumper stickers on a car. The implications that the actual usage of this system is only affecting the individuals committing crimes is not really untrue, but is deliberately avoiding the true issue here, which is that information about all residents driving by is being collected indiscriminately without any public policies or oversight being instituted. Another critical issue of the implementation of these cameras is the function and usage of these cameras and the privacy policies and data retention policies are all at the hands of the Police Department and a private company. There are no constraints on the ability for either of these institutions to change the rules or policies unilaterally at any time. She also stated that there are no requirements for public notification and there are no requirements for public input. She strongly urged the City Council to pass an Ordinance which guarantees community engagement and oversight.
Heather Burback, 97 Broad St., appeared to oppose to this program because of the massive database that is being created. She also stated that what is more distressing to her is the way this was rolled out. No one knew about this and the City Council had to find out from the media about this. If you look at the Flock website, the cameras and the policies and the way that this was instituted is absolutely contradictory to what they recommend, which is that all these policies are in place before you start this process so that everyone can weigh in and people feel secure and people know what is going on. The Chief stated that what they are doing is 100% constitutional and legal. She noted that a decision came out today from the Colorado Supreme Court about these exact kind of cameras finding that they are not in compliance with the constitutional.
Michael Beauregard, 136 Bluff Ave., appeared to speak and stated that he is concerned with everything Ms. Burback stated. This is a massive system and there needs to be legal as well as protocols in place that are publicly known and understood by people in case of a data breach or a hack.
Robert Murray, Esq., 75 Debbie Dr., appeared to speak in person and stated that he is present this evening not just as an attorney, but as well as a father, property owner and businessman and he disagrees with the last several speakers. This is not an invasive intrusion into his privacy rights. This is protecting him, his family, his property and his new granddaughter. It should not be scorned. With all due respect to the City Council, you should not be micro-managing the Police Department on this.
Councilwoman Germain referred to Section 3.41 of the City Charter that grants the Police Colonel the power to enact such policy without the approval of the City Council. Colonel Winquist stated not hat he is aware of. In the Charter, under Police chief, he has the right to enact policies and procedures within the Police Department for public safety. Councilwoman Germain asked how this will be paid for and how much it would cost if this program goes forward. Colonel Winquist stated that the cost would be $2,500 per camera and he has Grant money that he can use for it, Federal Grant money, as well as narcotics forfeiture money. No City money will be expended at least for the first year. councilwoman Germain asked Colonel Winquist what he has in place to prevent anyone from using this information for profiling. Colonel Winquist stated that if anything, these cameras do opposite of that because they take a picture of every single car that goes by regardless of who is driving it.
Councilwoman Renzulli asked if the City of Cranston can get sued if there is any data beach. Colonel Winquist stated that there is no personal information in this database. Only thing in this database is the picture of the car plate.
Solicitor stated that a City can be sued for misconduct of its Police Department if they can prove the Police Department was negligent and as a result of the negligence the individual was harmed.
Councilman Ferri asked if there is a list of things that this system would be used for. Colonel Winquist stated that if someone has a criminal warrant and they are connected to a vehicle, it could be used for that purpose. They have a policy on the use of the database. It has to be associated with a criminal investigation.
Director Moretti stated that the Mayor has full confidence in the Colonel and the Police Department and gave his blessing to this program. He did not micromanage it.
The meeting adjourned at 9:50 P.M.
Rosalba Zanni
Acting City Clerk