News & Commentary

Coming on the heels of false allegations by President Trump of widespread voter fraud, the ACLU of Rhode Island today issued a report indicating that some lawful voters were turned away from the polls in November due to the state’s controversial voter ID law. The report documented a number of other concerns based on observations from a few dozen ACLU volunteer poll monitors during the 2016 general election. The findings generally mirror those contained in a report the ACLU issued after the 2012 Presidential election.

This should be a happy Access to Public Records Act (APRA) story, but -- spoiler alert -- it's not. Valley Breeze reporter Ethan Shorey filed an APRA complaint with the Attorney General when the City of Pawtucket refused to provide him a list of vacant and abandoned properties it routinely shared with members of the City Council. Three weeks ago, the Attorney General’s office (AG) ruled that the document needed to be handed over. So why is this ruling a loss for open government instead of a victory?

The ACLU of Rhode Island has called on the Providence City Council to reject the proposed expenditure of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to purchase police body cameras unless and until clear, strong standards of transparency and accountability are in place for their use.

ACLU STATEMENT ON REFUSAL OF DEPT. OF BUSINESS REGULATION TO RELEASE INFORMATION ON APPROVED MEDICAL MARIJUANA CULTIVATORS

The ACLU of Rhode Island today issued the following statement in response to the Providence Police Department’s plans to acquire force-wide body cameras: “While body cameras can benefit the public and law enforcement by bringing much-needed transparency to policing, the policy we understand is currently in use by the Providence Police Department will serve only to shroud body camera footage in secrecy and raise serious questions as to the discretion used by law enforcement in activating the cameras. These questions must be resolved before the start of any widespread body camera program. “Under this policy, police have broad discretion in when to turn the cameras on and off, allowing for law enforcement to choose to turn body cameras on after an incident has commenced and the body cameras can no longer shed much-needed light on a situation. Beyond immediate officer safety concerns, any subjectivity in decisions to turn body cameras on or off raises concerns about what is not being captured by cameras, and why. While the policy encompasses many of the instances in which a body camera should be activated, unintentional gaps in the ‘Body Worn Camera Activation Parameters’ leave law enforcement open to allegations of subjective body camera use and may fail to capture many of the instances in which body cameras may be most helpful. “Further, the policy lacks clear guidance as to the release of body camera footage. Particularly in light of recent events in Charlotte, North Carolina and the controversy surrounding release of footage in other municipalities using body cameras, it is imperative that any body camera policy clearly allow for the release of footage to the public, without delay. The greatest benefit of body cameras to the public is that of transparency in policing – a benefit that is denied to the public if the Providence Police Department can choose to deny access to these videos. “The ACLU of Rhode Island calls on the Providence Police Department to publicly promulgate a new policy for the use of body cameras, with these concerns taken into account.”

This proposed constitutional amendment would repeal the state Constitution’s so-called “speech in debate” clause, and give the R.I. Ethics Commission broad powers to investigate and adjudicate the activities of state legislators in representing their constituents. The ACLU of Rhode Island appreciates the arguments offered by those in favor of this proposed amendment. However, we must reluctantly oppose it because of its potentially serious adverse effects on the electoral process.

In an important victory for public access to judicial records, U.S. District Court John McConnell, Jr. today ordered the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to release thousands of pages of documents in support of the ACLU of Rhode Island’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit on behalf of local journalist Philip Eil.

Highlighting the “extraordinarily strong public interest” in the investigation of the 38 Studios scandal and calling “less than compelling” the arguments offered for keeping the records of that investigation secret, five open government groups today called on Attorney General Peter Kilmartin and State Police Superintendent Steven O’Donnell to release those documents to the public.

In advance of a scheduled Ethics Commission meeting tomorrow which includes a discussion of a proposed rule to establish a moratorium on the filing of ethics complaints before elections, the ACLU of Rhode Island urged the Commission to give “more thorough consideration of the consequences of such an approach.”