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In response to recent news reports indicating that some local police departments may be implementing traffic ticket quotas among their ranks, the ACLU of Rhode Island has sent letters to all RI police chiefs reminding them of a state law, enacted in 2010, that specifically prohibits this practice.  The ACLU is also considering legal action on behalf of affected motorists.

In recognition of a continuing backlog causing undue hardship to hundreds of poor residents, the ACLU of Rhode Island has set up a telephone hotline for people to call if they are having trouble with their SNAP (food stamp) application being processed in a timely manner due to the state’s months-long UHIP computer fiasco.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced the favorable settlement of the case on behalf of Julia Schultz, a house cleaner who was terminated by a professional cleaning service immediately after they learned she was pregnant.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today announced the settlement of a federal lawsuit against Tiverton police and school officials over a 2014 incident in which an 8-year-old girl was removed by police from a school bus, taken alone to the police station without her parents’ knowledge, and then held and questioned at the station for several hours before being released. The seizure, detention and interrogation of the young child were based solely on unsubstantiated claims from another child that the girl was carrying “chemicals” in her backpack, and occurred even after the police found nothing in the backpack.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced that a settlement had been reached in a federal lawsuit it filed two years ago against the Woonsocket Police Department on behalf of a woman who was strip-searched and left naked in a holding cell for over five hours after being arrested for “driving under the influence.” Under the settlement, the defendants agreed to pay $65,000 to plaintiff Joann Lanoue in exchange for dismissal of the suit. The agreement specifies that it does not constitute any acknowledgement of wrongdoing by Woonsocket police officials.