VIDEO: Police Body Cam Captures Arrests and Chaos on Block Island Ferry Dock - Many Cameras Failed
GoLocalProv News Team
VIDEO: Police Body Cam Captures Arrests and Chaos on Block Island Ferry Dock - Many Cameras Failed
A video by a bystander captured a few seconds of the incident. But much of the story was unseen.
GoLocal filed an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request seeking the body camera footage of Narragansett Police responding to the calls.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe body camera footage provided by Narragansett to GoLocal however shows just some of the arrests and the aftermath.
Only one body camera seemed to fully function.
SEE SEGMENTS OF THE BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE AND ARRESTS ABOVE
Body Camera Failure “Being Looked Into”
When asked about the failure of officer’s cameras to capture the incident and that there were significant gaps, Narragansett Police said there was a problem with the “automatic activation” system.
“The video released contains 5 of the 7 arrests made during the incident on 6/15/24. One officer did not have their BWC [body worn cameras]activated (the camera was recharging due to being on a double shift - the officer did not get his BWC when responding to the in-progress disturbance),” wrote Lt. Daniel Sorice of the Narragansett Police in an email to GoLocal.
“Our BWC system has an automatic activation feature which did not properly activate during the incident for two of the officers' videos. These officers activated their BWC when they realized that their BWC was recording…The reasons for not recording BWC were properly documented in the arrest report. The technical issues of the automation not working are being looked into,” added Sorice.
“RISP did conduct transports of persons arrested to our station. No BWC containing arrests was withheld,” he added.
Narragansett Police announced two additional arrests related to the incident later that week.
Promises of Police Body Cameras
In June 2021, Governor Dan McKee signed legislation creating the Statewide Body-Worn Camera Program to equip every frontline police officer with body-worn cameras. The Attorney General and Department of Public Safety, in consultation with the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, were tasked with implementing the program, including promulgating rules and regulations to create statewide policy and eventually administer funding for departments to deploy body-worn cameras to officers.
In October 2022, the Office of the Attorney General, the Rhode Island Department of Public Safety, the Rhode Island Police Chiefs’ Association, Rhode Island’s Congressional Delegation, and state legislative leaders announced $16 million in grant awards for 42 local and state law enforcement agencies to equip approximately 1,773 frontline police officers with body-worn cameras.