Narragansett police captain shares why town canceled its Flock contract

Our Take

When a police department itself is the one pumping the brakes on an ALPR contract, that's news. NBC 10 WJAR's interview with Narragansett Police Capt. Ryan Prest is a useful watch precisely because it isn't an activist or a reporter raising doubts about Flock Safety — it's a cop. Whatever the department's specific reasoning, the fact that a town looked at the cost, the vendor terms, or the actual utility of the system and decided to cancel is exactly the kind of accountability moment that too many city councils skip entirely.

We've seen the opposite pattern play out over and over: departments sign multi-year Flock deals with little public debate, the cameras go up, and only later do residents learn how much data is being vacuumed up, shared, or retained without their input. Narragansett pumping the brakes — for whatever mix of budget, performance, or privacy reasons — is a reminder that these contracts are not inevitable. Local officials can say no, or say 'not yet,' and towns survive just fine without a network of cameras logging every car that passes through.

Credit to NBC 10 WJAR and Capt. Prest for putting this on the record. If you want to see whether ALPRs have already landed in your town, check our camera map, and if you'd rather your city council have this same conversation before signing a contract, our take-action page has the tools to get started.