Follow us on social media:
The ACLU of Rhode Island Monday announced it filed open records requests with every police department across the state to find out if any of its officers attended a 2021 training seminar in New Jersey that encouraged insubordination and unconstitutional tactics.
Last December, the New Jersey Comptroller’s Office released a report indicating some Rhode Island police officers participated in the privately-run six-day seminar operated by Street Cop in Atlantic City. It notes that speakers disparaged marginalized groups of people and often made lewd gestures related to genitalia.
Instructors reportedly used words such as “retard” and “bitch” in describing people, according to the report. One showed an offensive meme featuring a monkey in a shirt after describing a motor vehicle stop of a “75 year old Black man coming out of Trenton.”
Attendees were also provided with a “Reasonable Suspicion Factors Checklist,” which warned officers that a person smoking during a traffic stop suggests criminal activity. Stretching was also seen as something a criminal would do when stopped, according to the New Jersey report.
Public agencies in Rhode Island also provided direct payment to Street Cop between 2020 and 2023, but the report did not say which departments contributed or how much. New Jersey Monitor reported that agencies in its state paid at least $75,000 in taxpayer funds to cover conference costs.
In a statement sent to New Jersey Monitor last December, Street Cop founder Dennis Benigno said his firm planned to “impose stricter standards on colloquial and jocular language occasionally used by some instructors” before the state comptroller’s office issued its report. Video from the conference shows Benigno himself used obscenity-laced language.
Street Cop filed for bankruptcy in late January.
“The New Jersey report is eye-opening and extraordinarily disturbing. Rhode Islanders deserve to know which police departments sent officers, however unwittingly, to learn how to engage in unconstitutional traffic stops and searches, and whether steps will be taken to retrain them,” ACLU of Rhode Island Executive Director Steven Brown said in a statement.
The ACLU on Feb. 22 asked the Rhode Island Police Officers Commission on Standards and Training (POST) to investigate and disclose which police departments sent officers to the seminar.
Commission Chairman Michael Winquist, who is also chief of police for the city of Cranston, responded via letter the next day saying “the actions you are requesting are outside the POST’s scope of authority.”
“Undoubtedly, all POST members would never condone any training that promotes unconstitutional or discriminatory policing practices at the Rhode Island Police Municipal Training Academy, for probationary police officers, or otherwise,” Winquist wrote.
Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association Executive Director Sidney Wordell told Rhode Island Current the ACLU’s letter was forwarded to local departments.
“We will certainly as an association make sure everyone follows up,” he said. “But at the end of the day, department policy will dictate how they respond.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts.
Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the free WPRI 12+ TV app.
Follow us on social media:
A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Storms dump small hail throughout Austin area Saturday
YMCA of South Alabama holds Healthy Kids Day in Spanish Fort
Bear injures two US soldiers during military training in Alaska | The Jerusalem Post
NFL mock draft: 4-round projections for Arizona Cardinals
No. 6 Arkansas ends top-ranked OU’s 31-game home winning streak with 3-2 decision
Billionaire Steyer’s spending binge dwarfs rival campaigns in California governor’s race
Landeskog – April 18 | Colorado Avalanche
Overnight Forecast for April 19