Burrillville council votes to join new statewide police records system, authorizes MOU

The Burrillville Town Council voted Jan. 22 to authorize the town to enter a memorandum of understanding to join a new statewide police records management system operated by vendor CSI.

Police Chief Steven J. Lynch told the council the state is implementing a new, web-based system and that participating local agencies are being asked to transition on a shared schedule. "I brought this before you tonight after consulting with Mike, to gain your authorization to sign off on the MOU," Lynch said. "The benefits are laid out pretty good ..." He said the system would replace an aging, server-based product and allow staff to access records remotely if the department building lost connectivity.

Why it matters: Lynch and others said the change will modernize the department’s records, reduce reliance on a server-based system that the current vendor (IMC) will stop supporting, and align Burrillville with neighboring departments also moving to the CSI platform. Council members raised questions about cost, data backup, training time and security protections.

Key details from the meeting: - Lynch said the new system is web-based and that the state police are the lead managing agency for the statewide rollout. "It's not a mandate," he said, but noted the state has invested in the project and many nearby agencies are joining the same implementation window. "If there's a hiccup, everybody waits," he said, arguing for staying on the joint schedule. - The council discussed a short, six-month extension with the town's current vendor (IMC) that the police negotiated to avoid an immediate cutoff; Lynch said that extension runs through Dec. 31 and gives time for the transition. - Lynch and staff said training will be provided by the vendor; the town will incur overtime costs for officers attending out-of-duty training blocks. Lynch said vendor-supplied training and vendor responsibility for updates are included in the implementation plan. - Council members asked about data custody and security. Lynch said the system will be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and has been vetted for Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) compliance by the Police Chiefs Association and the State Police. He said the town will retain access and that agencies will have redundancy and backups, but detailed technical arrangements were described only at a high level in the meeting.

Council action and process: A motion to support the MOU and move forward with the deployment was made and seconded; the motion carried by voice vote. Councilors asked staff to return with any additional financial details as implementation progresses.

What the council did not decide tonight: The transcript records questions about exact line-item costs and whether the operating cost shown in the meeting documents should commence in FY2026 or FY2027; the documents discussed in the meeting were unclear on exact dollar-year sequencing. The council did not adopt a separate, detailed budget amendment at this meeting.

The police chief said he expects phased training in July and August ahead of implementation; staff will return with scheduling and any required budget clarifications.