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Cranston council hears police-range testimony; neighbor-backed resolution withdrawn
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Summary
After extensive testimony from the police chief and training officers about noise mitigation and operational need, a proposed council resolution addressing the Cranston Police Department firing range was withdrawn. Councilmembers flagged costs and legal options; police provided decibel tests and said rifle fire is now suppressed.
Council members and city officials heard more than an hour of testimony from police leadership and residents about the Cranston Police Department training range before the sponsor withdrew a proposed resolution.
Colonel Winquist, identified in the record as the police chief, told the ordinance committee the outdoor range has been at the site since 1952 and is used approximately 65 days a year (about 408 hours). He said rifle suppressors purchased after a legislative change have reduced rifle decibel levels and that the department has performed sound-mitigation work — berm increases, baffling and tree plantings — and contracted sound assessments in 2017 and 2021. Winquist estimated the cost to fully enclose the range at roughly $3 million to $5 million and said an indoor range would carry ongoing filtration costs of about $150,000 a year.
Lieutenant Joshua Daigon, who oversees training, presented calibrated noise-meter readings from prior tests. He said ambient readings in neighborhood locations were about 44–47 decibels and reported sample measurements after live fire that in many locations put weapon noise within or only slightly above ambient levels; in some cases suppressed rifle fire was undetectable at neighborhood test points.
Multiple residents and municipal speakers — including state representative and resident Chris Peplauskas and coach and resident Nicole Ranzulli — spoke in favor of keeping the range in Cranston, saying they and local schools have not experienced disruptive events and that the range supports public-safety readiness.
Councilman Trafficante, who had sponsored a resolution raising concerns about neighborhood noise, said he had met with the chief, the mayor and neighbors and that testimony at the meeting prompted him to withdraw the resolution “for now” so the issue can be handled after further discussion. The mayor’s office also signaled opposition to pursuing expensive outside studies and reiterated support for the department’s work to date.
Action: The sponsor withdrew the resolution; the committee accepted the withdrawal. Next steps were left to future meetings pending further engagement between neighbors, the administration and the police department.
