To the Block Island Community:
The New Shoreham Police Department, along with the assistance and professional guidance of retired Police Chief Bill McCombe, have taken the following steps to ensure the community’s safety with respect to COVID-19.
Our officers have stopped people entering Block Island to counsel them on the requirements of quarantine, and offered help if they need supplies. Officers have visited well over 200 homes on the island owned by people from states that are highly impacted, and encountered residents and re-emphasized the importance of following rules. Only 13 houses were occupied out of well over 200 visited.
We are keeping track of arrivals by date and vehicle registration and doing all we can do to monitor compliance, which has been excellent.
I have received reports from people that own houses here and from other states who have stated they are being treated poorly and aggressively when encountering others. Those that have called me have been here for weeks and are well past any quarantine issues. If there is a concern from a citizen, it is the police department’s job to investigate and deal with those that are not in compliance. Please call and report any
