Launching in the next days

Rhode IslandPlaces

South Kingstown

Town in Washington County, 32,073 people.

Police

A department is the place's own when its name is the place's and its FBI population fits the place's people (decision city-or-town-is-its-police-department). Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29.

Where it sits

People
32,073
Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024

How a case moves here

South Kingstown follows Rhode Island law on arrests, release, and courts; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first

When court is in session, a District Court judge sets bail. When it is closed, a bail commissioner, a lawyer appointed by the Chief Judge of the District Court, holds a bail hearing at the police station. Bail commissioners can't set bail for offenses punishable by life.

R.I. Gen. Laws 12-10-2
Time to see a judge

The court rules say a person arrested without a warrant must be taken before a District Court judge without unnecessary delay, and set no hour limit. The U.S. Supreme Court's 48-hour rule for a probable cause finding applies as the federal floor.

R.I. Dist. Ct. R. Crim. P. 5(a)
Money bail

Money bail is allowed. The state constitution gives a right to bail by sufficient surety, except for offenses punishable by life and a few listed weapons and drug offenses.

R.I. Const. art. I, s. 9

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. That Rhode Island judges have no fixed term rests on the constitution and general knowledge; we read only the appointment clause. Whether District Court judges must be lawyers, and domestic violence limits on bail commissioners, were not confirmed.

Crime

Offenses reported by South Kingstown Police Department, South Kingstown's own department. The county sheriff and state police may answer calls here too; their offenses are on their own pages.

The crime index

Crime index offenses reported by South Kingstown Police Department, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kRhode Island
Violent crime161516181147168
Murder2Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.2.3
Rape5128542136
Robbery3Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.23
Aggravated assault113610723107
Property crime1291441411201194071,116
Burglary271120182362114
Larceny941231129394322867
Motor vehicle theft81099224135
Arson2411Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.7.9

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by South Kingstown Police Department, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kRhode Island
All offenses outside the crime index3293703673734061,1501,936
Simple assault and intimidation132129128165184460681
Vandalism6984797058224501
Fraud5985898096255320
Drug abuse violations443426212694183
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.2597122280
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing7779112634
Forgery and counterfeiting5411762152
Embezzlement271Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.11
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)973331626
Other Group A offenses21381192746

Offenses South Kingstown Police Department reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the department polices, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Rhode Island's rate over the same years. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.

Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Rhode Island: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.