The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island said the Barrington Police Department used poor judgment when arresting local juveniles and charging them with criminal offenses for their use of social media.

ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown wrote a Nov. 30 letter to Barrington Police Chief John LaCross that referenced three incidents that resulted in juvenile arrests. The letter criticized the department for "an unconscionable use of law enforcement authority." Mr. Brown also called the department's actions "overzealous" and "very dubious as a matter of public policy and, in some instances, as a matter of law."

"Not everything should be treated as a criminal matter, especially when dealing with kids," Mr. Brown said in a recent interview. "Sometimes kids do stupid things… but using a criminal law as a first resort is a terrible thing."

The letter from Mr. Brown to Chief LaCross referenced a Feb. 2015 incident where a 12-year-old Barrington boy was charged with sexting after he allegedly sent nude pictures of himself to a 12-year-old Barrington girl.

"While we certainly agree young children need to be taught the dangers of sexting, arresting 12-year-olds to prove the point is, in our view, precisely the wrong way to do it," Mr. Brown wrote in his letter.

The letter also referenced an October incident where a 17-year-old Barrington boy was charged with electronically disseminating indecent material to minors after he allegedly posted a video clip of a teenage girl; he did so with her consent.

"Again we question the involvement of police in formally charging a teenager for this unwise decision," Mr. Brown wrote in the letter. "Even assuming that the video included 'sexually explicit conduct' … the law does not apply if the girl was 15 years of age or older."

The letter also cited the arrest of a 15-year-old Barrington boy who allegedly sent Instagram messages to four local girls, asking them for nude photos. The boy was charged with cyberstalking.

"Cyber-stalking requires a pattern of conduct," said Mr. Brown. "That was unclear to us, whether it was even a violation."

Mr. Brown said involving the police may not be the wisest course of action during incidents such as those cited. He placed some of the responsibility on officials at Barrington schools.

"Social media has changed things and the issues need to be dealt with, but it boils down to how you deal with them. Contacting the police and arresting 12-years-old is not the way to do this," he said.

"Kids don't always understand, and they need to learn, but you don't necessarily want them to learn these things in the back of a police car."

The ACLU’s letter concluded: “There clearly appears to be a disturbing pattern of overenthusiastic police enforcement of social media ‘crimes’ when other measures would be much more effective and much less damaging to children. We ask you to review these incidents and the Department’s policy approach to addressing teen misconduct on social media in order to consider more humane responses that don’t use the criminal law as the resolution of first resort.”

On Monday, Dec. 7, Mr. Brown said the police department had not yet contacted him regarding the letter.