WESTERLY — A patrolman knocked on Mary Patrick’s Misquamicut door the other day. A neighbor had reported seeing her apparently menacing license plates in the driveway.

Having New York tags is all it takes now to draw the authorities.

The officer “was very nice about it,” said Patrick on Friday from the driveway of her family’s summer home. The small Cape has been in the family for about 17 years. “He said a neighbor had called and said we just moved back in, which wasn’t true. We’ve been here for about three weeks. But he wanted us to know we had to stay home for 14 days.”

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In this sun-bleached coastal neighborhood, suddenly busy again with walkers and lit kitchen windows, “The atmosphere is a little bit hostile,” said Patrick, who is 30 and teaches 10th grade in New York City in normal times. “But we understand. People are scared at the same time.”

While Gov. Gina Raimondo announced on Friday that the National Guard would be going door to door in such summer colonies starting Saturday looking for New York residents and reminding them to quarantine to help blunt the spread of the coronavirus, the practice has already started in some border communities like Westerly.

Patrick, who is staying in the family house with two others and her tiny dog, Pablo, said “we understand the precautions, but I would say that calling the police on us because you saw our New York license plates isn’t all that neighborly or a good use of police resources. We’ve been here a long time.”

A few miles away in downtown Westerly, an unmarked blue cruiser with dark-tinted windows slowly circled the parking lot of McQuade’s Marketplace.

There had been a report of a car with New York plates in the lot, but so far the responding plainclothes officer hadn’t found it. A marked cruiser with two other officers arrived as well.

A few rows away, Robert Fitz, 77, of Hopkinton, exited the grocery carrying his wife’s medication and a blueberry pastry for himself, wearing a protective medical mask over his face.

Fitz said he had no problem with police stopping New York cars on the roadways as Raimondo ordered Thursday with the directive to have those residents self quarantine for 14 days if they were staying in Rhode Island.

“There are a lot of people from New York who think, ‘Let me get out of here and get to Rhode Island.’ But you don’t know if they’ve been close to it or not,” he said. “And I don’t particularly want to catch this thing because I have a heart condition and diabetes. So go to your summer home, quarantine for 14 days and then go out and enjoy yourself — when needed.”

Thomas Perkins, of Charlestown, came out of the grocery wearing a mask, too, but carrying a different opinion about stopping travelers on the road.

Such a drastic action seemed an infringement of personal liberties, he said, agreeing with the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, which on Thursday questioned whether such an unprecedented move violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search.

“That’s the kind of stuff we [the nation] escaped from,” said Perkins, who moved to Rhode Island 10 years ago from New York’s Hudson Valley. “I can see keeping your distance and staying home. But we are one country.”

Picking out the residents of one state to move against “is a bit flimsy for me,’ he said, even if New York is a hot zone for the virus.

Around the corner, on the bridge that spans the Pawcatuck River and joins Westerly and Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Jeremy Mottala, 46, of Westerly, stopped on his walk to snap a photo of the unusual scene: an electronic sign in the middle of the road.

The sign faced the Connecticut side and flashed the message in staccato succession: “Travelers out of state for residence 14 day mandated quarantine.” A Westerly patrol car idled nearby.

“I’m a native Rhode Islander and people come here because it’s a beautiful place and we are glad to have them,” said Mottala. “But New York is a hotspot. Err on the side of caution. I’m not saying we’re at the point where we’re going to put in some crazy martial law or something into effect. But I’ve been quarantined for a month. And probably will for another month. So just do it.”

Out on the northbound side of Route 95, between Exits 2 and 3, Rhode Island state troopers began directing vehicles with New York plates off the highway and into the parking area of the Rhode Island Welcome Center.

There, a dozen members of the Rhode Island National Guard waited by a Humvee and a white tent to question travelers. Those who said they were just passing through Rhode Island were quickly waved through. Those who said they were staying were asked to give their names and addresses.

In the first half-hour of the road stop, at least a dozen New York cars pulled in. The interchanges between the drivers and the Guard members were polite and quick.

Apparently not all the New Yorkers saw the turnoff. State police Col. James Manni was the first trooper to chase down a driver who didn’t turn in, eventually stopping the car and approaching, wearing a surgical mask and blue gloves.

Responding to the ACLU’s concerns, Manni said, “We are not going to detain, search or violate anyone’s constitutional rights. We are following a lawful order by the governor.... We recognize people are scared, they’re stressed. There is a tremendous amount of anxiety out there. It is not our intention to escalate any situation or amplify their stress.”

Back in Misquamicut, Mary Patrick was out for a walk.

She said she’s not worried about police coming again to her door under the governor’s new order. “They know us down here and they’ve been really, really nice.”

But she hopes her New York plates don’t attract any more unwanted attention: “These are really stressful times.”

tmooney@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @mooneyprojo