WaPo | As part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s recent report on police militarization,
the Massachusetts chapter of the organization sent open records
requests to SWAT teams across that state. It received an interesting
response.
As it turns out, a number of SWAT teams in the Bay
State are operated by what are called law enforcement councils, or LECs.
These LECs are funded by several police agencies in a given geographic
area and overseen by an executive board, which is usually made up of
police chiefs from member police departments. In 2012, for example, the
Tewksbury Police Department paid about $4,600 in annual membership dues to the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council,
or NEMLEC. (See page 36 of linked PDF.) That LEC has about 50 member
agencies. In addition to operating a regional SWAT team, the LECs also
facilitate technology and information sharing and oversee other
specialized units, such as crime scene investigators and computer crime
specialists.
Some of these LECs have also apparently incorporated
as 501(c)(3) organizations. And it’s here that we run into problems.
According to the ACLU, the LECs are claiming that the 501(c)(3) status
means that they’re private corporations, not government agencies. And
therefore, they say they’re immune from open records requests. Let’s be
clear. These agencies oversee police activities. They employ cops who
carry guns, wear badges, collect paychecks provided by taxpayers and
have the power to detain, arrest, injure and kill. They operate SWAT
teams, which conduct raids on private residences. And yet they say that
because they’ve incorporated, they’re immune to Massachusetts open
records laws. The state’s residents aren’t permitted to know how often
the SWAT teams are used, what they’re used for, what sort of training
they get or who they’re primarily used against.
