MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

(Photo: US Army)

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Truthout has run several articles on the militarization of the police in the United States. In addition, BuzzFlash at Truthout posted a column by Jim Hightower this week called "The Militarization of 'Officer Friendly.'"

The reason that Truthout and BuzzFlash have been exposing this dangerous development on a continuous basis is that the militarization of policing in the United States is multifaceted and cancerous to democracy.

As a Washington Post report on June 26 by Radley Balko reveals, the majority of Massachusetts SWAT teams will not respond to public information transparency requests. Why? Because they claim that they are private and not government organizations. If this appears incomprehensible and unacceptable, it is. However, for the moment, the Massachusetts SWAT teams are using this argument to evade responding to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been conducting a nationwide study of police militarization. The SWAT teams in the Bay State claim that they are not subject to requirements under public record laws.

How, might you ask, can law enforcement agencies with military-style units claim that they are not government agencies? Balko, who has written the book Rise of the Warrior Cop, offers this explanation:

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.

To put it bluntly, if a SWAT team in Massachusetts breaks into your home in the middle of the night, terrorizes your family and then leaves after it realizes it raided the "wrong" home, the raid cannot be condemned as a government police action; it was conducted under the umbrella of a non-profit organization.

Balko quotes an ACLU attorney who gets to the alarming paradox of the contorted stance taken by Massachusetts SWAT teams and their parent police agencies:

“You can’t have it both ways,” Jessie Rossman, a staff attorney for the Massachusetts ACLU, told me in a phone interview. “The same government authority that allows them to carry weapons, make arrests, and break down the doors of Massachusetts residents during dangerous raids also makes them a government agency that is subject to the open records law.”

According to The Washington Post,

The ACLU is now suing NEMLEC. It’s worth noting that in addition to receiving taxpayer funding from its 51 member police agencies, NEMLEC has also received significant federal funding over the years, particularly from the [federal government] Byrne Grant program. In fact, just last April, NEMLEC made a series of drug busts across the state in an investigation funded at least in part with Byrne Grants. (NEMLEC seems to be involved in a lot of drug raids.) In 2010, NEMLEC received an $800,000 Byrne Grant earmarked by then-Sen. John F. Kerry.

Interestingly, in 2009, NEMLEC had to pay out $200,000 “to settle allegations that it made false claims related to the use of Justice Department grant funds” — specifically, funds obtained through the Byrne Grant program. That sounds like an agency that could use a little oversight.

In addition, the ACLU, according to Balko cites a history of SWAT team abuses in Massachusetts that one would think require complete transparency instead of an opaque curtain.

The ACLU report on the noncompliance of Massachusetts SWAT teams with the organization's public record requests describes, among others, the very public law enforcement activities of just two SWAT teams in the state:

METROLEC, one of the largest of the law enforcement councils covering the metropolitan Boston area, operates a range of specialized resources, including a Canine Unit, Computer Crimes Unit, Crisis Negotiation Team, Mobile Operations Motorcycle Unit, and Regional Response Team, in addition to its SWAT force. The organization maintains its own BearCat armored vehicle, as well as a $700,000 state of the art command and control post. In 2012, METROLEC reportedly used its BearCat 26 times, mostly for drug busts, and applied to the Federal Aviation Administration to obtain a drone license.

The North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) similarly operates a SWAT team, as well as a Computer Crime Unit, Motorcycle Unit, School Threat Assessment & Response System, and Regional Communications and Incident Management Assistance Team. Its SWAT team members are trained and equipped to “deal with active shooters, armed barricaded subjects, hostage takers and terrorists,” and they dress in military-style gear with the words “NEMLEC SWAT” emblazoned on their uniforms. Given this training, it is not surprising that the NEMLEC SWAT team has over the past decade led numerous operations that involved armored vehicles, flash-bang devices, and automatic weapons.

An ACLU report about a SWAT team standoff with accountability bears an ominous title: "Militarization of Police in Massachusetts Is Shrouded in Secrecy."

It certainly sounds like more evidence of an emerging police state, one that is evading transparency and accountability.

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