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Massachusetts SWAT Teams Claim They're Private Corporations, Immune To Oversight

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-can-trust-us dept.

New submitter thermowax sends a report on how Massachusetts SWAT teams are dodging open records requests by claiming to be corporations. From the article: 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. ... 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.

6 of 534 comments (clear)

  1. Repeat after me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Citizen, you will be sent to a re-education camp. Cease resisting and comply with the security officer's request.

  2. This is what they will read about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    in history class in a thousand years. That one by one, "private" corporations installed themselves, cancer-like, into the public money stream while at the same time claiming to be "private".

    While the population 3D printed coffee cups and masturbated to Mars fantasies.

  3. Re:Libertarian nirvana by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 5, Funny

    That sounds pretty violent.

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
  4. Re:How unexpected... by just_another_sean · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait, is that a global warming joke?

    --
    Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
  5. Re:Libertarian nirvana by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you read it carefully jcr was actually suggesting the OP should harm himself rather than rely on others to attack him.

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  6. Re:Libertarian nirvana by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    And it can't be long before someone invokes Godwin's law... WWHD?