PRESS RELEASE
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May 29, 2021
Contacts:
David Kelston – 617-838-6657, dkelston@akzlaw.com
Urszula Masny-Latos – 617-308-0947, nlgmass-director@riseup.net
NLG-MASS CHAPTER FILES A LAWSUIT AGAINST BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT AND BRIC FOR VIOLATIONS OF PUBLIC RECORDS LAW AND THEIR OWN RULES & REGULATIONS
Boston, May 29, 2021 – On Friday, May 28, 2021, the National Lawyers Guild-Massachusetts Chapter (NLG) filed a lawsuit against the Boston Police Department (BPD), Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), and the City of Boston, seeking a determination that the defendants have failed to comply with the Massachusetts Public Records Law and their own written policies. The records sought are expected to expose police misconduct, including excessive force and violence directed at peaceful protesters, as well as defendants’ practice of maintaining and disseminating records long after the time they should have been purged pursuant to defendants’ own policy.
A year ago, the NLG filed several public records requests in order to determine the scope of police surveillance in Boston. Despite multiple requests, only a limited number of, heavily redacted, documents were released. Requests for missing documents were left unanswered.
“The law requires all public records requests to be fulfilled within 10 days and the BPD’s regulations require all records not related to a criminal investigation to be purged within 90 days,” said Urszula Masny-Latos, the Executive Director of the NLG-Mass Chapter. “The Police Department routinely disregards the law and policies, which they are supposed to protect.”
“The Boston Police Department and BRIC monitor and surveil Boston activists on a regular basis,” said Jeff Petrucelly, an NLG member. “They keep the records of their surveillance way past the time allowed by their own policies as well as disseminate the records to agencies and institutions around the country without sufficient privacy protections.”
“It’s hypocritical that BPD and BRIC are empowered to monitor protestors, but refuse to uphold their duty to be transparent to the public,” NLG member Micah Iberosi-Parnell said.
“When BPD and BRIC actively obstruct the public’s right to police transparency,” added NLG member Katherine Brumund, “their accountability is undermined and compromised.”
