Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 15: (1st Series) Establishing police mobilization regions and organizations; functions defined

Date: 05/15/1942
Issuer: Leverett Saltonstall
Revoked by: 1st Series Executive Order 86

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, in the event of sudden disaster, emergency or catastrophe in any part of the Commonwealth, local police forces, equipment or resources may be inadequate to cope with conditions resulting therefrom; and

WHEREAS, the possibility of the occurrence of such disasters, emergencies or catastrophes is appreciably increased by the dangers of sabotage and planned disorders designed to hamper the successful prosecution of the existing war between the United States and certain foreign countries; and

WHEREAS, it is highly desirable that adequate provisions be made for the co-ordination, mobilization and utilization of police forces and equipment of the Commonwealth and of its political subdivisions for the purpose of providing more effective protection to life and property in the event of such sudden disaster, emergency or catastrophe:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries.

1. For the purpose of administering this order the Commonwealth is hereby divided into nine (9) police mobilization regions. The geographical boundaries of these regions shall be identical with those of the nine (9) regional zones established for purposes of administration by the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety, and set forth on a plan entitled "Operations Map, Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety, December, 1941," a copy of which map is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

2. In each of the aforementioned (9) regional districts there shall be a Board of Police Mobilization Coordinators (hereinafter referred to as the Board). In regions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9, respectively, the Board shall consist of three members. In region 4, the Board shall consist of four members and in region 5, the Board shall consist of five members. Members of the aforementioned Boards shall be selected and appointed by the Governor from among the ranking officers of police forces or departments and the sheriffs within the respective regions. Not more than one member of any Board shall be selected from a single police force or department, or from among the sheriffs of the counties within a region. Appointments made hereunder shall be terminable by the Governor at any time.

3. Each of the Board members appointed pursuant hereto may, by a writing filed in the office of the Governor, designate another person to perform, during the absence or disability of such member, the duties required of him under this order. Such designations shall not be effective until approved by the Governor, and they shall be revocable by the designating member or by the Governor at any time.

4. In the event that the Governor shall designate a liaison officer, said officer shall assist, co-operate with and consult with the Boards, with the persons in charge of the police forces in the cities and towns of the Commonwealth and with the sheriffs of the counties.

5. It shall be the duty of the police mobilization coordinators, of the directing heads of the police forces and departments and of the sheriffs within each region, to prepare a complete and detailed survey and tabulation of the extent and availability of personnel, equipment and facilities for transportation and communication within each community and each region. The directing heads of all police departments or police forces and the sheriffs within each of said regions shall co-operate with the coordinators in making said survey and tabulation, which shall include the following items:

A. Police personnel.

B. Transportation facilities, with a specification of the passenger capacity of each vehicle. These facilities include patrol cars, motorcycles and sidecars, squad cars, patrol wagons and prison vans, ambulances, trucks, sound cars, sound trucks, horses, emergency vehicles and airplanes.

C. Radio communication facilities, with a specification of the name, frequency and approximate range of each. These facilities include police radio stations, commercial broadcast stations, Federal Government radio stations (e.g., Coast Guard and border patrols), port- able radio transmitters, portable mobile ("two-way") radio transmitters, and police vehicles with radio receivers.

D. Equipment, including rifles, shotguns, auto-rifles, machine guns, grenades, gas-grenades, gas-guns, gas masks and portable light-generators.

E. Jails, lock-ups and emergency detention facilities, with the inmate capacity of each.

The said coordinators, directing heads of local police units and the sheriffs shall also co-operate in working out detailed arrangements for the coordinated use of such personnel, equipment and facilities for transportation and communication.

6. The directing head of any police department or force may, when he deems the avail- able police facilities of his community to be inadequate to cope with a particular situation, request that the Board mobilize and assign to duty in such community additional police assistance. Upon receipt of such a request, the Board for the region in which such community is located may, with the approval of the Governor, mobilize and dispatch to said city or town such police assistance as the Board may deem necessary. In assembling such additional police assistance, the Board shall determine the number of men and the nature of the equipment to be furnished by any or all of the police forces or sheriffs in the region, and shall order the heads of the respective police forces and the respective sheriffs immediately to send the indicated personnel and equipment to the community requesting the same. It shall be the duty of the directing head of each police department or force and each sheriff to comply with such orders from the Board.

In the event that a Board member to whom such a request for additional police assistance is made is unable, after a reasonable effort, to confer with the other members of the Board concerning such request, he may, with the approval of the Governor, act in the name of the Board to the same extent that the Board could act if it were assembled.

7. When, pursuant to this order, additional police assistance is mobilized and detailed to a community having an established police force, the commanding officer of the local police force shall be the directing head of the mobilized force.

8. If the community to which additional police assistance is detailed pursuant to this order does not have an organized police force, the Board shall designate the person who shall be in command of the mobilized force.

9. Police officers detailed pursuant to the provisions of this order for service in any city or town shall have all of the authority of constables and police officers while they are within the limits of such city or town, or in transit to or from such city or town, except as to the service of civil process.

In addition to the powers vested by law in sheriffs and deputy sheriffs they shall have, when detailed pursuant to the provisions of this order for service in any city or town, all of the authority of constables and police officers while they are within the limits of such city or town or in transit to or from such city or town. While exercising such authority, mobilized policer officers, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs shall have the same immunities and privileges as when acting within the jurisdiction for which they were appointed or elected.

10. Every city or town providing police officers or equipment for service in another community, pursuant to the provisions of this order, shall be entitled to be reimbursed by the Commonwealth for (a) amounts paid by said city or town to said police officers for their services, including their necessary traveling expenses; (b) payments lawfully made by it to any such police officer, or to his widow or other dependents, on account of injuries sustained by him or death resulting from injuries sustained by him while in such service; and (c) for damages to its equipment sustained while in such service.

11. Police officers detailed for service pursuant to the provisions of this order shall not be used or called upon for service in any industrial dispute, unless actual violence has occurred therein and then only by order of the Governor.

12. There shall be an Advisory Board consisting of not more than seven persons, to be appointed by the Governor, each of whom shall serve for such period of time as the Governor shall determine. It shall be the duty of the Advisory Board to consult with, advise and assist the several Boards herein established.

13. Nothing in this order shall be deemed to limit or derogate from the authority conferred by General Laws (Ter. Ed.), chapter 41, section 99, by Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 5 (b), or by any other provision of law, upon cities or towns with respect to their requesting and utilizing police forces or equipment of other cities and towns.

14. The power and authority conferred upon the Governor by Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 5 (c), or by any other provision of law with respect to requesting and utilizing police forces of any city or town for service in any part of the Commonwealth shall not be deemed to be limited or in any way affected by the provisions of this order.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

By His Excellency the Governor,
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL

FREDERIC W. COOK,
Secretary of the Commonwealth

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