Executive Order  No. 6: Organization and direction of police services in civil defense emergencies

WHEREAS, by Executive Order No. 3, issued October 18, 1950, the Governor established a Police Division within the Civil Defense Agency of the Commonwealth, assigned the Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, as the sponsoring agency for said Police Division, named the Commissioner of Public Safety as the head, ex officio, of said Police Division and directed that each local organization for civil defense include, in so far as practicable, a Police Division; and

WHEREAS, by said Executive Order No. 3, the Governor also established nine regions within the Commonwealth for the purpose of administering the civil defense plan and program, created the post of Regional Director for each region and provided for a Board of Regional Co-ordinators for the Police Service in each region; and

WHEREAS, the President of the United States, on December 16, 1950, did proclaim a state of national emergency and thereafter on the same date the Governor did proclaim that a state of emergency exists for the reason that the peace and security of the Commonwealth are endangered by the imminent threat of belligerent acts of enemies of the United States; and

WHEREAS, it is essential that adequate provisions be made for the co-ordination, mobilization and utilization of the police forces and equipment of the Commonwealth and of its political subdivisions, in order to cope with the existing state of emergency and in order to provide effective protection of life and property in event of disaster or catastrophe:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Paul A. Dever, Governor of the Commonwealth, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1950, chapter 639 and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order to cope with the existing state of emergency and as part of the comprehensive plan and program for the civil defense of the Commonwealth.

1.  The Police Divisions of the Civil Defense Agency of the Commonwealth and of the local organizations for civil defense shall make preparations to furnish, in addition to those services normally furnished by police forces, the following services in event of disaster or catastrophe, in so far as their personnel and equipment permit: plant protection; damaged area protection; criminal investigation.

2.  The following agencies of the Commonwealth are assigned as supporting agencies to assist the Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, sponsoring agency for the Police Division of the Civil Defense Agency of the Commonwealth, in the performance of such functions of said Police Division as may be related to the existing powers and duties of such agencies.

• Department of the Attorney General
• Department of Conservation
• Department of Corporations and Taxation
• Department of Industrial Accidents
• Department of Public Works
• Registry of Motor Vehicles
• Metropolitan District Commission
• Port of Boston Authority
• State Superintendent of Buildings
• Capitol Police

3.  Subject to the direction and control of the Commissioner of Public Safety as head of the Police Division of the Civil Defense Agency of the Commonwealth, each Regional Director, with the assistance of his Regional Co-ordinators for the Police Service, shall:

1. a.  Supervise and assist in the organization and training of the Police Divisions of the local organizations for civil defense.
2. b.  Expedite the making of any study and survey of police personnel and equipment required to be made under the provisions of Executive Order No. 1, issued September 8, 1950, or any other Executive Order hereafter issued.

4.  In order for the Police Division of a local organization for civil defense to be established in accordance with the state civil defense plan and program as required by Acts of 1950, chapter 639, section 13, it shall include the organized police force or department of the city or town, and such auxiliary police as may be appointed under the provisions of section 11 (a) of said Act. The head of said organized police force or department shall be the head of the Police Division of the local organization for civil defense.

In a town not having an organized police force or department, the Police Division of the local organization for civil defense shall include those persons who normally perform the duties of police officers, and such auxiliary police as may be appointed under the provisions of said section 11 (a).  The official normally in charge of persons performing the duties of police officers in such town shall be the head of the Police Division of the local organization for civil defense.  If there is no such official, the head of the Police Division shall be appointed by the Director of the local organization for civil defense.

5.  For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this order and the civil defense program, the management, control and direction of an organized police force or department shall continue in its duly constituted officers who shall confer, consult and co-operate with the Director of the local organization for civil defense in all matters pertaining to the civil defense program in order to obtain the maximum practicable integration and co-ordination of the activities of said police force or department with the activities of other divisions of the local organization for civil defense.

6.  During the present state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor, under the provisions of Acts of 1950, chapter 639, section 5, the Director of a local organization for civil defense may, when he, after consultation with the head of the Police Division of the local organization for civil defense, deems the police facilities available in his city or town inadequate to deal with conditions existing therein as a result of disaster or catastrophe, re-quest his Regional Director to mobilize and dispatch additional police assistance to such city or town.

Upon receipt of such request, the Regional Director shall have authority to mobilize and dispatch to such city or town, with the approval of the State Director, such additional police assistance from any city or town within the region as the Regional Director deems necessary.

In mobilizing and dispatching such police assistance to a city or town within the region, the Regional Director shall determine the number of men and the nature and quantity of equipment to be furnished by any or all of the Police Divisions of the local organizations for civil defense within the region and it shall be the duty of the head of each such division to mobilize and dispatch the personnel and equipment specified by the Regional
Director.

7.  During said state of emergency a Regional Director may, when he, after consultation with his Regional Co-ordinators for the Police Service, deems the police facilities available in his region inadequate to deal with conditions existing in a city or town therein as a result of disaster or catastrophe, request the State Director to mobilize and dispatch additional police assistance to such city or town.

Upon receipt of such request, the State Director shall have authority to mobilize and dispatch to such city or town, with the approval of the Governor, such additional police assistance as the State Director deems necessary.

In mobilizing and dispatching such police assistance to such city or town, the State Director shall have authority to determine the number of men and the nature and quantity of equipment to be furnished by the Police Division of the Civil Defense Agency of the Commonwealth or by any or all of the Police Divisions of the local organizations for civil defense or by the sheriffs of the Commonwealth, and it shall be the duty of the heads of the respective Police Divisions and of the sheriffs to mobilize and dispatch the personnel and equipment specified by the State Director.

8.  Police personnel and equipment dispatched to a city or town pursuant to the provisions of this order shall be under the command and control of the head of the Police Division of the local organization for civil defense. If the local organization for civil defense does not have a Police Division, the Regional Director shall designate the person to be in command and control of the mobilized police personnel and equipment.

9.  Police personnel dispatched to a city or town pursuant to the provisions of this order 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.  While exercising such authority, police personnel 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 personnel or equipment for service in another city or town, and every county providing police personnel or equipment for service in another county, pursuant to the provisions of this order, shall be entitled to be reimbursed by the Commonwealth for (a) payments lawfully made by it to such police personnel or to their widows or other dependents on account of injuries sustained by them in such service or of death resulting from such injuries; and (b) damage to its property sustained in such service.

11.  Police personnel dispatched 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.  Auxiliary police appointed in a city or town under the provisions of Acts of 1950, chapter 639, section 11 (a), shall not be dispatched to another city or town pursuant to this order except as may hereafter be provided by Act of General Court.

13.  Nothing in this order shall be deemed to limit the authority conferred upon cities or towns by General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 41, section 99, by Acts of 1950, chapter 639, section 11 (b), or by any other provision of law, with respect to their requesting and utilizing police forces or equipment of other cities or towns.

14.  Nothing in this order shall be deemed to limit the authority conferred upon the Governor by Acts of 1950, chapter 639, section 11 (c), or by any other provision of law, with respect to requesting and utilizing police forces of any city or town for services in any part of the Commonwealth.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston this twenty-fourth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and seventy fifth.

By His Excellency the Governor, Paul A. Dever

Edward J. Cronin,
Secretary of the Commonwealth