State agencies & filing complaints
Agency | File a complaint | Disciplinary records |
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POST Commission The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission works to improve policing and the public’s trust in law enforcement. They certify and train all peace officers in the state. They also handle disciplining officers for misconduct. | Police misconduct complaint form Use this form to submit a complaint about police misconduct to the POST Commission. | Officer Disciplinary Records database This is a state-wide database of complaints and discipline reports for active police officers. |
Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) EOPSS creates policies and oversees budgets for its agencies, independent programs, and boards. These groups help prevent crime, prepare for homeland security, and keep people in Massachusetts safe. |
Constitutions
Note
Search and seizure laws are always changing. Make sure to check the latest cases that relate to your issue.
U.S. Constitution, 4th Amendment, Right against unreasonable searches and seizures
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights
“Every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches, and seizures, of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions.”
Massachusetts laws
Police conduct
St. 2020, c. 253 An act relative to justice, equity and accountability in law enforcement in the Commonwealth (Police Reform Law)
MGL c. 6, § 220 Use of facial and other remote biometric recognition
MGL c. 12, § 11H(b) Right to bias-free professional policing
MGL c. 41, § 98D Identification cards
Identification cards must be carried on a police officer’s person and exhibited upon request.
MGL c. 90, § 25 Refusal to submit to a police officer
MGL c. 276 Search warrants, rewards, fugitives from justice, arrest, examination, commitment and bail, probation officers and Board of Probation
Recording the police
MGL c. 272, § 99 Interception of wire and oral communications
- This law was ruled unconstitutional as applied to recording police in most circumstances. See Project Veritas Action Fund v. Rollins.
Massachusetts regulations
555 CMR Police Officer Standards and Training Commission, including:
- 555 CMR 1.00 Procedural rules
Regulations governing the processes for receiving, investigating, hearing, and adjudicating complaints regarding law enforcement officers in the Commonwealth. - 555 CMR 6.00 Use of force by law enforcement officers
- 555 CMR 7.00 Recertification
- 555 CMR 10.00 Specialized certification for school resource officers
U.S. Supreme Court and Massachusetts cases
Web sources
ACLU of Massachusetts statement on Martin v. Rollins, ACLU, 2020.
“The new decision confirms that the First Amendment protects the right to secretly record police officers discharging their official duties in public spaces, and it upholds the district court’s ruling that the Massachusetts “wiretap law” unconstitutionally violates that right.” You can find more information on the history of this case online.
Addressing police misconduct laws enforced by the Department of Justice, October 2020.
This document outlines the laws enforced by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) that address police misconduct and explains how you can file a complaint with DOJ if you believe that your rights have been violated.
A federal appeals court upheld the right to secretly record police officers working in public in Mass, Boston.com, 2021.
“A recent ruling by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision that allows for the right to secretly record police officers while they are on the job in public in Massachusetts. The court, however, maintained that that right does not extend to recordings of government officials, who can be openly recorded, but not discretely, without consent.”
Know your rights: What to do when encountering questions from law enforcement, ACLU.
Know your rights: stopped by police, ACLU.
Massachusetts criminal practice, by Eric D Blumenson, 4th ed., c2012.
Full-text available via Suffolk University Law School.
Police-media interactions during mass demonstrations: Practical, actionable recommendations, Police Executive Research Forum, 2024.
Qualified immunity, Cornell Law School.
Explains what qualified immunity is and how it applies to police conduct.
Print sources
Community policing: a contemporary perspective, 8th ed. Routledge, 2020.
Community policing today: issues, controversies, and innovations, SAGE, 2021.
Constitutional policing: striving for a more perfect union, American Bar Association, 2023.
Criminal defense motions, 5th ed. (Mass Practice v.42) Thomson Reuters, 2019 with supplement.
Criminal law handbook: know your rights, survive the system, Nolo, 2022. (2024 eBook available with library card).
Mackenzie L. Brockmyre, "Getting it right: law enforcement's use of ancestry websites to catch criminals," 21 J. HIGH TECH. L. 165 (2021). Available through the law libraries' document delivery service.
Police community relations: a conflict management approach, West Academic, 2019.
Police misconduct: law and litigation, West, annual editions.
Search and seizure: A treatise on the fourth amendment, Thomson Reuters, annual updates.
Suppression matters under Massachusetts law, LexisNexis, annual editions.
Contact for Massachusetts law about police conduct and recording the police
Online
Last updated: | November 4, 2024 |
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