Home : Police Practices

LAPD Skid Row Officers Banned from Unlawful Searches under Settlement with the ACLU/SC and National Lawyers Guild (12/18/2008)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los Angeles City Council has approved a settlement that bans LAPD officers patrolling Skid Row from conducting unconstitutional searches of homeless individuals, and requires that officers undergo crucial training regarding the constitutional requirements to search and detain people.

ACLU Sues North Smithfield Police for Refusing to Release Arrest Report (12/04/2008)
In the latest example of a police department choosing to ignore its clear legal responsibilities to release public documents, the Rhode Island ACLU has today filed an open records lawsuit against the North Smithfield Police for refusing to turn over an arrest report to a community activist.

Maryland State Police's Heavily Redacted Spy Files on Peaceful Activists Show No Illegal Activity, Broader Time Period (11/19/2008)
BALTIMORE - Disturbed by the heavily redacted documents turned over by the Maryland State Police (MSP), which nonetheless reiterate the total lack of any suspected crimes, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today joined with our clients to demand full disclosure and to expose the dangerous and seemingly haphazard way in which state police spies entered the names and personal information of peaceful activists into their criminal intelligence database as suspected terrorists. More questions are raised than answers provided by the pages of blacked out text and scanty information contained in the documents thus far released by the MSP.

MCLU Defends Privacy Rights of ATV Riders (11/14/2008)
PORTLAND — Today, the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief with the Maine Law Court in support of the Fourth Amendment rights of All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) riders. The case, Maine v. McKeen, involved an ATV rider who was stopped by a game warden without justification. The State claimed that Maine statute authorizes game wardens to detain ATV riders for any reason, but the Superior Court in Aroostook County said that game wardens were bound by the Fourth Amendment prohibition on "unreasonable search and seizure." The State of Maine has appealed the order.

MCLU Argues Against Police Brutality (11/03/2008)
PORTLAND — Tomorrow, attorneys for Rosanna Morelli will present arguments in her police brutality case at the U. S. Court of Appeals in Boston. Ms. Morelli, who was injured by a South Portland police officer in 2006, hopes to persuade the court to allow her case to go to trial. The police never arrested Ms. Morelli, who suffered from a torn rotator cuff from the incident.

Leaders of Chesapeake Climate Action Network Wrongfully Named As Terrorists, Tracked in Maryland State Police Criminal Database (10/23/2008)
SILVER SPRING, MD – Deeply troubled at learning that leaders of a large environmental advocacy organization in Maryland have received letters from the Maryland State Police (MSP) informing them that they have been named as terrorists in MSP's database, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today joined with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) and the leaders of several other environmental organizations and state legislative leaders dedicated to fighting for the environment in rallying for justice and passage of legislation to ensure such spying never again happens in Maryland.

MD ACLU Calls on Governor to Let Innocent People Erroneously Named as Terrorists to Copy Their Files and Benefit from Counsel (10/09/2008)
BALTIMORE - Alarmed that 53 innocent people who were wrongful targets of Maryland State Police (MSP) spying are getting letters this week from the MSP saying that they have been mistakenly listed as terrorists in a government database but that they cannot make copies of their files or bring their lawyer with them to review their files, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today is urging Governor Martin O'Malley to reverse this wrong-headed and unlawful policy. The law entitles individuals to a copy of their files and to have a lawyer accompany them to review the files.

ACLU of Maryland Filing Public Information Requests on Behalf of Wide Range of Advocacy Groups from Across Maryland (09/30/2008)
BALTIMORE - Pursuing the full story about covert spying on peaceful political groups by the Maryland State Police (MSP), the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today is filing additional Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) requests on behalf of 32 advocacy groups and more than 250 individuals associated with those groups from across the state and political spectrum. The MPIA requests are being filed with the MSP, the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Office, and every local police department in places where demonstrations were held by the groups.

ACLU Asks Virginia Police Chiefs to Train Personnel on the Rights of Persons Who Register Voters (09/24/2008)
Richmond, VA – The ACLU of Virginia is mailing letters today to every police chief in Virginia - 185 in all - asking each to immediately initiate programs to educate local law enforcement personnel on the right of individuals to engage in door-to-door voter registration drives.

ACLU sues Denver on behalf of five innocent victims of "mistaken identity" arrests (08/11/2008)
DENVER - On behalf of five clients, the ACLU of Colorado filed suit today against the City and County of Denver and various Denver law enforcement officers, charging that in each case, "recklessly sloppy police work" resulted in the innocent plaintiff's arrest and imprisonment—as long as 26 days in one case—for crimes with which they had no connection whatsoever.