In his first public comments on a controversy that erupted in July, former State Police Superintendent Tim Hutchins strongly defended the undercover surveillance of protest groups by officers under his command. But he told the state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee that the police had been “wrong” to enter the names of 53 members of the groups as “terrorists” in a federal criminal database.
Hutchins also said he never discussed the 15-month operation that began in 2005 with then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich, and Ehrlich gave him no guidance about investigating groups. Hutchins ordered the surveillance stopped in 2006.
Hutchins, a career state trooper and former Republican member of the House of Delegates, said he had only limited knowledge of the program based on four reports he received, and most of the decisions being made were at a lower level of command. But he took full responsibility for what went on.
“This is a serious, serious issue whenever you talk about constitutional rights,” Hutchins told the senators. But he insisted the controversy was “not about spying. It’s not about terrorism.” It was about a law enforcement agency “looking into any possibilities of disruption of government.”
“We have to maintain situational awareness,” Hutchins said.
The surveillance into anti-death penalty groups began because the state was preparing to resume executions. The operation later expanded to anti-war groups.
After the undercover work was disclosed in July by State Police e-mails that had been requested by the American Civil Liberties Union, Gov. Martin O’Malley appointed former Attorney General Stephen Sachs to investigate the operation. Sachs produced a report last week, and recommended the State Police write new regulations governing infiltration of protest groups and remove the names of protesters in the database.
Sachs found there was no evidence any criminal conduct was being planned by the protesters.
Hutchins had refused to talk to Sachs and said the Senate committee’s probe was more appropriate. He was critical of the Sachs report, which found fault with a number of State Police commanders. Sachs declined to respond to Hutchins’ complaints.
State Police Superintendent Terrence Sheridan, whom O’Malley appointed to replace Hutchins, testified that he was implementing the recommendations of the Sachs report. Sheridan said the undercover operations “went on too long and were a waste of scarce State Police resources.”
Committee Chairman Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery County, said he was “100 percent certain that legislation will be introduced in January.”
“The State Police overstepped their bounds,” Frosh said. “It was an egregious error.”
On Tuesday, 21 peace, anti-death penalty and community groups wrote to O’Malley, asking for a longer and more in-depth investigation by a task force with subpoena power.
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