Gov. Martin O’Malley has appointed former Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs to head an independent review of state police infiltration of activist groups that were acting lawfully.
“This is a man who is able to look at this with openness, transparency and a fresh view, in a way that gives the public greater assurance,” O’Malley said Thursday in Annapolis.
“He will have the ability to talk to everybody in the chain of command and ask them why they did what they did and who they shared it with.”
Sachs, who served as Maryland’s 40th attorney general, will have 30 to 60 days to uncover the truth behind a 14-month undercover surveillance of activist groups opposed to war and the death penalty between 2005 and 2006.
“I have no prejudgment and very little knowledge of the activities that have been reported,” Sachs said, adding that he wanted to ensure that citizens are able to exercise their constitutional rights.
State lawmakers had urged O’Malley to investigate the surveillance, which was divulged when the American Civil Liberties Union sued to obtain documents from Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler.
Gansler said no illegal activity has surfaced at this point, but Deputy Attorney General John B. Howard Jr. will be available to help Sachs with the review.
Representatives of the ACLU were pleased Thursday that O’Malley honored requests for an independent investigation.
“The ACLU of Maryland is confident that the Sachs investigation will bring the Free State an important step forward in the effort to bring openness and transparency to the disturbing reports of state police surveillance. … We believe that this important investigation of serious infractions of Marylanders’ most basic freedoms is now in good hands,” the ACLU said in a statement Thursday.
According to documents released by the ACLU, undercover agents monitored lawful protests and state police entered the names of activists into a law enforcement database of suspected terrorists.
Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, the state police superintendent, maintains state police acted lawfully, but said their judgment was flawed.
“We are going to cooperate fully,” Sheridan said.
“We want to make sure that this comes out and we are protecting the rights that we, as the state police, are ensuring to protect on a daily basis.”
