The American Civil Liberties Union is celebrating a small victory in its fight against Maryland State Police.
Under pressure from the ACLU, state police now are allowing victims wrongfully classified as terrorists in a law enforcement database to bring attorneys when they review their files and make copies of them before they are destroyed.
“It’s certainly a partial victory, but it’s sort of a shame that it took this long for them to act reasonably,” said David Rocah, the ACLU attorney for victims of a 14-month state police surveillance of anti-war and anti-death penalty activists as well as environmentalists. “… But this doesn’t even come close to resolving all the open issues about full transparency.”
State police, following an investigation by former Attorney General Stephen Sachs, had agreed to notify 53 activists who were wrongfully classified as terrorists and let them view their files at police headquarters in Pikesville.
But until Monday, police had said those individuals could not bring lawyers or make copies of their files.
The limited access sparked protests and state police ultimately reversed their position to accommodate victims, specifically those who are no longer Maryland residents and would have to travel to view their files, said Greg Shipley, state police spokesman.
“Our goal is to accommodate these individuals, to put their minds at ease and to move ahead with protecting the people of Maryland,” he said.
The state police’s announcement came just hours before a protest by the Defending Dissent Foundation outside police headquarters.
The foundation, which campaigns to abolish the death penalty, demanded legislation to prevent future encroachments on civil liberties.
“We still want a full investigation, because it’s clear from the Sachs report that there’s more to this,” said Alex Bennett, a foundation spokesman.
Rocah said state police haven’t provided full disclosure of the long-term probe because five organizations listed as security threats in the same database haven’t been allowed to see their files, nor have countless individuals who weren’t entered into the database but were still victims of spying.
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