Attorney General Martha Coakley called yesterday for updating wiretap laws so law enforcement can attack the “disorganized crime’’ behind street gangs, human trafficking, and shoplifting rings, all untouchable under current state wiretap laws.
Coakley spoke in reaction to comments by two Supreme Judicial Court justices, who declared that wiretap laws enacted in the late 1960s wrongly limit the reach of police and prosecutors.
“The SJC couldn’t have been blunter,’’ Coakley said. “Things have changed. The whole face of crime has changed totally, and technology has changed.’’
Justices Ralph Gants and Judith Cowin said in a decision on April 8 that current state law limits the use of electronic eavesdropping to criminal groups that fit a narrow definition of organized crime.
“The legislative inclusion of five words, ‘in connection with organized crime,’ means that electronic surveillance is unavailable to investigate and prosecute the hundreds of shootings and killings committed by street gangs in Massachusetts, which are among the most difficult crimes to solve and prosecute using more traditional means of investigation,’’ Gants wrote.
He added: “These violent crimes are among the most difficult to solve, because the witnesses to these crimes are so reluctant to come forward to provide information and testimony for fear of violence, retaliation, and social ostracism.’’
Coakley said Gants and Cowin understand both the law and the need to give law enforcement the proper tools to combat violence, especially in urban centers.
She added, “if we are going to be able to combat what I call disorganized crime, a kind of crime association or organization that lack structure . . . we should update the statute.’’
Coakley said that when the law was put into place in the 1960s there were major concerns about governmental intrusion, leading the Bay State’s lawmakers to put high legal thresholds in place before wiretaps could be used.
At the same time, she said, the law was written so Massachusetts police could target the Mafia, also known as La Cosa Nostra, because they had a corporate structure that included disciplining members who violated the rules.
Today’s criminals form alliances that remain in place only long enough to commit a shooting, pull off a bank robbery, buy and sell drugs, or to force teenagers into modern-day slavery, Coakley said.
“It’s not what we think of as the organized crime we faced in 1968,’’ she said.
Coakley, backed by the state’s district attorneys, proposed updating wiretap laws in 2009, but has yet to see the idea advance on Beacon Hill.
She said her plan should quell concerns among civil libertarians because no wiretap could be used unless approved by a judge.
Coakley has also urged the passage of state money laundering laws, especially if gambling is legalized in Massachusetts.
“I’m hoping that common sense’’ will prevail, she said. “There are just too many reasons, too many changes, in both technology and the way criminals work for us not to acknowledge that, and change our current tools.’’
AG seeks updated wiretap laws in fight against gangs - The Boston Globe
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