Updating wiretap law
For years lawmakers have passed up the opportunity to update the state’s 50-year-old wiretap law, thus making it needlessly difficult for prosecutors to gather evidence in cases of gang violence, human trafficking, murder, rape and drug distribution.
Why take a pass? Well, it surely has something to do with all those defense lawyers who double as policymakers on Beacon Hill, as well as the powerful influence of civil liberties advocates stoking fears about prosecutorial overreach and individual privacy rights.
But few of us are wearing clothes or driving cars or using appliances that date all the way back to 1968. In the interest of public safety it’s time for Beacon Hill to modernize this basic evidence-gathering tool.
Under current law, state prosecutors may only seek permission to use a wiretap in cases that can be tied to organized crime. Gov. Charlie Baker has filed a bill that would expand the list of designated offenses to allow electronic surveillance in cases of murder, manslaughter, rape, human trafficking, witness intimidation and the use or possession of explosives and chemical weapons.
The bill would also update the definition of wire communications to include cellphones, text messages and email — basically, the tools the modern criminal is far more likely to use than a landline.
Baker, who is supported by district attorneys and state Attorney General Maura Healey, is just the latest to take a run at this. For years former Attorney General Martha Coakley sought the expanded authority, but was blocked in the Legislature.
Approval for a wiretap wouldn’t be automatic. Prosecutors would still have to offer probable cause, a judge would have to sign off on the request — and only after other avenues for gathering evidence have been exhausted. Kim West, chief of Healey’s criminal division, also noted at a legislative hearing this week that wiretaps are “incredibly expensive” and, therefore only used in the most complex cases.
Limiting evidence collection to technology that was barely considered cutting edge 50 years ago is not in the public interest. It’s time for the Legislature to give prosecutors the tools they need to keep the citizens of the commonwealth safe.