The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said “get a warrant.” Why, then, on Wednesday, did a witness at a legislative hearing in Montpelier say “you don’t need one?”

(more…)

Police in Hartford have once again been under scrutiny for alleged misconduct. The routine has become familiar. The Attorney General’s Office is called in to investigate, and — as it has in the past — concludes after a review that town officers didn’t use excessive force. But there’s a twist to the most recent review.

(more…)

The Vermont Supreme Court has reversed a lower court decision that said property tax “prebate” information was public. Not so, the Supreme Court said in a decision released Friday. The numbers consist of “return information” from personal income tax filings and are therefore confidential.

(more…)

Is creating an exemption to an exemption in the public records law so animal research records at the University of Vermont and the state colleges are non-exempt (i.e., open) the best way to deal with an emotional issue whose discussion is seemingly blocked by one of the public records law’s broadest exemptions?

(more…)

If the questions Thursday in the Vermont Supreme Court accurately reflected the murkiness of Vermont’s police records disclosure law, things are quite a muddle. There was even disagreement over what an “arrest” is — the most basic of police actions that you’d think, given the gravity of such a situation, should be pretty clear.

(more…)

Whether a journalist can get police records regarding the mistaken arrest of an African-American man in his own home will come before the Vermont Supreme Court on Thursday. The arrest included striking the man with a baton, pepper-spraying him, handcuffing him, and dragging him nude, wrapped in a blanket, down the stairs and out of his home. Dan Barrett, staff attorney for the ACLU-VT, will argue that absent a showing of harm, the police records sought by investigative journalist Anne Galloway of VTdigger.org should be released. Argument is set for 2 p.m. at the Supreme Court building on State Street in Montpelier.

(more…)

A U.S. District Court judge in Houston has told police they need a warrant if they want to get an individual’s cell phone tracking data from cell service providers. The ruling sets a standard for which we’ve been arguing since last year, when we found that Vermont law enforcement were getting Vermonters’ cell phone data without a warrant. Vermont police, with assistance from the state Attorney General’s Office, use secret proceedings called “inquests” to sidestep warrant requirements. We think that’s a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. That, was, indeed, the reason Houston Judge Lynn N. Hughes gave for her decision: “When the government requests records from cellular services, data disclosing the location of the telephone at the time of particular calls may be acquired only by a warrant issued on probable cause,” she wrote. “These data are constitutionally protected from this intrusion.”

(more…)

Hundreds of full-body X-ray scanners have been installed at U.S. airports, but the European Union is saying it doesn’t want them. On Monday, the EU announced it is prohibiting the high-tech machines “in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens’ health and safety,” according to a news report from ProPublica. Twenty-seven countries comprise the EU.

(more…)

Tasers aren’t safe for the typical target they’re used on. Tasers don’t reduce the use of lethal force by a police department but do lead to earlier use of higher levels of force. Tasers are frequently “recklessly deployed” in violation of standards. Montpelier police shouldn’t add them to their arsenal of weapons.

(more…)

Vermont police are looking at the state Health Department’s prescription drug database in a way they promised they never would — as a law enforcement tool that they should be able to snoop through at will.

(more…)