Court Rejects Crimson Suit for Police Records

Massachusetts’ top court ruled today that Harvard’s police department does not have to release incident reports sought by The Crimson because it is a private police force.

Two-and-a-half years after the case was first filed by the paper, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled unanimously for Harvard, rejecting The Crimson’s claim that since the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) is endowed with “special state police powers”—such as the power to make an arrest and obtain and execute a search warrant—it must provide the same information as public police forces.

The Court also rejected The Crimson’s claims that private entities, once endowed with certain state powers, become public entities. Instead, the Court held that even when granted special powers, HUPD does not become “an agency of the Commonwealth such that it becomes subject to the mandates of the public records law.”

The Court’s ruling on a case it heard on Nov. 7, 2005 ends a legal battle that began in late July 2003. The case was originally heard by Middlesex Superior Court Justice Nancy Staffier, who dismissed the suit in March 2004.

Robert W. Iuliano ’83, Harvard’s general counsel, praised the decision in a statement released today for recognizing the University’s compelling interest in preserving students’ privacy and highlighting HUPD’s practice of releasing crime reports whenever an arrest is made.

"The opinion upholds the University's decision to protect our students' privacy while at the same time recognizes that when the Harvard University Police Department makes arrests, records are available to the public," Iuliano said.

In a hearing before the SJC in November, Iuliano argued that the University has a compelling interest in withholding the names of students who have encounters with HUPD but are not arrested.

Crimson President Lauren A.E. Schuker ’06 expressed her disappointment with the decision in a statement today. But she vowed to continue The Crimson’s effort by working with Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios ’90 to pass legislation intoduced in 2004, which would require university police departements to disclose more detailed reports.

"The current law, requiring campus state police departments to issue daily logs, was enacted thanks to the hard work of The Crimson, so we are following in historical footsteps continuing this fight," Schuker wrote.

The Crimson’s lawyers could not be reached for comment this evening.

—Please check thecrimson.com for updates.
—Staff writer Benjamin L. Weintraub can be reached at bweintr@fas.harvard.edu.