The Need for Additional Safeguards Against Racist Police Practices: A Call for Change to Massachusetts & Illinois Wiretapping Laws

Abstract

Police misconduct is still prevalent throughout the United States. Unfortunately for members of minority communities, this misconduct often comes in the form of racially discriminatory police practices. In many cases, such practices are deeply rooted in the police department’s culture. It is imperative that all citizens are equipped with every possible safeguard from such abuse at the hands of the police. In Massachusetts and Illinois, however, wiretapping and eavesdropping laws prevent people from employing one such safeguard that has proven to help change unconstitutional police practices. The safeguard that those laws criminalize is the ability to surreptitiously record on-duty police. This Note recommends that state legislatures in Massachusetts and Illinois create exceptions to their wiretapping and eavesdropping laws so as to allow surreptitious recording of on-duty police officers.