Neighboring communities collaborate on policing

Six densely populated communities just north of Boston – Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Revere, Saugus and Winthrop – have established an arrangement that broadens the ability of police to pursue criminal suspects across municipal lines.

Through a memorandum of understanding that went into effect in late March, the communities have established a pool of roughly 70 police officers who are authorized to make arrests for misdemeanors in any of the six municipalities, covering an area comprising close to 250,000 people. The police officers include detectives, narcotics agents, officers who deal with gangs, and K-9 units.

State law allows local police officers to cross city and town lines to arrest people suspected of felonies. But a 1990 Supreme Judicial Court opinion (Commonwealth v. Paul Leblanc) made clear that that right does not extend to misdemeanors, such as prostitution and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, according to Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes.

Until now, Kyes said, local police had been able to pursue arrests for misdemeanors outside of their jurisdiction only if they were engaged in what is known as “fresh and continued pursuit” of a suspect for an offense that occurred and was observed in their own jurisdiction.

According to what Kyes describes as “the fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine, if a court rules that the initial stop for a misdemeanor was invalid, a subsequent charge for a felony will be invalidated as well. In the past, that meant that if an apparent prostitute and customer left in a van from Chelsea to a neighboring community, for example, Chelsea police had no authority to pursue them.

The new arrangement, according to Kyes, “allows us to work together in a more synchronized fashion.”