Bill > H3087

This bill amends the existing law on the interception of wire and oral communications in Massachusetts. The key provisions of the bill are: 1. It expands the definition of "designated offense" to include "designated violent offenses" such as certain violent crimes, in addition to "designated organized crime offenses." This allows law enforcement to use electronic surveillance for investigations of violent crimes, not just organized crime. 2. It removes the requirement that normal investigative procedures must have been tried and failed or be unlikely to succeed for the use of electronic surveillance in cases of "designated violent offenses," making it easier for law enforcement to obtain court orders for such surveillance in violent crime investigations. 3. It allows the use of electronic surveillance for the investigation of crimes involving firearms, in addition to narcotics and harmful drugs. The bill aims to provide law enforcement with more tools to investigate and combat an increase in violence, both with and without weapons, that has occurred within the Commonwealth.

Justice

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/H3087