Chief defends posting
Asserts police had a subpoena
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The uproar over a Rockland police officer's use of a local message board reached the Board of Selectmen's meeting Monday, when Police Chief John Llewellyn disclosed that he had ordered the officer to investigate who leaked sensitive information to the website.
"What he did that night was not immoral," Llewellyn said of his second-in-command, Lieutenant Barry Ashton. "What he did was not in violation of any Rockland Police Department procedure. What he did was out the location of an anonymous poster on a town website."
The controversy involved a Sept. 20 message posted on RocklandNews.com. In that message, someone known only as "Watcher" typed this one-sentence message: "Not sure if it is true but heard there will be a sobriety checkpoint setup tonight on Market Street in front of Ocean State Job Lot beginning around 9pm. Beware!"
The Boston Globe reported last week that Ashton, a longtime veteran of the Rockland Police Department, posted a message on Oct. 15 suggesting that School Committee chairman Mark Norris had published the warning about the checkpoint.
Ashton's actions raised the question of whether he violated a federal law that says law enforcement officials can obtain the identity of a computer user only if they obtain a subpoena or court order in the belief that a crime has been committed. The law also prohibits Internet service providers and message board operators from identifying posters unless police follow these steps.
When questioned by a Globe reporter, Ashton - "Captain Jack" as he's known to RocklandNews readers - had twice denied obtaining an administrative subpoena before conducting his investigation of Norris, and would not reveal how he traced the posting.
At Monday's meeting, Llewellyn said the proper procedures were followed in obtaining the information from
"I want to set something straight right now - a validly issued subpoena . . . was faxed to Comcast" to obtain Norris's address, Llewellyn told selectmen.
In a phone interview, a Comcast spokesman denied that the police submitted a subpoena for a records request. On Monday, however, Llewellyn waved a subpoena in front of selectmen and residents, while firmly supporting the actions of Ashton.
At the meeting, Llewellyn also said the RocklandNews leak had compromised a carefully planned joint operation by the State Police and Rockland Police. Llewellyn first described his anger, then embarrassment.
"I threw a fit in the roll call room," he said, adding that he threw a chair before ordering Ashton to conduct an investigation immediately.
Llewellyn said the Police Department requested a subpoena on Sept. 22 from the Hingham District Court's clerk magistrate, Joseph Ligotti, on the suspicion of two criminal charges: obstruction of justice and unethical behavior.
After Legotti granted the subpoena, the police faxed it to Comcast's IP services department.
According to Llewellyn, Ashton then found out who the IP address belonged to and questioned Norris, who rebuffed the lieutenant's attempt to determine whether he had posted the message and where the information came from.
What happened next riled up many users of the RocklandNews community, where gossip and speculation go hand-in-hand with political commentary.
In his Oct. 15 posting, Ashton said: "Mr. Norris would not cooperate and tell how or from whom, he received the information about the Sobriety Check Point."
At the selectmen's meeting, however, Llewellyn said Ashton posted only the location of the originating message, and didn't finger Norris specifically.
Norris has said he would not discuss the issue.
According to Brian White, the message board's chief administrator, Ashton's posting triggered nearly 100 responses and 5,000 hits in the first 24 hours. Some of the comments supported the police inquiry, while many others viewed the police response as heavy-handed and possibly illegal.
Llewellyn said that the investigation into the leak is continuing and that the department is pursuing leads. For now, all members of the Rockland Police Department are banned from posting or responding to anything on RocklandNews without authorization from the chief.
"May Captain Jack rest in peace," said Llewellyn.
