Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (MetroLEC)

Metro History

The Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, also identified as MetroLEC, was an evolution of need brought upon police agencies from this area to better develop and respond to emerging changes and threats to our local missions and our homeland during the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Originally brought about by civil unrest consisting of a large labor dispute in Braintree Massachusetts that had over a short period of time became hostile and turned violent on multiple occasions, the need for police actions were summoned. In response to the civil disorder, police from Braintree were dispatched and immediately met with hostile crowds of Union and Non-Union workers and followers who had become not only confrontational and violent against each other but had greeted the arriving police officers with resistance and physical confrontations. As emotions ran high with the protesters, violence erupted between factions and the responding police were met with unbridled resistance to comply and eventually Officers were being attacked physically in the attempt to maintain order and control. Spiraling out of control quickly, a mutual aid request was made for additional assistance from contiguous agencies and the Norfolk Sheriff's Department.

Consistent with historical response to events of civil disorder, this request for aid was quickly identified as insufficient due to the scope and nature of the event and along with the inherent issues associated with a splintered multi-jurisdictional police force and unknown variables such as the level of civil disobedience training by responders, lack of crowd control equipment, inadequate pre-planning and incident management, along with command and communications handicaps.

With this situation, a seed of change had been planted that over the next several years would involve extensive review of situational awareness, preparedness, and mitigation options reviewed by experienced tactical operators, specially trained instructors, and ranking officers and Administrators from the metro Boston area. With this foundation being set for a Metro Boston Law Enforcement Council the following occurred. Originally named MetroStar (Special Tactics and Response) it consisted of member agencies from the Norfolk County area.