Recently the state legislature announced its plan to investigate the runaway spending of Massachusetts’ sheriffs.
See my post Mass Inspector General to Probe Sheriff Departments’ Runaway Spending.
Today the Boston Globe published an article documenting just some of the seemingly frivolous items that sheriff departments have purchased using fees generated by their civil process divisions.
Each sheriff’s department has its own civil process division which serves legal summonses, eviction notices, and (a rare occasions) makes civil arrests.
Typically, civil litigants pay the civil process divisions for providing these services.
The millions of dollars in civil process fees are supposed to be transferred to the state’s general fund.
However, according to the Globe,
auditors found at the time that nine of 14 sheriffs’ departments had failed to transfer that money in at least one three-month period over the course of more thana year. Additionally, they found there was no mechanism to monitor whether the legally required transfers even occurred.
The Globe goes on to list some of the more questionable items purchased with civil-process funds.
Here are a few examples:
- Norfolk civil process purchased a $113,000 mobile home that was “never used for its intended purpose.” The same department paid pop singer Ayla Brown $2,500 to perform at graduation ceremonies.
- Berkshire civil process spent $50,000 on motorcycles and $4,300 on scuba gear. It’s unclear what those items have to do with serving legal paperwork.
- Franklin civil process went all out for the 2025 St. Patrick’s Day parade, spending $7,200 on a float, $3,000 on green hoodies, and $17 on a green dog tuxedo.
Because each civil process division is run differently by each department, it’s unclear whether (and to what extent) their spending will be investigated by the inspector general.