Article: National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice (2000)

In the words of L.  Ron Hubbard, “Scientology exists to further and better the government of people and believes in the principles of democracy, the Magna Carta, the Constitution of the United States and also the Bill of Rights.”¹  To promote and advance the cause of civil rights, the Church of Scientology in 1974 created the National Commission on Law Enforcement and Social Justice (NCLE), a nonprofit and tax-exempt organization. Although its original mandate was to focus on issues in the United States, it has since taken on international responsibilities as a civil rights watchdog.²

The problem of false reports in government agency files has, for many years, been of primary concern to NCLE. It found that the basic rights and freedoms of citizens in any country could be seriously jeopardized by uncorrected information in government files. And the potential for harm and abuse was compounded by the fact that agencies from many nations shared data bases.

Documents obtained by NCLE proved conclusively that false reports were being fed from law enforcement groups to government agencies in countries around the world. Numerous cases were documented by NCLE of individuals who had been jailed, harassed and even physically abused by police officials because of these reports in countries such as Germany, France and the United States. In some cases, corrupt officials were paid for personal information about private individuals.

In the United States, NCLE has contributed to several investigations by the US General Accounting Office, an arm of the US Congress, on such subjects as the security of sensitive law enforcement files maintained on computerized data bases. ³

Through the years, NCLE has worked with many individuals and grass-roots groups to broadly educate people on the importance of preserving and advancing individual rights and freedoms within the framework of constitutional government.

NCLE has also conducted extensive research into problems with justice systems internationally. Based on these findings, a task force was launched to educate and propose reforms to lighten court loads and expedite justice.

In the United States, NCLE investigated instances of constitutional violations by officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and found evidence that vested interests were using the agency for personal gain. It became evident that armed raids and arbitrary actions by certain FDA officials had violated constitutional protections and civil rights of many individuals in the health food industry. NCLE found that the FDA had approved drugs and other consumer items despite clear indications that they were harmful to adults and children, and took action accordingly to expose the abuses which had come to light.

In 1996, confronted with growing evidence that civil unrest has injustice at its core, and in the interest of making equal justice a reality for all minorities, NCLE initiated a grass-roots campaign for judicial reform. Carried forward by the commission’s Judicial Reform Coalition in Los Angeles, and led by civil rights activists and attorneys, this campaign has brought together numerous religious, racial and ethnic minorities who have been denied equal treatment by the US judiciary. Their goal is the exposure of abuses and the attainment of lasting reforms.

Throughout the world, NCLE is alerting government and law enforcement officials to the dangers of civil rights abuses and the need to institute and maintain constitutional protections. And the reform measures enacted continue to spread, little by little, ensuring individual rights for all.

If you care about civil rights, privacy and freedom, you can start an NCLE chapter by contacting NCLE’s main office in Los Angeles, California. (See Chapter 42 for address.)⁴, ⁵, ⁶, ⁷, ⁸

Notes