SECTION 38. Criminal information section; duties and functions

The criminal information section of the department shall be charged with the following duties and functions:

(a) Said section shall collect, by investigation of its own and by receipt from other law enforcement agencies, information concerning organized crime, organized illegal gambling, and other illegal activities generally described as rackets, including information as to the identity and doings of persons who engage in, promote, operate or participate in such activities and of persons arrested for the illegal use, sale or possession of harmful drugs or narcotics.

(b) Said section shall maintain files of all such information which it collects and receives, and shall serve as a clearinghouse of intelligence for all law enforcement agencies within the commonwealth concerning such activities and such persons, and may provide to and receive for similar agencies outside the commonwealth any such information. Any police department of the commonwealth, or any of its political subdivisions, may, by request, in the form and manner prescribed by said section, receive such information as is in the files of said section concerning such activities and such persons in which said police department has an official interest. Such clearinghouse functions of said section shall constitute a cooperative relationship between said section and said police departments; and if in the discretion of the head of said section, responding to such request for information might interfere with an investigation being carried on by some other department or by said section, he may, with the approval of the colonel, deny the request. Systems operated by the department of criminal justice information services, pursuant to sections one hundred and sixty-seven to one hundred and seventy-eight, inclusive, of chapter six, may be used for such record keeping purposes provided that such record shall remain subject to the regulations of said board.

(c) Said section shall from time to time advise the local police departments of new schemes or rackets which may come to its attention, of new devices, techniques, methods of operation, and other matters of interest relating to such activities and such persons, so that the police of the commonwealth and its political subdivision shall be better informed and thus better able to enforce the laws with respect to such activities and such persons.

(d) The clerk of any court in which a person is convicted of a crime involving illegal gaming of any kind, drug and narcotic violations, the sale or possession of pornographic literature or the improper solicitation or use of funds for charitable purposes, shall forthwith report such conviction to said section. The probation officer of said court shall furnish to the clerk a description of any person so convicted, which shall be on a form prescribed by the colonel.