The Harvard Crimson filed suit against the University Wednesday, seeking to force the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) to release detailed crime reports.

The Crimson, which is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLU), claims that HUPD officers are subject to state public records laws. Under these laws, the public can file public record requests for police reports, which include details of incidents, witness testimony and other observations from the scene.

Currently, HUPD releases only a police log containing brief descriptions of incidents.

Crimson President Amit R. Paley ’04 said the newspaper has requested incident reports for three years about matters ranging from racial profiling to sexual assault. The University has denied those requests, contending that since Harvard is a private institution, HUPD is not subject to the public records laws.

“We believe we have an obligation to our readers and community to report crime that happens here,” Paley said. “The only way to do that fully is to have access to these records…While we’d prefer to settle this and get access to records in an informal way, the University has left us no option but to fight for this legal principle in a court of law.”

In a brief statement issued Wednesday after the lawsuit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court, Harvard said administrators believe their “procedures are sound and proper and in full compliance with the law.”

ACLU staff attorney Sarah Wunsch contends that since HUPD officers are “special state police officers” deputized by Middlesex and Suffolk counties, they are subject to public records law.

“Any person with that kind of authority…need[s] to be subject to public oversight,” Wunsch said.

But because the University is a private institution operating a police force, HUPD officers may not qualify as agents of the state under this law, according to Dolores A. Stafford, President of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and Chief of Police at George Washington University.

“I don’t know of any federal laws requiring a private police department to release their records,” Stafford wrote in an e-mail. “They are still considered private agencies, even if they receive their police authority through the state.”

Harvard officials have 20 days from the filing date to respond to the suit.

Privacy and Information

University spokesperson Alan J. Stone argued that releasing detailed records that might contain revealing personal information about students and other University affiliates could violate their right to privacy.

Wunsch and Amber R. Anderson, the Boston-area attorney retained by the ACLU to represent The Crimson, said that under public records law, personal information of a victim can be blacked out on reports released to the public. Wunsch added that the ACLU advocates for individual privacy.

In the past, HUPD officials have raised the concern that releasing specific locations and physical descriptions of victims could hint at their identity and jeopardize their privacy.