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Activists are still waiting for police to turn over files more than 14 months after the American Civil Liberties Union uncovered evidence that state police conducted covert surveillance on anti-war and anti-death penalty activists, an ACLU official said Monday.

The ACLU is hoping a new law that takes effect Thursday will give new reason for state police to release complete files on activists and additional details about surveillance operations.

"We hope that this would lend more impetus," said Cindy Boersma, legislative director for the ACLU of Maryland. "But the bill was enacted months ago, and that hasn't changed their resistance to full disclosure."

Calls to the state police were referred to police spokesman Greg Shipley, who was not available for comment Monday.

The law, passed this year by the General Assembly, requires written permission from the head of a law enforcement agency before conducting covert surveillance. The permission must include the finding of a "reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity" that warrants the surveillance.

"One of the most important parts is that it calls for the Maryland State Police to conduct a full accounting of the individuals who were spied on and to turn that over to them," Boersma said.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) ordered an investigation by former attorney general Stephen H. Sachs into the state police spying operation following the ACLU's release in July 2008 of documents showing that state police had spied on peace activists and groups opposed to capital punishment in 2005 and 2006.

Among Sachs' findings was that police had kept files on activists and labeled peaceful activities as "terrorism" in a federal database.

Since then, an ACLU attorney has been negotiating with state police on the release of files related to peaceful activists who were targeted.

While some files have been released, the state police have yet to conduct a thorough search of the database that named the activists.

The new law requires that the police conduct such a search. People who were listed in the database without being suspected of criminal activity are to be contacted and offered copies of the database entries pertaining to them. The entries are to be purged, and police must revise or discontinue use of the database.

Wednesday marks one year since the ACLU filed a Public Information Act request with the state police requesting additional files on activists who were spied upon. The police have released heavily redacted files on groups and 53 targeted individuals.

The case remains in active litigation in Baltimore Circuit Court, Boersma said.

"There remain many more unanswered questions than answered questions," she said.