As of Tuesday, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) has not responded to three requests for comment on why she appears to have misrepresented the position of the Maine State Police (MSP) on her proposed anti-profiling bill, LD 1613.
A spokesperson for the MSP has also declined to elaborate on an email Lt. Col. Brian Scott sent to Judiciary Committee staff alleging that Talbot Ross said the MSP supported amendment language it did not.
The language in question would make it much easier for law enforcement to be sued civilly for actions taken in the course of their official duties.
In a Judiciary Committee work session on the bill last Wednesday, the House Speaker claimed that the MSP had agreed to an amendment to LD 1613 that changed the definition of “profiling” to one provided by the ACLU of Maine and taken directly from California state law.
“We all agreed to revise the definition of profiling, so we’re all in agreement around that,” Talbot Ross said in the work session.
“It took us a while to reach agreement on this definition, so I just want to make that clear that this was not done hastily,” she said
Lt. Col. Scott of the State Police disagreed.
According to the email, a copy of which was obtained by the Maine Wire, he was listening remotely to the work session, and emailed the Judiciary Committee clerk to clarify that Talbot Ross was misrepresenting the MPS’ position on the bill.
“The definition of profiling in this amendment is not the one I provided to the Speaker’s Office. This one was provided by the ACLU… We have not had time to properly vet this new amendment as we only received it yesterday,” Scott said.
“We do not have an agency position on this bill yet, so it is not accurate to say that we ‘support’ and agree to this,” he said.
The MSP have not yet released an official position on Talbot Ross’ new amendment to LD 1613, but the Maine Sheriff’s Association sent a letter in opposition to the bill to the Judiciary Committee last Thursday which was signed by all 16 Maine sheriffs.
Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster wrote in the letter that the definition of “profiling” in the amendment is ambiguous, and that the bill would hinder law enforcement officers from doing their job effectively.
Lancaster said that the bill opens officers up to civil action being taken against them under “arbitrary and capricious standards,” and would discourage men and women from entering the profession.
Maine Public, the Portland Press Herald, and the Bangor Daily News have not yet reported on the MSP’s allegation that Talbot Ross misrepresented its support for her bill.
Listen to Maine Wire reporter Edward Tomic discuss House Speaker Talbot Ross’ LD 1613 on Voice of Maine’s George Hale Ric Tyler Show and Newsradio WGAN:
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="20215 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=20215">1 Comment
What is the Ghetto Lottery? How can we better our position on defunding the police? Is there a way to remove penalties for “petty” crimes? Can I use “social justice” as a political campaign?
“No comment”