LEWISTON, Maine – Lewiston Police Chief Carly Conley sharply criticized the Lewiston City Council on Monday, ahead of its Tuesday city council meeting, accusing councilors of sidelining police input and advancing immigration ordinance language that could create confusion for officers and undermine trust within the department.
In a message addressed to Mayor Carl Sheline and members of the council, Conley said she was “disappointed” with how the immigration ordinance was handled and urged the council to reconsider a recent language change she said could complicate law enforcement operations.
Conley said Council President David Chittim initially sought feedback from the police department when he first introduced the ordinance, a step she said she appreciated because the policy would most directly affect the department. She noted that police would likely be the city entity most often required to comply with the ordinance and potentially investigate any violations.
According to Conley, she was candid from the start about the challenges posed by the ordinance, including differences between the proposed language and existing department policy, the impact of a forthcoming state law set to take effect this summer, and the message the ordinance could send about the council’s trust in the police department.
She said the department was still willing to help implement the ordinance if the council chose to move forward, but after reviewing the proposal more closely, command staff identified one major concern: the use of the word “required.”
Conley argued that while the ordinance includes exceptions that would allow cooperation with ICE, the distinction between actions that are “required” and those that are merely “authorized” creates uncertainty about what officers would actually be permitted to do.
She pointed to serious criminal investigations involving human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, and firearms trafficking as examples of situations where the department may need to work with ICE. Under the current language, she warned, ICE personnel could still be barred from entering the department to collaborate unless that cooperation was explicitly required by state or federal law or a judicial order.
Conley said she raised those concerns with Chittim before the meeting and also brought them to other council members during the meeting when the emergency ordinance was presented. She said she offered examples and analogies to make clear that in law enforcement, very few actions are strictly mandated. More often, officers are authorized to act when circumstances warrant it.
But after that first meeting, Conley said the council largely went silent.
She said she received no additional feedback or questions from council members, aside from Chittim, who indicated he was exploring alternative wording that might satisfy other members of the council and would follow up with the department for input.
Instead, Conley said, the language was changed back to “required” at the following council meeting without any further consultation, clarification, or discussion with the police department.
That move, she suggested, sent the wrong message both externally and internally.
Conley said the ordinance had already prompted substantial discussion among staff, some of whom initially saw it as a sign of mistrust or an implication that the department had not been handling immigration matters properly. She said she had defended the council’s intent and told personnel the ordinance was not meant to “police the police” or suggest the department could not be trusted.
But after the council changed the wording without consulting the department, Conley said it became much harder to continue making that case.
She also reminded councilors that the Lewiston Police Department is staffed by men and women with deep professional expertise, noting that command staff average well over 25 years of experience in law enforcement policy, procedures, and the interpretation and application of state and local law.
While acknowledging that the council serves as the city’s governing body, Conley wrote that city officials must trust and respect the knowledge of those who have spent their careers in law enforcement.
She closed by saying the department remains committed to working collaboratively with the council and maintaining high public safety standards but urged councilors to take police recommendations seriously when crafting ordinances that directly affect department operations.
City Councilor, Bret Martle told the Maine Wire, “This ordinance was created exclusively for political performance, at the expense of our brave law enforcement officers. The charade continues as the same people who solicited input from the chief, will ignore that input tonight while voting to pass it with language that shows a complete lack of trust and respect for those who the ordinance will primarily affect.” “They never cared what the chief thought, asking for her input was just as performative as the entire ordinance is.”
The message amounts to a rare and direct rebuke from Lewiston’s police chief, adding fresh tension to an already controversial debate over the city’s immigration and ICE-related policies ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
