By Callie Ferguson
Bangor Daily News, Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine — After years in the making, Maine’s law enforcement certification board voted on Monday to approve new rules that allow the body to discipline officers for misconduct that is unethical but falls short of a crime.
The unanimous vote by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s board of trustees, which oversees the certification of police and corrections officers to work in the state, establishes a code of conduct that gives the body authority to punish officers for unprofessional conduct, including taking their license. Until now, it has only been able to take action against an officer for misconduct that meets the definition of a crime, a limitation that has left the academy powerless to discipline officers for behavior such as sexual harassment, discrimination and, in some cases, lying.
Police and corrections officers are human beings that make mistakes, but “there are certain lines that can’t be crossed,” Brian Pellerin, deputy chief of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the board’s outgoing chair, said in an interview Monday afternoon after the vote.
The academy began developing the new rules following the passage of a 2021 law that expanded the body’s disciplinary powers but delegated the specifics to the board. The law was introduced after a Bangor Daily News series identified examples of officer misconduct that eluded the board’s oversight and may have jeopardized a person’s license in states with greater authority.
When the academy released a draft of the new rules in July, Pellerin said the proposal was designed to fill gaps in oversight that had previously frustrated the board. The 18-person panel, more than two-thirds of which is made up of law enforcement officials, felt as though it should be able to discipline officers for conduct they viewed as offensive and unbecoming of a law enforcement officer, such as sexually harassing a colleague or being untruthful.
Maine police unions, however, came out strongly against the proposal, worried it would subject officers to vague, subjective standards and give their overseers “unchecked” power that could be wielded inconsistently. In a written response, two unions that together represent more than 1,200 police, the Maine Association of Police and the Maine Law Enforcement Association, said they feared the expanded oversight would make it hard for departments to hire and retain people.
But members of the academy board were unmoved by those criticisms on Monday.
The union had raised concern that the new rules — “cloaked in vagueness” — undermined an officer’s due process rights. But the academy board’s disciplinary process is already governed by the Maine Administrative Procedure Act, which affords officers with due process rights, including the right to appeal discipline to Superior Court , they said.
Under the law, an officer can appeal on the basis that the academy abused its discretionary authority by handing down an unfairly harsh punishment, added Andrew Black, a lawyer with the Office of the Maine Attorney General who attended Monday’s meeting.
As for the criticism that the new rules give the board too much power, the board disagreed. The unions, for example, noted that under the new rules against harassment, an officer could lose certification for “merely an off color joke told once” rather than pervasive behavior. Some inappropriate comments should be punished, the board responded.
Revoking a license is not the board’s only disciplinary option either, Black added. The board can also temporarily suspend someone’s license; enter into consent agreements that require officers to take remedial steps to address their behavior, such as attending substance use counseling; and issue letters of guidance. They can also dismiss cases for lack of evidence.
Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said that, in his time serving on the board, its members have diligently reviewed and investigated the allegations before them and responded with fair decisions that keeps the process “above board.”
“When you look at general standards of conduct as it’s listed, if we can’t talk about professional demeanor, [being] truthful and honest, dignity, being in congruence with state and federal laws, then what are we doing?” Sauschuck said. “I think all those things are well within our authority.”
The new rules will go into effect following a procedural review by the attorney general’s office, which must happen by early December, or 120 after the academy released a draft of the new rules this July. The board said on Monday that it did not expect that process to take long.
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