A proposed bill in the Maine Legislature to establish an independent review panel for police-involved fatal shootings was turned down earlier this month, but the police use of deadly force policy has been amended.
Rep. Donald Pilon (D-Saco) submitted the bill, along with several co-sponsors to address the issue of police-involved fatal shootings in the state. Every incident in which a police officer shot and killed another person was found “justified” by the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
The AG’s Office found in every case, the officer involved had not committed a crime that could be prosecuted. As reported in an earlier interview with Bill Stokes, head of the Criminal Justice Division in the Office of the Attorney General, the division does not take into consideration disciplinary issues or departmental policy.
Prompted to dig further into what sponsors of the proposed bill have said is a loophole in the law, state representatives and citizens alike still want answers to the shootings.
“The Attorney General has a very limited scope of questioning,” Rep. Lisa Miller (D-Somerville) said.
Lincoln County representatives and residents have expressed their interest in the formation of the bill since the 2007 shooting death of 18-year-old Gregori Jackson of Whitefield by reserve Waldoboro Police officer Zachari Curtis in addition to the other cases statewide.
The proposed bill was co-sponsored by seven Maine Senators and six Representatives on both sides of the aisle, including House Speaker Hannah Pingree (D-North Haven).
According to Rep. Lisa Miller (D-Somerville), the Criminal Justice Committee recommended local examinations of individual shooting incidents.
The Criminal Justice Committee did not pass the bill as proposed by Rep. Pilon, but passed the entire bill as amended. According to the Legislature page on the state website (www.maine.gov), Governor Baldacci signed the bill on May 19.
“It’s not quite enough citizen participation as we would like,” Miller said, adding, “I’m willing to let this process play out for awhile.”
As stated in the amended bill (LD 1066), the incident review team should have on it at least one member of the state police and one member of the public who is not and has not served as a law enforcement officer, in addition to members of the law enforcement agency appointed by the chief executive officer.
The amended bill also states the investigating team should generate a written report on their findings and the report must be made available to the public.
The bill also requires the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy file a separate report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature that oversees criminal justice and public safety matters no later than Jan. 15, 2011.
The report filed by the board must include an update on law enforcement agency cooperation with the policy change, the number of deadly force incidents and subsequent incident review team teams, the number of reports generated by the teams and the availability of the reports.
Rep. Miller said she would have to think about joining as sponsor if Rep. Pilon re-submits the bill. She said representatives would have to wait a couple of years to submit another bill, but the Criminal Justice Committee is going to monitor the amended policy as signed by the governor.
