Secretary of State Shenna Bellows Proposes Requiring All Law Enforcement Officers to Display Badges, ID Numbers, and Unmask

Secretary Bellows Announces She Will Issue A Governor’s Bill To Create A Statewide Standard For Law Enforcement’s Duty To Identify Themselves 

Augusta – In light of reporting from Maine Monitor about the lack of a legal requirement for law enforcement officers operating in Maine to identify themselves, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced that she would issue a governor’s bill to create a new statewide standard. 

The proposal from Secretary Bellows would require all law enforcement – both state and federal – operating in Maine to have clearly identifiable badges, require a badge number to be visible, and to show their faces without masks, except in extreme circumstances.

“The recent horrific actions by ICE and other federal agents across the country have made clear that new legal requirements are needed to protect Mainers from federal overreach,” said Secretary Bellows. “Our state and local law enforcement agencies here in Maine rely on varying written standards about how and when officers need to identify themselves. This common-sense proposal would create one statewide standard for all law enforcement officers operating in Maine – and critically, these rules would apply to federal law enforcement too. It’s important for both the safety of law enforcement and the safety of Mainers that people know who are there lawfully to keep us safe and who are not.”