New law ensures hiring law enforcement and corrections agencies have access to records

A new law sponsored by State Rep. Patrick Corey,
a Republican from Windham, will help ensure
that hiring law enforcement and corrections
agencies will have access to records they need
to make good decisions about job candidates.
FILE PHOTO

AUGUSTA – A new law will help ensure that hiring law enforcement and corrections agencies will have the records necessary to make good decisions about job applicants serve.

Sponsored by Rep. Patrick Corey, a Republican representing Windham, LD 573, “An Act Concerning Records of the Employment of Law Enforcement Officers and Corrections Officers,” promotes the flow of information between law enforcement agencies uncovered during the hiring process. It will support the integrity of the law enforcement and corrections professions and communities by facilitating the hiring of the best officers possible.

“This law helps ensure that hiring law enforcement and corrections agencies will have the records necessary to make good decisions about job applicants, promoting appropriate fits for their agencies and the communities they serve,” Corey said. “When your county sheriff comes to you with an idea to help assure that only top-notch, aboveboard officers continue to wear the badge, you pay attention and help make it happen.”

The bottom line is that law enforcement executives were apprehensive of sharing truthful information about bad employees out of fear of being sued, said Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin J. Joyce.

“The passage of LD 573 removes this barrier and will never affect the majority of police and corrections officers seeking new employment in the State of Maine,” Joyce said.

The new law requires that an agency, facility or jail that performs a polygraph examination on a law enforcement officer or corrections officer to notify the head of the agency, facility or jail that employs the officer if the results indicate probable cause to believe that the officer is or has been involved in criminal activity. It excludes internal affairs investigation records.    

Previously, if a Law Enforcement Officer or Corrections Officer employed by one agency was being considered for a position in another agency and during the application process, potential criminal or inappropriate activity was uncovered, the hiring agency could not share that information with the candidate’s current law enforcement executive without fear of civil litigation, for sharing that information.

To address this flaw in the law, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin J. Joyce approached Rep. Patrick Corey to request that he sponsor legislation (LD 573) to address the problem.

The bill received bipartisan support and was signed into law by the governor.

Corey is serving his third term in the Maine House of Representatives and is a member of the Appropriations & Cultural Affairs Committee and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. <