Law enforcement leaders oppose bill aiming to end fusion center

Several Maine law enforcement officials spoke in opposition to a bill aimed at dismantling the Maine Information and Analysis Center Monday. The controversial arm of the Department of Public Safety is considered by many police leaders to be critical for information sharing between agencies However, many critics consider the intelligence unit’s work to be an invasion of privacy.

Public safety commissioner Michael Sauschuck defended the fusion center, also referred to as MIAC, before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. Critics who spoke during the hearing accuse the division of infringing on civil liberties through action such as surveilling protest activity. “If we can’t get communication then we’re going to go to a public-facing social media account as an example,” Sauschuck said. The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Charlotte Warren of Hallowell, questions the effectiveness of the program.

Warren wants to dissolve the program and shift its nearly $1 million in funding over the next two years to the state’s general fund. “Recipients of Maine government funding better be able to prove to taxpayers that they’re worth the money,” Warren said. The bill’s co-sponsor, Libertarian Rep. John Andrews of Paris, called the fusion center’s work ‘Orwellian.’“Fusion centers are the wrong thing for free people in a constitutional republic,” Andrews said. Law enforcement officials such as Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton argued that intelligence from the fusion center is often indispensable, citing out-of-state arrests related to armed robberies in York County.

“Removing MIAC would strike a devastating blow to the collective vision to keep Maine people safe,” Sheriff Morton said. Also being considered by state legislators is a proposal first introduced last year, backed by the Department of Public Safety, which would require annual reports on the activity of the fusion center.

.https://www.wmtw.com/article/law-enforcement-leaders-oppose-bill-aiming-to-end-fusion-center/36101068

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Law enforcement leaders oppose bill aiming to end fusion center

Law enforcement leaders oppose bill aiming to end fusion center

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