Maine Capitol Police taking proactive security precautions amid tense political climate

Under his tenure, Maine Capitol Police Chief Matt Clancy said the office has been taking a more proactive approach to threats and more efficient security. He said he wants the public to feel they can come to the State House and be heard, but he also wants it to be a safe environment. 

That’s why his team watches social media chatter, follows national and international news and even works closely with the offices of the Senate President and House Speaker to stay on top of any bills or public hearings that may be contentious. And lawmakers are told to pass any threatening communications they receive on to Capitol Police, he added. 

Those measures can be helpful for situations like last week after the social media account Libs of TikTok, known for promoting conservative issues as well as false narratives and information about the LGBTQ+ community, posted about Maine’s proposal to protect abortion and gender-affirming care to its nearly 3 million followers. The post also included the names and email addresses for the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Anne Perry (D-Calais) and Sen. Donna Bailey (D-York). 

LD 227 is what’s known as a shield law, which ensures that out-of-state patients and Maine medical professionals who provide reproductive health services and gender-affirming treatments aren’t penalized by other states’ laws. 

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 22 states and Washington, D.C. have passed shield laws protecting abortion and eleven of those states and D.C. also have protections specifically for gender-affirming care. 

The day after that post was made, lawmakers heard hours of public testimony on the bill, LD 227. Well over a hundred people showed up to the public hearing and even more submitted written testimony to the Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee.

That sort of public input is not unusual for polarizing issues. In fact, another committee had a similarly large volume of testimony for multiple gun-related bills. But at the end of last week, the public’s interest in the bill took a potentially violent turn after bomb threats were made targeting the State House, the Democratic Party and two lawmakers. 

Maine State House evacuated after hoax bomb threats against legislators, Democratic Party

Maine Capitol Police determined the threats were a hoax and didn’t directly name the legislators who were targeted, but other legislators took to social media to respond, drawing the connection between the threats and LD 227. 

“This political violence is reprehensible,” said Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on X. 

Maine legislators share their home addresses online, and she did it herself when she was a state senator, Bellows said, describing the practice as “small town constituent services at its best.” But, now, she said that is being misused. 

“Online extremists are exploiting this transparency to terrorize,” Bellows wrote in her X post. “Shame on them.”

Even before the bomb scare Friday or the one back in January or the powder-filled mail that was sent to the Secretary of State’s office in the Cross Building earlier this year, Clancy said his team has been working on providing more efficient security across the 50 or so properties they are responsible for throughout Augusta and Hallowell. 

Clancy said his team was able to apply some lessons learned from the incidents earlier this year, so the time between learning about the threat Friday and sending out an alert was faster. And thankfully, the threat came in the morning before work had really started for the day, which also made the process faster. 

But for Clancy, the incident Friday was just an example of why his team needs to continue their efforts to be proactive and prepared so they aren’t, as he put it, “caught with their pants down.”

While Capitol Police have a lot of tools already in place to execute strong security measures, Clancy said there needs to be better integration so their resources can work together. This could come in the form of software used at a control center that can coordinate response, evacuation, notification and everything else that must be done in those events. 

To support his goal of a more proactive response and greater integration of security tools, Clancy said the Capitol Police is asking the state to fund 10 new positions in the supplemental budget. 

He’d like to see some of these pieces come together before the next session starts in January, but in the meantime, he said staffing shuffles can help continue the progress toward faster responses and more proactive work.

Clancy said the agency is also gathering input and guidance from private consultants and even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to make improvements. Those agencies have done security assessments of the State House, but Clancy said he plans to bring them back in when the session is over for an even deep dive into the facilities and safety policies. 

Maine Morning Star did not receive responses from the state Republican or Democratic party offices for requests for comment for this story. 

At the end of the House session Tuesday, Rep. Kenneth Davis (​R-East Machias) spoke about the threats, calling them “terrible and wrong.”

While he may not always agree with Perry, Davis said he called her after learning she was the target of one of the threats because she is his friend. She has every right to her own opinion, just as he does, but disagreements shouldn’t lead to threats of safety, he said.

“When it comes to family and people’s safety, that letter after your name doesn’t mean a person is bad,” Davis said, referring to a person’s political party.

Davis added, to Perry and anyone else who received similar threats: “It’s been an honor to serve with you this term.”

Update: This story was edited to include Rep.Davis’ comments.