Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, § 4751: Definitions, 2021

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 2021, c. 460, §1 (NEW).] 1. Law enforcement agency. "Law enforcement agency" means an agency in the State charged with enforcement of state, county, municipal or federal laws or laws of a federally recognized Indian tribe, with the prevention, detection or investigation of criminal, immigration or customs laws or with managing custody of detained persons in the State and includes, but is not limited to, a municipal police department, a sheriff's department, the State Police, a university or college police department and the Department of Public Safety. [PL 2021, c. 460, §1 (NEW).] 2. Law enforcement officer. "Law enforcement officer" means a state, county or municipal official or an official of a federally recognized Indian tribe responsible for enforcing criminal, immigration or customs laws, including, but not limited to, a law enforcement officer who possesses a current and valid certificate issued by the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy pursuant to Title 25, section 2803‑A. [PL 2021, c. 460, §1 (NEW).] 3. Profiling. "Profiling" means the consideration of or reliance on, to any degree, actual or perceived race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, age or familial status in deciding which persons to subject to a traffic or pedestrian stop or in deciding the scope or substance of law enforcement activities following a traffic or pedestrian stop. "Profiling" does not mean consideration of or reliance on characteristics provided in a specific suspect description. For purposes of this subsection, "activities following a traffic or pedestrian stop" include, but are not limited to, asking questions of a person, frisking a person, conducting consensual and nonconsensual searches of a person or property, seizing of property, requiring vehicle occupants to exit a vehicle during a traffic stop, issuing a citation and making an arrest. [PL 2023, c. 368, Pt. B, §2 (NEW).]