Deadly Force Review Panel urges statewide camera use, mental-health referrals and statutory change after panel review

The Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary received the Deadly Force Review Panel's sixth annual report on police use-of-deadly-force reviews and recommendations. Fernand Larochelle, who chaired the panel in 2025, summarized findings and urged broader use of cruiser and body-worn cameras, more consistent referral of victims and officers to mental-health services and a statutory fix to better manage defendants the courts find "not restorable."

"At the very top of our recommendations, we recommend once again ... recommending cruiser and body cameras as mandatory equipment for all law enforcement officers," Larochelle told the committee. He said most departments welcome cameras but smaller agencies can struggle with purchase and training costs.

The panel reviewed nine incidents in 2025, Larochelle said, and reported that courts issued 616 so-called "yellow flag" orders that year, "that's almost two a day," a figure he cited as evidence the mechanism has been used frequently to remove weapons from people the courts deemed a risk. Larochelle added that 45 yellow-flag orders had been issued in 2026 as of his remarks.

Steve Berlotte, who spoke for the panel about proposed legislative language, described a recommendation to amend the competency and restorability statute so that when a judge must dismiss charges because a defendant is not restorable, the court would have a clearer duty to order a Department of Health and Human Services evaluation or commitment process under Title 34-B, section 3864. Berlotte said the change aims to close gaps that can leave people "unsupervised in the community" after dismissal.

Committee members pressed the panel on process and scope. Representative David Sinclair asked what materials the panel uses in its work; panelists listed officer and investigative reports, postmortems, toxicology results and hours of body-worn and cruiser video when available. Senator Rachel Talbot Ross urged coordination with pending legislation in the Department of Health and Human Services and warned the committee not to adopt statutory changes that DHHS cannot implement because of capacity limits.

The panel also recommended routine referrals to trauma and counseling services for victims and officers, noting that some officers leave the profession after traumatic incidents. Members urged the panel to add demographic data, pending-case counts and vacancy information to future reports so the Legislature can better assess trends and gaps. Larochelle said the panel will bring committee members' requests back to the panel at its next meeting.

The committee did not take legislative action at the hearing; members asked staff to gather follow-up information from the attorney general's office and DHHS.