SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – The South Portland Police Department (SPPD) is releasing video footage from a May 13, 2025 incident that occurred on Orkney Street in Portland near Deering High School. During the police action, officers temporarily detained juveniles while executing a search and arrest warrant for a burglary suspect outside of the suspect’s home. Police handcuffed and searched one juvenile who matched the description of the suspect and detained others in a vehicle from which the first exited. Within two minutes, police determined that the juvenile was not the suspect. They released him and the others in the vehicle shortly thereafter, with the entire interaction lasting approximately five minutes. Scroll down to view the videos.
The City is releasing the Portland Police body camera footage and South Portland Police dashboard camera footage of the police action in the interest of transparency and in response to Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requests for the video records. The City initially denied these requests citing exemptions from the definition of a “public record” pursuant to Maine state statute. One such exemption is 16 M.R.S. § 804(3): constituting an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
Last month, the City and its legal counsel revisited the requests. Over the last few weeks, the City attorney worked with the families of the juveniles to ensure that they had no privacy concerns related to the release of the videos. The City made a request to the Portland Police Department–the agency that generated and had sole possession of the original body camera footage–to redact (blur and/or omit) personally identifiable information from the video to protect the privacy of the juveniles featured. The City also sought input from the state’s public access ombudsman to ensure that the release of the footage would not violate any aspect of the law. Having accomplished these important steps, the City fulfilled the FOAA requests for the videos and is making them accessible to the public.
“We share these videos so that community members can see what transpired,” said South Portland Police Chief Dan Ahern. “What you will see is South Portland detectives, along with other South Portland and Portland Police officers, appropriately and lawfully engaging someone who matched the description of the adult burglary suspect they had a warrant to arrest – someone known to associate with individuals who carry and use firearms in the commission of crimes. The officers quickly determined the suspect was not present, released the juveniles, and continued the execution of the search warrant. They arrested the suspect later that day.”
Chief Ahern continued, “I feel for the innocent young people who were caught in the middle of this police action that day. I commend the way our officers handled the situation given the circumstances and information they had at the time. We are committed to continually evaluating and learning from calls of this nature in an effort to best serve and safeguard our community.”
South Portland PD dashboard camera
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