Maine No Chase Law
Agency discretion
Does Maine have a no-chase law? No — Maine has no statewide law restricting police pursuits. Each department sets its own chase policy.
What governs pursuits in Maine
25 M.R.S. §2803-B (requires law enforcement agencies to adopt a high-speed pursuit policy)
Maine law (25 M.R.S. §2803-B, tracing to 1993 P.L. c.683) requires every state, county, and municipal law enforcement agency to adopt a written high-speed pursuit policy, informed by a model policy from the Maine Chiefs of Police Association/Maine Criminal Justice Academy — but the statute mandates policy adoption, not specific statewide pursuit conditions. The commonly cited guideline (pursue only for danger-to-others or serious crimes, not minor traffic offenses) comes from the model policy/association guidance, not binding statute.
Will police chase a motorcycle in Maine?
No statewide law addresses motorcycles; Maine departments apply their adopted (often model-policy-based) risk criteria case-by-case, which can lead officers to break off high-risk pursuits including motorcycle pursuits, but this is departmental discretion, not a legal ban.
No US state has a literal law forbidding officers from chasing motorcycles. What riders call a "no-chase law" is nearly always a department policy that tells officers to break off a pursuit when the danger to the public outweighs the arrest — and fleeing remains a crime in Maine regardless. See the state-by-state motorcycle guide for how this works everywhere.
Recent changes
No significant 2023-2026 statutory change identified to Maine's pursuit-policy-adoption requirement.
Sources
- legislature.maine.gov/statutes/25/title25sec2803-b.html
- mainepublic.org/courts-and-crime/2016-03-21/departments-review-policies-in-wake-
- pressherald.com/2021/01/13/maine-state-police-refuse-to-release-pursuit-policy-a
Verified as of August 2026. Department policies can change without notice — check the agency's published policy for current break-off criteria.