Medford panel votes 3-0 to send police masking ordinance to council

Medford City Council · Meeting of July 15, 2026

Medford council committee votes 3-0 to advance police identification and anti-masking ordinance. The Public Health and Community Safety Committee sent Council Paper 26031, sponsored by Councilor Callahan and co-sponsored by Councilor Seng, to the full council after a roll call in which Callahan, Seng and Vice President Lazaro, who presided, all voted yes; Councilors Lemming and Scarpelli were absent. Callahan said the measure was prompted by recent deaths she attributed to ICE enforcement, including three in the past week in Texas, Maine and during a detention transfer, and was developed with input from Medford People Power, the ACLU and Police Chief Buckley.

The ordinance would bar officers from masking except in five exceptions and require them to display name or badge number, plus a "duty to verify" another agency's identification when practicable. Resident Hilah Darcy said the department's "communications record, shall we say, is less than stellar," while resident Cyan McDermott said she has "faith" in Chief Buckley based on a personal conversation.

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Source: the Medford City Council meeting of July 15, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.