At least one Susan Collins, U.S. Senate campaign sign was defaced with a spray-painted swastika, probably overnight Sunday into Monday, Wiscasset Police Chief Troy Cline said Oct. 14.

A criminal mischief report will be made and the incident will be flagged as a hate crime, “because I consider (the swastika) to be a hate sign,” Cline said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. The case has been referred to the Attorney General’s Office, which handles hate crimes, the chief said.

“We have no idea who could have done it,” Cline said of the sign’s defacing.

At about 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 13, a motorist on Bath Road, or Route 1, reported seeing a swastika on a Collins sign, Cline said. Wiscasset Police Officer Perry Hatch located the sign and saw that one side of it had a swastika painted on it with black spray paint, Cline said.

Hatch then notified the Collins campaign; a motorist on Route 27 in Wiscasset also reported seeing swastikas on Collins signs Monday, but when Hatch arrived he did not find any defaced signs.

On Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League of New England commented on the Wiscasset incident and similar ones it said also occurred with Collins signs in Pittston and Farmingdale.

“The swastika is a universal symbol of hate representing fear and intimidation and has no place in any political campaign,” Robert O. Trestan, the League’s New England regional director states in Tuesday’s press release.

“The insertion of hatred into this political campaign is offensive to everyone and should be condemned by all. We hope residents of Maine from across the political spectrum will come together to support a resumption of civility for the remainder of the campaign season,” the release states.