(Photo by Douglas Sacha/Getty Images)
A new legislative proposal aims to add behavioral health specialists to Maine State Police staff to assist with thousands of 911 calls from people with mental health challenges, particularly in the large rural Aroostook County.
In 2022, state police requested and received funding for five behavioral health coordinator positions in Gov. Janet Mills’ supplemental budget. However, with increasing mental and behavioral health challenges police are responding to, Rep. Joseph Underwood (R-Presque Isle) proposed adding three positions, including a coordinator to oversee all the behavioral health specialists. The positions are intended to help divert people to services and away from the criminal justice system when appropriate, according to the state police.
“We are consistently being asked by other police departments for their help, and we try to do that as much as possible, but it’s a finite resource. There are five of them, and there’s only so many hours in the day,” said Lucas Hare, major of the operations division for Maine State Police.
Over the past two years, these specialists have assisted with calls ranging from community disruptions, reports of overdoses, assisting elderly people, and visiting homeless encampments, according to state police reports. In 2023, these five specialists, who are trained social workers, responded to more than 1,200 calls according to an annual report by the state police. Of those, more than half included referrals to community mental health services with the Maine branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
But NAMI Maine is opposed to adding the positions, saying law enforcement should not be involved in assisting communities with mental and behavioral health needs, and that funding should instead be directed to provider networks to help people without getting police involved.
“If we continue to ask law enforcement to respond to what is a medical condition, then we are continuing to promote that stigma, instead of, again, diverting as soon as possible and whenever possible, over to the appropriate resources,” said Hannah Longley, director of advocacy and crisis intervention with NAMI Maine.
“We’re going to advocate that any funding that is for behavioral health or mental health services stays in the mental health system.”
Hare said calls coming into 911 systems are often as a last resort.
“When these people are reaching us, other parts of the system have not worked for them,” Hare said.
However, Maine State Police testified neither for nor against the proposal, which would cost about $400,000 over the next two years, although the agency vouched for its benefits.
The Legislature is currently facing a $450 million budget deficit. As part of her proposal to close that gap, Gov. Janet Mills is suggesting several cuts to programs that have passed but not yet been implemented. This includes $1.9 million that was set aside by the Legislature last year to fund 24 law enforcement liaison positions tasked with coordinating between behavioral health organizations and law enforcement agencies.
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