Presque Isle Police Chief Chris Hayes has noticed an increase in emergency calls in recent months and wanted to have a mental health professional on-site at the department so officers can respond to people who need counseling.
That wish became a reality about three weeks ago with the addition of in-house social workers from Aroostook Mental Health Services, which provides counseling, support and crisis intervention in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock counties.
Police are often the first to respond when people are in crisis. But law enforcement officers are not trained in counseling, and the few facilities that can refer people in distress often lack the space and staff. This partnership, the first of its kind in Aroostook County, adds resources to the Presque Isle Police Department’s team to help connect people to critical help and prevent relapses.
“What the public is seeing right now in terms of mental health is a lack of resources,” Hayes said. “There are a lot of people working really hard, but there’s not enough staff and there’s not enough beds.”
Other police departments in Maine are also incorporating social workers and counselors into their teams: Bangor launched the initiative in 2022, while Brunswick, Topsham and Sagadahoc counties introduced it last fall, and Presque Isle began working with Aroostook Mental Health Services’ Mobile Response in 2023.
Hayes said that for about the past 18 years, the Presque Isle Police Department has received an average of 7,600 calls per year. Based on data from the first five months of 2024, he expects calls this year to reach 14,000, with 70 percent of those likely to be mental health-related.
Drug use, homelessness and mental health are often intertwined, and that’s not unique to Presque Isle, he said, after speaking with police experts in places including Boston, where he previously worked, and his hometown of Galway, Ireland, where officers face the same situation.
In addition to the devastating death toll from COVID-19, Hayes said, the system has also broken. Staffing shortages have affected everything from retail to health care to police. Like everyone else, police are short-staffed and often have to make the scene safe and rush to the next call, he said.
Ultimately, police departments don’t have the expertise or time to respond to every mental health call, and don’t have enough locations to send people who need help, which means more and more people don’t get treatment and relapse.
Hayes recalled dealing with someone who was experiencing a mental illness episode.
“I asked the person their name, and they said, ‘I’m the forgotten one,'” he said. “It’s bad for the officers’ mental health because they feel like they’re not accomplishing anything.”
Hayes, who became deputy chief two years ago and chief in February, began thinking about solutions.
Meanwhile, Aroostook Mental Health Services, known locally as AMHC, has changed procedures due to an evolution of Maine’s behavioral health plan, which has many aims to increase local crisis care and divert interventions away from busy hospitals and prisons.
As a result, the agency’s formerly hospital-based staff can no longer receive support through state contract funding, said Sarah Wright, the agency’s program director, who would have had to go to a site that met the criteria for community-based care.
“I know the volume of mental health calls that police handle because I receive them,” she said. “Presque Isle is by far one of the areas in Aroostook County that receives behavioral health calls.”
Wright said some officers are trained in crisis intervention, but not all of them. AMHC counselors are trained to talk to people, calm situations and recommend resources.
Bangor and other areas of Maine have begun utilizing social workers for certain calls, so it seemed appropriate to try something similar in Presque Isle, Wright said.
She worked with Hays last year to launch a mobile answering service, and both were looking to expand their partnership.
So, starting the first week of May, three AMHC staff members became police crisis liaisons, sharing a dedicated office in the police station. They work seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
When police officers are called to a scene where a mental health issue is suspected, a counsellor on duty will also wear a protective vest and accompany them on the call.
Staff are enthusiastic about being able to prevent people from being in danger and reduce the strain on police, said Wright, who has seen the program evolve, consulting with Hayes.
“I think of this as being like assembling an airplane while it’s flying. This is the first time we’ve done anything like this in Aroostook County,” she said.
Wright didn’t have specific numbers on how many calls the dispatchers have handled, but she plans to discuss the numbers with Hayes and determine what’s worked and what hasn’t at the end of each month. She also said AMHC is ready if other police departments want to join.
Hayes believes the program will be beneficial to many people who feel intimidated by the police’s imposing presence and guns. Having someone not in uniform accompany officers may help ease people’s fears, he said.
The department is also training a therapy dog, Maggie Sue, a chocolate Newfoundland, to provide comfort to victims and children after trauma.
He knows many departments currently have oversight over Presque Isle and is confident the new system will make a difference.
“We’re fighting and we’re not going to stop fighting,” he said. “Right now, we’re providing better service than we’ve ever provided before.”
