As Presque Isle Police Chief Chris Hayes saw crisis calls rise in recent months, he wished there was a mental health professional based in the station to help officers deal with people in need of counseling.
That wish became a reality about three weeks ago with the addition of in-house social workers from Aroostook Mental Health Services Inc., which serves Aroostook, Washington and Hancock counties with counseling, support and crisis intervention.
Police are often the first to respond when people experience a crisis. But law enforcement staff aren’t trained in counseling, and the few places to refer those in need often lack space and staff. In the first partnership of its kind in Aroostook County, Presque Isle officers now have someone on their team to help steer people to crucial help and away from relapsing.
“What the public are seeing now as far as mental health is because of the staffing crisis,” Hayes said. “There are a lot of people working as hard as they possibly can, but the staff and beds aren’t there.”
Other Maine police departments are integrating social workers or counselors into their teams. Bangor started the practice in 2022, and Brunswick, Topsham and Sagadahoc County came on board last fall. Presque Isle started working in 2023 with Aroostook Mental Health Services’ Mobile Response.
Over the past 18 years or so, the Presque Isle department has averaged 7,600 calls per year, Hayes said. With data from the first five months of 2024, he expects to hit 14,000 calls this year, with 70 percent of those likely related to mental health.
Often, substance use, homelessness and mental health are entwined. And it’s not just in Presque Isle, he said. He has talked with police professionals in various places, including Boston, where he once served, and his native Galway, Ireland, where officers face the same situations.
Along with COVID-19’s devastating death toll, it also broke systems, Hayes said. Staffing shortages affected everything from retail to health care to law enforcement. Like everyone else, police are stretched thin, so they often have to make a scene safe and rush on to the next call, he said.
The bottom line: Police don’t have the expertise or the time to deal with all the mental health calls, and there aren’t enough places to send people who need help. That means more and more people remain untreated and headed for relapse.
Hayes recalled responding to someone experiencing a mental health episode.
“I asked the person their name, and they replied, ‘I am the forgotten,’” he said. “It’s hard on the officers’ mental health, because they feel like they’re achieving nothing.”
Hayes, who became deputy chief two years ago and chief in February, started thinking about solutions.
Meanwhile, Aroostook Mental Health Services — known locally as AMHC — had experienced a change in procedure due to Maine’s evolving behavioral health plan, which among many points seeks to increase community crisis care and divert interventions away from busy hospitals and jails.
As a result, agency staff once based in hospitals are no longer supported by state contract funds, said Sarah Wright, the agency’s program director. Those staff needed a place to go that would fit community-based care parameters.
“I know what kinds of numbers law enforcement puts up for mental health calls because I receive the reports,” she said. “Presque Isle, by leaps and bounds, had some of the highest behavioral health calls out of Aroostook County.”
Though some officers have crisis intervention training, not all do, Wright said. AMHC counselors are trained to talk with people, de-escalate situations and recommend resources.
Since Bangor and other Maine locations had started using social workers on certain calls, it seemed appropriate to try something similar in Presque Isle, Wright said.
She worked with Hayes to launch the mobile response service last year and both wanted to grow the partnership.
So, during the first week of May, three AMHC staff members became crisis police liaisons and now share a dedicated office at the police station. They work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
When officers are called to a scene with a possible mental health component, the counselor on duty also dons a protective vest and accompanies them on the call.
Staff are enthused because they’ve been able to avert crises for people and take some of the stress off police, Wright said. She sees the program evolving as she and Hayes compare notes.
“I kind of liken this to building a plane in flight. This is the first time we’ve done this in Aroostook County,” she said.
Wright doesn’t have specific numbers of calls the liaisons have attended, but she and Hayes will talk numbers and determine what worked and what didn’t at the end of each month. And if other police departments want in, AMHC is ready, she said.
Hayes believes the program will benefit many people who are intimidated by police because they exude authority and carry guns. Having someone who isn’t in uniform accompany the officers may calm people’s fears, he said.
The department is also training a therapy dog, a chocolate-brown Newfoundland named Maggie Sue, to help comfort trauma victims and children.
He knows a lot of departments are watching Presque Isle now and is confident the new system will make a difference.
“We’re fighting and we’re not going to stop fighting,” he said. “Now we’re offering a better service than we ever did before.”
