Official seeks shift in police coverage

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Drawing lines in a “sandbox” to identify specific police coverage areas under call sharing is no longer a good idea considering the economic conditions throughout the state, a top law enforcement official said.

Instead, there should be a “brokering” of services among local, county and state police, Mark Dion, Cumberland County sheriff and president of the Maine Sheriff’s Association, said Monday.

The Maine State Police Department’s call-sharing agreement, on its surface, seems to be the answer for everything, Dion said, but “the devil’s” in the details in how the officers are deployed. That is an issue that has caused frustration among some county officials where it is practiced.

Under various call-sharing agreements, the state police alternate coverage areas with county officers.

Designed to allow smaller communities a greater police presence, to provide faster services to residents and to alleviate some of the pressure on county police, call sharing was hailed initially by many county law enforcement officials.

But after a few years, frustrations have been aired about the agreement at sheriff association meetings, and the agreement has been criticized by some who earlier had embraced it.

Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin this month chose not to renew the agreement, citing a lack of cooperation among some troopers who don’t typically patrol the region. Some of these troopers respond to a call and then leave the region with the reports without relaying the information to local deputies, which causes delays, he said. Goggin said he has no problem with local troopers who are assigned to the region and who patrol it routinely.

Goggin’s concerns about the program were discussed Friday in a meeting with Col. Michael Sperry of the Maine State Police. “I think he realizes now what our concerns have been right along,” Goggin said.

In a telephone call Friday, Sperry called the meeting productive and said concerns from both the state police and Sheriff’s Department were discussed. He said state police would meet with county officials in a few weeks to revisit the concerns. “I thought it was a very frank discussion and very honest,” he said.

While there are those unhappy with the agreement, Sperry said state police in recent months had signed a new call-sharing agreement with Washington County and expects by late October to sign a similar one with Aroostook County. The state now has active agreements with 11 of the 16 counties.

Goggin also said Monday’s meeting was productive. He said another meeting would be held to further discuss the program. But, he added, that does not necessarily mean another call-sharing agreement. He said his department still intends to work with the Maine State Police. For example, if there is an emergency situation and a trooper is closer to the scene than a deputy, the trooper will be asked to respond, he said.

Dion, whose county does not have an agreement with state police, said he has heard the concerns about the agreement. As an alternative to call sharing, he has proposed brokering services. He said a joint meeting could be held where each agency could set priorities and hash out what services they want and can provide, similar to the MDEA and its drug enforcement. This way, each agency would develop expertise and a sense of accomplishment and all agencies could share that expertise, he explained. Rather than be competitive, the agencies can complement one another, Dion suggested.

“There is an absolute role for both [the state police and the county sheriff’s department],” Dion said. However, “we cannot afford to build two separate service agencies to cover the same issues.” As an example, one neighbor might call the state police to investigate a burglary and the other neighbor might call the Sheriff’s Department to cover a similar event. That represents two agencies investigating crimes on adjoining properties, yet the information often is not exchanged. Because burglars tend to be “binge criminals,” that information exchange is vital, he said.

The economic crisis is a huge opportunity for law enforcement to change if the move is in the right direction, Dion said. “It’s opened the door to talk about real public safety strategy across the state with a regional focus,” he said. Law enforcement must talk about more integrated coordination, the official stated.

Although Dion admits his idea is a little “risky,” he said it is time to clean the sandbox and start all over. “It is time for us as sheriffs, chiefs of police and colonels to ‘throw deep’ and rearrange the entire sandbox.” It might make some individuals uncomfortable, he acknowledged. “But it is an opportunity to take on change in an unprecedented fashion if we have courage to do it.”