|Debra Smith|
NGX asked Lieutenant Feeney to describe the work the Sheriff’s Office does in Cumberland County municipalities, and to unpack the monthly calls for service in New Gloucester. Lt. Feeney noted that the new sub-station in the Public Works building is working out well, and has allowed them to forge a closer working relationship with the Town’s Fire and Rescue and Public Works Departments.
Learning about the Sheriff’s Office
The Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) does much more than responding to calls from residents, traffic accidents and other events. Perhaps the best way to learn about the CCSO is to attend their Community Police Academy, taking place now through mid-May on Tuesday evenings. (Even though they began in early April, new participants are welcome). The Academy started with an introduction to the work of the CCSO and a presentation by Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS), which plays a variety of public safety roles. Each session to follow focuses on particular areas: Emergency services, jail, criminal investigations, scenarios (active shooter, traffic stops) and specialized units. See the calendar here.
Calls for Service
95% of local calls are covered by the Sheriff’s Office, though residents may choose to call the State Police, which covers a much larger area with limited staff. Occasionally, a 911 cell phone call will be routed to the State Police in Augusta rather than to CCSO dispatch.
What’s the story behind the response to the recent drugs and guns bust in New Gloucester? According to Lt. Feeney, Portland Police chose to call in the Maine State Police to help, and didn’t contact the CCSO. Another recent event, a manhunt in the Lower Village, related to a domestic protection order violation, involved CCSO and the State Police working together.
Monthly calls are summarized for each community. (NGX publishes these. See the calls for March here). In New Gloucester, the numbers are consistently highest for property checks (33 in March) and traffic violations (64 in March). Property checks are conducted at random, such as an evening stop at Link’s Variety to make sure everything is secure there. Traffic violations are for speeding and other infractions, such as running a stop sign. Lt. Feeney noted that they’d like to be able to do more traffic stops, given the prevalence of speeding, but they don’t have the staff capacity. “Attempt to Locate” (6 in March) also generally refers to traffic issues, such as attempting to find a car that was speeding from Auburn over the town line. Traffic accidents are reported with property damage (5 in March) and personal injury (4 in March).
Additional coverage?
Some towns around us contract for dedicated deputy coverage, at least part of the time. What prompts towns to do this? Population growth is a big factor, noted Feeney, but not the only factor. Some towns want more immediate response. Gray has several group homes that create a high demand for services. Gray has two deputies, and also employs MSAD 15’s school resource officer in the summer. Harpswell, with its spread-out coastal geography, has four deputies plus two marine patrol officers. Harrison has two deputies, and Standish has seven and is adding one more in July. Island communities add deputies in the summer months, when their populations burgeon.
New Gloucester’s issues, noted Feeney, “are a little bit of everything.” It doesn’t have particular issues, at this point, that would make it clearly necessary to add a dedicated deputy.
Programs in support of residents
In addition to the Community Police Academy, Lt. Feeney oversees several programs designed to support residents. The Project Life Saver Program works with residents with dementia who wander and their caregivers. CCSO staff build relationships with them, and provides GPS bracelets that allow police to locate a person if they should wander off.
Yellow Dot, similar to Vials (or Files) for Life, provides a container for medical and contact information to be kept in an individual’s car. A Yellow Dot sticker is displayed on the car, letting first responders know that this information is in the glove compartment.
NGX will share more information about CCSO and other public safety programs in coming months.
