Washington County legislators and residents offered strong support for increasing rural patrol services in the county during a recent legislative hearing, pointing to the drug crisis, the county's having the second highest violent crime rate in the state in 2020 and elderly people now being afraid to answer their doors or leave the homes. However, the realities of a projected $450 million state budget shortfall over the next two years could cast the likelihood of funding four new state trooper positions for the county in doubt.
      The two-year cost for the four additional troopers under the bill sponsored by Senator Marianne Moore of Calais is over $986,000. Along with Senator Moore's bill, Rep. John Ducharme of Madison has submitted a bill to provide funding for 24 state police positions to enhance public safety in all of the rural counties of the state, with a cost of over $6 million. Both bills were the topic of a hearing by the legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on February 24.
      Last year three bill proposals to provide more funding for rural patrol in the county were submitted, following the pullback by the Maine State Police in their services in Washington County in the summer of 2023, and all of them failed. In addition, more funding for the state police that could have helped beef up rural patrol coverage statewide ended up being cut significantly during that legislative session.
      During the hearing on Senator Moore's bill, Major Lucas Hare of the Maine State Police testified neither for nor against the bill, noting that the funding is not included in the governor's budget package. However, he stated that the additional troopers would have a direct impact not only in the communities they would be assigned to patrol but also statewide. He stated, "An increase in the number of troopers becomes a force multiplier for all law enforcement agencies in Maine -- a state that is seeing law enforcement agencies dwindling due to many small agencies having to close their doors for a myriad of reasons."
      In her testimony, Senator Moore reviewed the reduction in coverage by the state police in Washington County and how the Washington County Sheriff's Office has been forced to add more deputies. Following the implementation of a resource coordination agreement between the state police and sheriff's office in July 2023 that resulted in the pullback of state police coverage, over the following year the sheriff's office saw a 42% increase in the number of incidents it handled. The cost for additional deputies for the sheriff's office to handle those additional calls ends up being paid for by taxpayers in the county.
      Washington County Sheriff Barry Curtis backed up Senator Moore's comments, noting, "Since the Maine State Police patrol services were diminished almost completely in our county, this has put unusual pressure on my agency and negatively impacted public safety for our citizens."
      The effect on local residents caused by the reduction in law enforcement coverage was pointed to by Colleen Brown of Whiting. She cited data showing that in 2020 the county experienced the second highest violent crime rate in Maine, with nearly 1.5 violent offenses per 1,000 residents. The drug crisis, she stated, "has been a major contributor to this surge in violent crime. In 2021, Washington County accounted for 21 overdose deaths, representing 7% of the state's total, despite comprising only about 2.3% of Maine's population. This disproportionate impact emphasizes the critical need for additional law enforcement personnel to combat drug trafficking and related offenses effectively."
      Rep. Tiffany Strout of Harrington also cited statistics pointing to the need for more police coverage, pointing to a February 2022 story relating that four people were killed in the past four months in the county, with 10 people having been shot in the past five years, with drugs cited as a factor in a number of those cases. "These statistics highlight a need for a multifaceted approach to not only public safety but a healthy population," she stated. "Adding four state troopers to assist with patrol and response will not be the end to crime, but it will help with making communities safe, faster response times and a possible growth in the economy so people will want to travel to Washington County because they know they are safe as they explore."
      Another legislator, Rep. Will Tuell of East Machias, related a more personal experience. While he was knocking on doors in a rural neighborhood last summer during his election bid, "I encountered something I've never seen in 10 years of knocking on doors. House after house would not answer the door when I knocked." When he was able to finally speak with a woman at the door, she explained that she and her neighbors were nervous about people coming to their homes because things were missing from the neighborhood and there were rumors of drug activity. He then heard similar stories from other people, many of whom were elderly, who "were scared to leave their homes, knew that there wasn't any law enforcement within 20-30 minutes on a good day, and had pretty much resigned to the fact that they had to watch out for their own property." He stated, "If we are going to fight crime in Maine, we need to have a visible, active, responsive police presence, and nowhere is that more true than in Washington County."
      David Burns, chair of the Washington County commissioners, noted that presently the sheriff's office is not able to provide regular rural traffic patrol of Washington County because of the number of calls for service they now receive. "Deputies rarely have time to provide traffic enforcement, due to the number of other calls for service. An example of that would be the diminished number or drunk driver arrests." He added, "This lack of law enforcement's ability to provide adequate highway public safety through regular patrol is extremely concerning and detrimental to Washington County citizens and the thousands who visit our county annually."
      Dave Marshall of Maine County Commissioners Association also supported the bill, noting that last year the Maine State Police proposed adding 32 new state police positions to provide needed coverage, with only 16 of those positions being funded. He cautioned that the association's support for Senator Moore's bill is conditioned on the state providing similar support to meet the patrol needs of all of state's rural counties. The Maine Municipal Association (MMA) also supported having the state invest in the staffing needs of the state police so that law enforcement services are strengthened statewide and not just in one county. Rebecca Graham of MMA noted, "Municipal officials are expressing serious concerns over the shifting tax burden for law enforcement services in rural areas ? services that have traditionally been supported through partnerships between well-resourced state and local agencies, including county governments." She added, "The need for a coordinated, bipartisan approach to rural policing is urgent. Every town and city in the state relies on these shared resources, and when they become unavailable, public safety in those areas is put at significant risk."
      The committee will hold a work session on both bills in the coming weeks.