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Lawmakers in Maine are taking action to address the critical staffing shortages plaguing law enforcement agencies across the state.
Legislators recently tabled a new bill aimed at addressing the widespread recruitment and retention challenges faced by police departments, following a testimony from the Department of Public Safety opposing the measure.
The proposed bill, known as L.D. 2094, seeks to establish a collaborative effort led by the Department of Public Safety to engage stakeholders from the law enforcement community.
These stakeholders, according to legislators, would be tasked with analyzing the root causes of low recruitment and retention rates in police departments statewide and proposing effective solutions.
Concerns about the staffing crisis have been mounting, with department leaders reporting a significant decline in applications for law enforcement positions along with a surge in retirements.
Officials believe several factors have contributed to this trend, including evolving work attitudes, the complexities of addressing homelessness and mental health crises and negative public perceptions of law enforcement following high-profile incidents such as George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and subsequent protests.
“It’s cutthroat in law enforcement these days,” Gardiner Police Chief Todd Pilsbury said. “Because it’s really difficult. You’re not getting the numbers from years ago that want to do the job.”
According to police leaders, the staffing shortages have resulted in overworked personnel vulnerable to burnout, exacerbating the strain on law enforcement agencies.
While some well-funded departments have managed to fill vacancies through lateral hires from other agencies, this approach has only worsened the shortage in other departments.
At a recent public hearing before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, leaders from organizations like the Maine Association of Police and the Maine Fraternal Order of Police voiced their support for L.D. 2094 as a positive step towards addressing recruitment challenges.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Scott of the Maine State Police raised concerns about the bill, citing concerns about the extensive time and resources required to conduct a comprehensive analysis of law enforcement agencies across the state.
“The ask of this working group is very robust and would take hundreds of staff hours to complete,” he said. “We’re just hoping to focus our efforts on state police at this time.”
According to Scott, the department would be willing to engage in discussions on recruitment and retention, but need to prioritize addressing their own staffing issues first.
The bill’s sponsor, Senate President Troy Jackson, also spoke on the importance of bringing together stakeholders to address the crisis.
He noted that while the Department of Public Safety was not involved in discussions about the bill’s specifics or potential amendments, bipartisan support exists for taking action to address the staffing shortages.
Paul Gaspar with the Maine Law Enforcement Coalition agreed that there needs to be urgent action, or else Maine’s law enforcement numbers will fall below adequate.
“We’re in dire straits,” Gaspar said. “We’re hoping that if we can at least get stakeholders to the table, we’ll be able to at least begin the process of trying to recreate our ranks. If we don’t, we will continue to spiral downward. To do nothing is almost as bad as doing the wrong thing.”
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