Maine State Police propose reducing local call coverage to counties

Officials with the Maine State Police say it's time for some changes when it comes to shared call coverage in counties.

Colonel John Cote of the Maine State Police says, "We call them resource sharing agreements. Basically, they are a formal agreement that we enter into with other agencies about how we are going to deploy available manpower to provide coverage in certain areas."

Maine State Police have these agreements with eight of the sixteen counties in the state.

Revisions have been made to many of these agreements over the years, but some of them haven't been changed in roughly 20 years.

Right now, coverage of 911 calls are divided 50-50 between State Police and sheriff's deputies with the two agencies covering different parts of a county simultaneously.

Cote says, "In certain areas and at certain times, we are over committed by this 50 percent obligation we have in each county. We're recognizing we don't have the capacity to handle some of the calls for service that are coming in. Part of that is that our responsibilities go far beyond those county borders."

Cote says they've had multiple meetings with county officials and the proposal from State Police is to now respond to only a third of the calls.

He says, "We've asked them, hey if you aren't able to do this, what's a better way? And they have not returned with any type of rebuttal."

As it stands now, Cote says they'll end the current agreement as of January 1st unless a counter proposal is offered.

He says, "Certainly completely dissolving these agreements is not our first choice and would not be what we prefer, but the status quo is just not an option for us right now."

Cote says folks at home don't need to worry. These proposed reduced call share agreements won't affect the quality of service public safety provides.

He says, "We would never let lines on a map or any type of call sharing agreement tie our peoples' hands from responding to the most important calls that come in."

We've been reaching out to some of the affected counties.

We'll hear from at least one of them coming up Monday on TV5 News.