As mental health calls increase, Maine police seek and find backup ways to respond
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During his first six months as the Biddeford Police Department s community engagement specialist, Jacob Hammer has handled 314 referrals of people in crisis or struggling with their mental health. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
On June 16, one man called Biddeford police more than 15 times. Sometimes he told dispatchers he needed to talk about his mental health, other times his words didn’t make much sense. He said he didn’t need police officers to check on him, but he kept calling back anyway.
Calls like these to local police departments are increasingly common in Maine and across the country, prompting public safety officials to re-examine how they’re interacting with people with mental illness and to hire mental health clinicians better equipped to work with people in crisis.
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Jason Jacob displays Fuji red apples Monday in the produce section of EatWell in Columbia. Jacob has been an employee since October while studying at the Boone County Fire Protection District, aspiring to be a firefighter in St. Louis. A lot of times you do your work and go home, Jacob said. Nobody tells you did a good job.
Trenton Almgren-Davis/Missourian
Mayor Brian Treece, left, talks with Polly Traxler, a longtime employee of the Schnucks store at Forum Shopping Center, on Monday at EatWell in Columbia. Treece presented a certificate acknowledging his appreciation of front-line workers to Traxler and cashier Roberto Cordero, who was representing the EatWell store in honor of Supermarket Employee Day. Schnucks and other companies in the food market around the nation recognized their front-line employees Monday.