On Thursday, March 6, the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) and Volunteers of America (VOA) Northern New England co-hosted their first Maine Statewide Convening of the year. With 52 community members registered, the event focused on advancing deflection efforts in Maine, specifically their law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD) programs and other criminal justice reform efforts. Participants emphasized the importance of collaboration between law enforcement and social services to divert individuals from the criminal justice system.
The event began with Robyn providing a brief background of the collaboration between PAARI and VOA, including details of Robyn and Tia’s presentation at PAARI’s National Law Enforcement Summit at the end of last month. Brittney from PAARI then jumped in to share updates about PAARI’s conference and opened the floor to any location suggestions for next year’s event.
Najja Morris-Frazier, Director of the LEAD National Bureau, then joined the conversation and discussed the history and evolution of the LEAD program. She shared that the program started as a legal action in 2011 in Seattle to address the disparate numbers of African American individuals being held in jail for nonviolent drug crimes. She highlighted that LEAD was the first ever program of its kind in the country and stressed the importance of stakeholder collaboration to make meaningful change.
Sheriff Jason Trundy of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office then discussed the origins of his county’s LEAD program. He explained that starting in 2017, he worked to build a community response to the opioid crisis by partnering with local organizations to implement a co-responder model and LEAD program. Sheriff Trundy emphasized the importance of giving officers additional tools in their tool belt beyond arrest to address underlying social issues that drive many calls for service.
Brandon Irwin, Behavioral Public Health Manager for Cumberland County, followed the Sheriff’s remarks by sharing how his county is facilitating the adoption of deflection. He explained that there is a focus overall on integrating public health and law enforcement approaches to divert people from the criminal justice system and connect them to services.
Bailey Pratt, the Case Manager for the LEAD program at Scarborough Police Department, joined the conversation to discuss the growth of their program, which works on an officer referral basis. Their program is used for individuals living in Scarborough or surrounding towns, and referrals are accepted for low-level charges like possession and theft. Once an individual completes the program, they are only allowed to be referred once. Over the past five years, Bailey’s team has had 74 total referrals, with 71% completing intake and having their charges diverted. They used various questionnaires and assessments to track the needs of their participants and also had participants return after extended periods of no contact, showing the program’s effectiveness.
Robyn closed the meeting by emphasizing the importance of providing services and meeting the basic needs of those in their community.
You can view the full recording of the convening HERE, and you can sign up using the registration link to attend the next Maine Statewide Convening on June 5th, 2025.
