County Drug Force Funding Eliminated But Could Return
Drug Task Force Short-Staffed Amid Crisis
ELLSWORTH—With fentanyl on the streets, in the homes, and in the bodies of many Hancock County residents and NARCAN considered a necessary life-supporting resource, Sheriff Scott Kane hopes to remedy the situation where the drug task force in Hancock County is short personnel and not currently a part of the Hancock County’s $11 million budget, which requires 37 municipalities to pay portions of its $8,607,094. Bar Harbor’s share is $1,105,370.
The task force typically has two Hancock County Sheriff’s deputies on it. That’s not currently the case.
The county budget funds the Hancock County Regional Communications Center (approximately $1,276,00), the sheriff’s patrol budget (approximately $2,296,000), and some drug task force funding at approximately $138,000. The jail budget is another $2,211,000.
“The drug problem hasn’t gotten any smaller,” Kane told the Bar Harbor Story in an interview. He compared efforts to slow the problem to a three-legged stool, with the legs being treatment, enforcement, and education.
“If you take one away, you’re not going to have success,” he said.
A recent January drug bust of six Hancock County residents underscored the problem. Task force agents found 35 grams of fentanyl, 20 grams of crack cocaine, 200 strips of Suboxone, other diverted pharmaceutical drugs and approximately $9000.
WHY TASK FORCE DEPUTIES AREN’T CURRENTLY FUNDED
According to the Ellsworth American, in October 2023, at the Hancock County Budget Advisory Committee former Hancock County Sheriff and Hancock County Commissioner William Clark suggested that two Hancock County officers on the task force be defunded because, he said, the Maine State police were no longer supporting a call sharing agreement. That claim was then refuted by the state police.
The Bangor Daily News also reported that the state police were reducing rural patrols, which increases the patrolling workload for the sheriff’s department. Both the state police and sheriff’s department have provided coverage to towns without their own police forces. Both are suffering from a shortage of officers to fill their positions, which is not isolated to Maine.
The state police just funded 31 new positions and the state added $5.5 million dollars to its budget and is actively seeking out blue pins (Maine Criminal Justice Academy graduates). The Maine State Police Academy has shortened from 10 weeks to 6 weeks. This is an additional training after the regular academy training.
At the Hancock County Commissioners’ meeting this week, there was discussion about two candidates to fill an open deputy position at the sheriff’s department. Both would require buy-outs from other agencies.
At the same time, other officers have been promoted, including Dakota Dupuis who is now a lieutenant and Marcus Downes, Rob Morang, and Kyle Kramer who are now sergeants. Brian Archer became a lieutenant last month.
Former Chief Deputy Jon Mahon is back to patrol as it was a temporary position. That position is open.
Lt. Tim Cote is now a detective with the Hancock County District Attorney’s Office. Sgt. Daniel Harlan is at the Brewer Police Department. Lt. Jacob Day is heading into the private sector. There is a vacant patrol deputy position. The Maine State Police has an open job posting that has no closing date for applications. That was first posted in 2021.
As things continued to evolve in the budget process, officers left in the sheriff’s department and Kane had to pull an officer from the task force to provide regular coverage for the county. Short-handed, they needed more resources on day-to-day patrols. Chris Thorton, retired from Hancock County but continues as supervisor of the task force and is employed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. With no deputy to pay for, the county pulled it from the budget.
Hancock County Sheriff Scott Kane is hoping that will change soon. The commissioners have agreed if the state funds the open position, they’d fund the others, Kane said. Kane said that he’s had assurances that the state police administration will put the money into the state budget in July, if the sheriff’s department can find an officer to fill the position. Complicating matters a bit is that the county budget runs from January 1 to December 31 while the state budget runs from July 1 to June 30.
COSTS OF THE DRUG EPIDEMIC
The costs of the drug problem, Kane said, are self-evident. There are human lives impacted along with thousands of dollars in court, jail, treatment, rehabilitation and education, and medical costs as people struggle to deal with addictions. People die. People go to jail. Those events heavily impact a community and impact families.
“Kids are growing up without their parents,” he said. Families of people he grew up have been ripped apart because of illegal drugs. He sees the arrests, the jail visits, the court dates, the recovery, and sometimes the funerals.
In 2021 on International Overdoes Awareness Day, Healthy Acadia held a vigil, placing 56 pairs of empty shoes, meant to represent people who died because of overdoses in Hancock County between 2017 and 2021.
Those numbers have increased. In Hancock County in 2022, there were 24 people who died of confirmed and suspected overdoses. In 2023, that number was 22. In two years, the total of overdose deaths were 46, ten less than the numbers for the five-year range between 2017 and 2021.
“All our officers carry NARCAN,” Kane said.
But it has to be there and it has to be used. Approximately 73% of fatal overdoses in Maine are men. The largest age group of those deaths is between 40 and 59 years old. Most are white. Approximately 12% are transient or not domiciled. Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose death (alone or in conjunction with other drugs).
“Many times, they commit a crime, they end up in a jail,” Kane said of people who are using drugs.
Once they are in jail, they are offered counseling and medical treatment. When they walk out the door, he said, they get NARCAN.
“It’s a miracle. It’s almost instantaneous,” Kane said of how quickly NARCAN works.
Hancock County EMS responded to 255 non-fatal drug overdoses between January and December of 2023 according to data from the “Maine Monthly Overdose Report.”
DRUG TASK FORCE HISTORY
Back in 2003, the Drug Enforcement Task Force wasn’t an easy sell. At the same meeting that it appointed Jim Willis to be its new police chief, the Mount Desert Island Selectboard refused to initially back the task force being proposed by then Sheriff William Clark and Hancock County Commissioner Fay Lawson. At the time, according to a Bangor Daily News article by Liz Chapman, Clark said, “If we can’t get the Legislature to fund this after two years, that’s it. We’ve given it our best shot.”
Selectman Jerry Suminsby had spoken in favor of the proposal despite its $200,000 price tag. Instead, the board wanted the town to decide.
At the time, there was no funding mechanism for Hancock County to be part of the state’s residential agent program via the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. The officers are sworn in as MDEA agents so that they can arrest and investigate outside their own towns.
The initial budget funded replacement officers for the Sheriff’s Department, Ellsworth, and Bar Harbor police departments. By 2004, the Ellsworth American headlines were talking about the task force making “mega busts.” At the time, MDEA Director Roy McKinney said that “the drug problem is going to be a continual challenge.”
The first year of the task force, drug-related arrests increased to 52 in the year. In 2003, there had only been eight.
By 2005, the costs for the task force decreased to $145,000. In 2006, it was just $110,00. And in 2007 it was down to $62,985 for the county. The state paid $65,000. An additional $56,000 came through drug-related seizures.
The state took over more of the costs. The composition of the task force also changed. Two of the positions came through the Sheriff’s department instead of one, one was funded via the county budget, Kane said.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE ON THE TASK FORCE
“Drug investigations,” Kane said, “aren’t like investigating an auto accident.”
It takes legwork, leads, time.
For members of the Downeast Drug Task Force investigating drug-related crimes is different that patrolling their towns.
“It’s a cross between cultivating knowledge, which is like confidential informants or any informants, and hours and hours of surveillance watching people’s homes or sitting on the side of the road waiting for a specific vehicle coming back from a drug run,” said one former agent.
Add in report writing and evidence documentation and it’s a lot of exacting investigative work.
“It’s just getting to see the people—all types of people—You encounter the full gamut of society. To be truly effective, one of the best parts of it for any regular cop is you have to be super knowledgeable about current case law,” he said.
A member might have to kick down doors, perform unannounced search warrants, search in ceilings and even toilets for contraband.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://mainedrugdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2023-12-ME_OD_Report-Final.pdf
Downeast Partnerships for Success
Downeast Substance Prevention Coalition
Down East Recovery Supports Guide
Maine Alliance for Recovery Coaching (Maine-ARC)
This article is part of a series about drugs and their impact on MDI and Hancock County.
Disclosure: Many years ago, Shaun Farrar, my husband and co-writer for the Bar Harbor Story was on the Hancock County Drug Task Force.
Update: Thank you to everyone who told me the plural of busses with two ‘S’s is not the preferred way to spell it even though it is my preferred way to spell it. It’s not technically incorrect, but it’s not popular, which might be an objective correlative for me, actually. Anyway, as always, we’re doing this all ourselves while trying to work full time and support our family, so we appreciate all your help so much! Thank you!