AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine State Police are reorganizing.
At a press conference Tuesday, Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said it was months in the making. But he and Colonel John Cote shared a version of a presentation they had given to the Maine Sheriffs' Association and other law enforcement back in May.
Among the changes, MSP's eight territories, or "troops," will be condensed into six larger ones.
An overnight shift will also be added. Right now, troopers take turns being on-call overnight. Despite a whole new shift and expanded territory, Cote insisted his troopers won’t be stretched thin and Mainers shouldn’t notice a difference in coverage.
"If you have a trooper that lives two houses down and he patrols your area, that trooper’s still gonna live there and patrol your area," Cote said. "This does not involve us pulling any resources."
One change that could be noticeable, however, is the state's supplemental budget, which was signed in April and supports the hiring of behavior health specialists. In its proposal, the agency plans to hire five specialists. One will help troopers at the academy; the others will work across the state.
"Law enforcement, many times, we can’t provide the solution," Cote explained. "We don’t have the solution to provide. But if we can make those connections to the people that have the solution, I know our people are gonna welcome that."
Mary-Anne LaMarre, executive director of the Maine Sheriffs' Association, responded to our request for comment Tuesday, writing, in part, “The reorganization will largely impact the administrative design of MSP and have minimal impact on the actual day-to-day activities and duties in the field.”
Questions still loom as agency leaders redacted data from the presentation, saying they didn’t want criminals to use it against them.
The reorganization should begin to take shape in January next year.