Mic check. Mic check.
Hello. Welcome to our uh Tuesday evening
special council meeting on youth gun
violence. We're going to kick things off
as we always do with the pledge of
allegiance. And uh we are grateful to
have uh Lieutenant St. Laurent here who
will lead us in the pledge.
and justice for all.
» Thank you very much, Lieutenant. I
appreciate it. Uh, okay. Thank you all
for coming. Uh, here's a quick rundown
and then we'll get started. So, we are
going to hear from, uh, presenters. They
are Lewon Police Chief uh Carly Connley,
Andrew Scoggin County District Attorney
Neil Mlan, Lewon High School
Superintendent Jake Langless, New
Beginnings Executive Director Chris
Bicknell, Duncan Pierre, and Christine
Thibo from uh the Department of
Corrections. So, we will hear from each
uh presenter. the chief, as you can see,
uh will go first and then the council
will have time for questions. Uh and
then we will uh work through the
presenters and then uh I'll give uh some
time for the council to to weigh in with
their with their thoughts and then we
will head to uh public comment in an
orderly fashion. If we can keep uh
chatter in the in the hall to a minimum,
if you need to talk, please text
yourselves or uh or head out to the
lobby. And this is also being broadcast
online. Uh if you miss any part of it,
uh you'll be able to watch it later. Uh
thank you all and uh Chief, off to you.
» Thank you for having me. Uh I I want to
just start by saying thank you to
everybody for uh taking the time to come
out here this evening and and talk about
this and and hear about this. It's it's
a pretty pretty important topic. Um so
again, I want to say thank you for
taking the time out of out of your
summer evening to come hear about this.
Um, so basically what I'm going to do is
I'm I'm just going to speak a little
bit. I have I have a uh slideshow and
I'm just going to go over some of the
issues that we're seeing um what I would
call, you know, the boots on the ground
level um as far as what law enforcement
is seeing. Um
so the first slide you're you're going
to see here is um just our shooting
statistics. Um, we've had in 2026, we've
had 19 shootings. And in this slide,
what we're looking to just show you is
sort of the comparison. Um, as far as
last year, it's actually the same as
last year. Um, we break it down by
month, and you can see that, um, in
April of this year, we really had a a
quite a bit of an increase in our
shootings.
This next slide talks about um the adult
versus juvenile involvement in our
shootings. Um I I think we've been
pretty open about that. Um we've really seen a quite quite a rise in
shootings um involving juveniles. So in
2026, we have had seven shootings that
have involved adults. Um and then we've
had 12 that have involved juveniles.
some of the 2026 shooting statistics for
the PD. So, this is this is what we look
at when we're looking at um what
shootings were solving, our clearance
rates um along with uh gun seizures uh
at the police department. So thus far in
2026 uh we have solved 13 of the 19
shootings which equates to 68%.
Um and one thing of note for that
one thing for note of that that I I
would I would touch on is that the
national average clearance rate for
shootings uh is 31%.
Uh
>> we need to put in a full mode instead of
the slides instead of no. Hold on one
sec.
I'll do the
» one that's
>> we're trying to help here.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Full mode. Sorry, I'm leaving.
>> Yep.
>> Give us one second, please.
Did we just stay on the screen that we
were on?
>> The display settings are at the bottom
of the
or they're at the top there. Yeah, it's
different on our screens because we're
streaming this week. So,
>> there we go.
>> Thank you.
>> We made We made it. Thank you. Chief,
please continue.
>> Right. We'll start again. [gasps]
» All right. So, um the slide we left off
on was uh the shooting clearances and
gun seizures at the police department.
As I mentioned, um for 2026, we've
solved or cleared uh 68% of our
shootings. Um, obviously we'd like to
solve all of them. That that's our goal.
Um, but, uh, as I mentioned, we're, you
know, double more than double the the
national average in that in that regard.
So, we've been very fortunate. Our staff
has done a great job at at really
investigating these and trying to bring
them to closure. Um, out of those
shootings, we've had eight adult arrests
and 19. So, you're looking at more than
double um, juvenile arrests.
In 2026, the Lewis Police Department has
seized uh 44 guns. 41 of those handguns
and then three rifles and shotguns. And
the one thing I'll mention about that is
when we talk about gun seizures, those
are actual criminal cases where we seize
guns. Um not not guns that we, you know,
have because of protection from abuse
orders or yellow flags or things like
that. These are true uh criminal cases.
So as I mentioned, as you saw in the
slide, uh you know, the true increase uh
that we noticed was uh in April, right,
for shootings, we had nine shootings in
April. Um so as a result, uh we respond
our response to that um was to one of
the things we did is we increased foot
patrols in the city. um in the month of
May and June alone, we did more than 50
foot patrols in the city of Lewon. Um
reallocated our patrol and specialized
units. So we have a community resource
team. We have a crime reduction unit. Um
so so we moved that around. We moved um
some of the you know detectives
divisions around and really focused on
specific areas, specific times of day,
things like that. Um also worked with
our federal partners that are in the
building. We've conducted saturation
details in the city. Um and then the
results of of that in May and June, um
we had 28 arrests, 21 juveniles, seven
adults. We seized 11 guns and five of
those were found to be stolen. And the
thing that I'll just point out here in
regards to the juveniles, uh five repeat
offenders in just just one month's time
frame.
some of the resources and investigative
tools that that we use and that we work
with as an agency. And obviously this
doesn't encompass all of them, but um
you know, one of one of the things that
we have at at our agency that we're the
only police department in the state that
has uh basically every federal partner
in our building. Um so a lot of police
departments in around the state have
what they call task force officers. So
they assign those officers, patrol
officers or detectives um to work with
federal partners. So it could be DEA,
ATF, Homeland Security. Uh we do the
same. FBI is another one, but every one
of those individuals has an office space
at RPD. So that's a huge resource to us
because it makes a diff it's the
difference between walking down the hall
and knocking on someone's door and
saying we have a case that we think
might be a good federal case versus
calling them in Portland and trying to
coordinate that way. Um the other thing
that that we we have been very fortunate
um to have is our flock system. Um our
automatic license plate reader. uh this
year alone since we've had it, it's
assisted in solving six shootings and
recovered three guns. And that's just
the shootings and guns. It's it's been
involved in in helping us with
kidnappings, domestic violence, uh you
name it. It's been a huge resource.
And then one of the other things, we
don't have this yet, but we're we're
pretty excited about getting it. Uh we
received this uh this was budgeted and
it's called the Skyio first responder
drone. Um, so we should be getting that
within the next few months. And what
this drone does is it has the ability to
connect to our dispatch system. So we
can set it up. So for example, if we say
we want this thing to respond to
shootings, we want this thing to respond
to assaults in progress, whatever we
decide we want it to respond to
automatically, it's GPS coordinated.
when dispatch gets that call, that drone
responds from our station is on scene
before an officer can get there. Um, so
that's that's a huge resource to us. It
also we you can set it to patrol problem
areas. So if we're having an issue, for
example, I can think of one area uh Park
Street recently has been an issue for
us. Uh, we can we can set that drone to set up in that area at a certain time
of day and it'll just patrol that area.
It's it it's it's eyes. It's a for us
it's a huge force multiplier. We're 11
officers down. Um so we do the best that
we can with with the staff that we do,
but this will be a huge resource for us.
Um
community engagement, connections,
resource sharing. We have a community
resource team and I and I use the word
team lightly. Um as I just mentioned,
you know, we're down 11 officers and we
actually have one out injured. So we're
down 12 officers. um we have one
supervisor and one officer that is
assigned to that unit. Uh historically
we had three officers and a supervisor.
So we're hopeful that we can get some
men and women to come work for the
police department and and get that that position or that that that unit as
a team um shortly. Uh but they they do a
lot of work with the little personnel
that they have in there. And this is
obviously this is just a few things um
that that I wanted to highlight that
they do. Um one of the things that we're
working on this year with the community
resource team is called uh Beyond the
Badge event and we're we're hopeful um
that this is going to be an annual
event. They've worked on this. It's
going to be July 23rd in Smart Pain
Park. Um and it's really it's going to
involve first responders. We're going to
have the police department there. We're
going to have UAS there. We're going to
have the fire department there. We're
going to have Lifellight there. Um, and
it it's really just an event with with a
bunch of activities uh for the
community. And and like I said, we're
hoping that this is a great engagement
tool and and really sort of uh just the
foundation for for something that we can
continue to do on a yearly basis.
Um, one of the other things that
we've done this year, uh, and I hate to
keep saying it, but you know, we're down
a lot of officers. So the challenge for
us when we're down a lot of officers is
um the officers are overworked
sometimes. They're working overtime.
We're not able to fill all of our
special assignments to their their you
know normal fulfillment. Um so we wanted
to come up with something where we were
still serving the community as much as
we can in the capacity that we're able
to. So we created a program this year
that that is set to to kick off in uh
July. Um, and it it's a community
policing program for officers. So,
they're going to be given a certain
amount of time where they can choose
events or activities. Um, some of those
will be coordinated by the community
resource team. So, they can be examples
would be, you know, out on we'd like you
to go out on bike patrol, you know, in
the downtown streets or on Lisbon Street
for these two hours. We'd like you to
play basketball at Kennedy Park. we'd
like they're going to come up with some specific events that the officers
will be able to participate in and then
the officers will also have the
opportunity to create their own events.
So, and when I say that is we have
officers with a variety of skill sets.
We al have officers that coach soccer,
we have officers that coach baseball,
basketball, that that like music. Um so,
we're going to give them the opportunity
to sort of make that community policing
their own and meet with the community in
that capacity.
Um, some of the other things that the
community resource team does is they
work with the LA child and family
well-being collaborative. These are
meetings with many of the community
programs to discuss resources or arrange
education or outreach. They work with
the CDC office of injury and violence
prevention.
Uh, main gun safety coalition and
project child safe. And then again it
this outreach, education and resource
sharing it it touches a lot of things
but I want to just highlight a few.
So one of the things that we looked at the police department or we have been
looking at um when it comes to the
violence. So obviously the first step we
see that we have we have an increase in
shootings. Then we've broken it down.
We've determined okay we have an
increase in shootings and it seems to be
specific to juveniles. Um, so one of the
things we look at is what are the
obstacles and and really what the
obstacles are for that we're seeing is
juvenile repeat offenders,
[clears throat] lack of accountability
in the juvenile system, challenges with
detaining and committing juveniles, a
large increase in non-competent
designations based on age, trauma,
things along those lines, and then lack
of mandates. Youth intervention, sorry,
I can't read this whole thing here.
youth intervention services for youth
involved in the system and or found to
be non-competent and resources for
family assistance.
So as an agency uh what our response to
these obstacles have been um obviously
we have the initial response right like
our primarily our primary primarily goal
for a police department is enforcement
it's to protect and serve but the
reality is is that
we want to solve the bigger issue right
because really what we're seeing is
we're sort of putting band-aids on a
bigger on a bigger issue. Um, so we've
really we've really in the past couple
months had I hate to say it, but a ton
of meetings with people with the other
stakeholders, right, that have an
investment in the system because this
really is a system issue. It it's so
layered. Um, so so some of the things
we've done is we've had coordination
meetings with the DA's office and the
JCCOs's. We had a briefing with uh
Senator Susan Collins. We then had a
coordination meeting with the US
attorney, Andrew Benson, along with
district attorney McClean. Uh we had a
briefing with uh one of the main
senators, Bruce Bickford and his staff.
We had a meeting with new beginnings
director Chris Bicknull. Um and then we
have meetings scheduled with additional
members of the main senate and other law
enforcement stakeholders. Uh and then
some of the other things that we've done
is we've we've attended every community
listening session that's involved gun
violence and and wanted to hear from the
community and other stakeholders. Um one
of those was put on by the main wire um
at Calvary Church and then we just
attended another one uh last week at
Gather to Grow that was put on by Mir
and um COA.
So, one of the things that we just
wanted I wanted to bring up is is some
of the uh common misconceptions. And I
and when I say common misconceptions,
these are just things that sometimes we
hear from the public and sometimes we
hear, you know, why can't you do this?
Why? So, one of two of the big things is the city ordinance thing. And and
what we have is we have a curfew and
that's a city ordinance violation. Um,
and I think it can be a common misnomer
that the city can create ordinances that
help enforce. And while they do, they
still don't trump state statute, right?
So, a city ordinance is a great tool for
our officers in all honesty. Um, it it's
it gives us the ability to stop and talk
to kids who are out late at night past
curfew, but the reality is there's not a
lot of teeth long term behind that,
right? So what happens is they get a summon for the curfew
violation. They go back home to mom and
dad and there ends up being a $30 fine.
So an ordinance really can be associated
with a fine. It's not associated with
any sort of um detainment or anything
along those lines. And then the other
thing that we hear a lot is criminally
charging parents. That parents should be
able to be criminally charged. And the
reality is is we can only charge people
for statutes and laws that exist on the
books. Right? So, I cannot deal with a
juvenile that commits an assault and
then charges parent because the juvenile
committed the assault. The reality is we
just don't have the authority to do
that.
Um, some of the community
recommendations that we have, um, the
big one is see something, say something.
Uh, you know, we rely heavily on
technology today. Um but the reality is still the best type of uh we we can't
be everywhere, right? So we need the
support of the community. When you see
something suspicious, when you see
something that doesn't look right, call
us um so that we can we can look into
it. I mean, we had I can give an example
of three or four weeks ago where
somebody called and said this there's
three juveniles hanging around. One
displayed a gun. They provided a
description. They didn't need to give
their name. They didn't we didn't need
to talk to them. They gave a great
details. The officer went to that area,
found the juvenile, got the gun, it was
stolen, recovered. Um, so we that's
important to us for commu the community
to to report things. And I think one of
the big things people get concerned
about is um
not not wanting to to, you know, wanting
to be anonymous. And there's there's
three different ways that you can do
that. We have you have the ability to
call dispatch. you can call dispatch or
911 and say, "I don't want my name. I
don't don't tell them who my who I am."
And they won't. Um, and just give them
the information and they'll dispatch an
officer to that location and just try to
provide them as much detail as you can
about that. Um, and then there's a
reporter tip online that we have and
there's also a anonymous tip line that
we check on a regular basis that you can
call the police department at and all of
these are on our website. Um, and then
one of the other things is I would say
is, uh, parents are authorized to search
their kids' rooms. Parents are
authorized to be parents. They're in
control of their family and their
household. And you need to know where
your kids are, know what they're
involved in, and if you think
something's up, something's probably up.
So, they have the authority to to check
their kids' rooms, search their kids'
rooms, and if they find something that
shouldn't be in their kids' rooms,
they're always welcome to call us and we will deal with it.
Um, and then the other big thing is
secure your firearms. Um, you know,
people talk about where where the guns
come from, right? But the reality is is Maine is a gun-friendly state.
It's a source state. So, a lot of people
legally own guns. And there's nothing
wrong with that. But what we see a lot
is guns being stolen from cars that
aren't secured. like that is very
important to us to if you're going to
own a firearm securely um keep that
secure
solutions and I know we don't have them
all um but really what we found um in in
what we've and we're certainly not the
experts on every level. I think you you
all are going to hear from some experts
in on levels that that we don't operate
in on a daily basis here tonight and I'm glad they're here. Um but I think
this really comes down to legislation
and policy. Uh I believe the state of
Maine is in need of policy and
legislative change that will increase
accountability mandates for youth who
are involved in violent criminal
offenses.
And I think that youth invent
intervention services that's that's a
piece of this too. We need effective and
sufficiently funded youth intervention
services to exist and be available as
resources to the juvenile criminal
justice system as mandates that youth
involved in violent criminal behavior
are required to participate in.
» That's all I have.
>> Thank you very much, Chief.
if we can hold our our applause. Thank
you. Uh thank you very much, Chief.
Appreciate you being here. Appreciate uh
many members of the department here and
your entire department service to our
city. Thank you. Uh we will take
questions from the council and we're
just going to go down the line starting
with uh uh councelor from num uh from
ward one. Councelor Martell, do you have
anything?
» W
seven.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Well, we will
still start with seven and we we're
going to flip that. Councelor from W 7.
Um, councelor Martell, do you have
anything?
Thank you. Uh, councelor from W 6.
>> Go ahead.
>> Councelor Martell said not at this time.
>> Right.
>> Thank you, sir. Um, I had originally
mailed questions, email questions to all
of the presenters, but the one that I
want to ask Chief Connley, do you have
any sense as to what makes Lewon the
attractive location for this kind of
behavior? We don't see this in many
other communities in Maine, and yet you
allude to Maine being a gun-friendly
state, which it is. Why is this
happening in Lewon? Why have they chosen
us to bless with this kind of behavior?
Thank you.
I honestly don't have the answer to
that.
» If I could, Mr. Mayor, if anyone in this
room has the answer to that, that to me
seems like one massive step towards
solving this problem if we can figure
out what is encouraging this behavior
and stop that encouragement. Uh there
are a lot of different pieces to that,
but that seems to me to be key. Thank
you.
Uh, Councelor Noble,
>> she already answered my question. It was
about foot patrols. Thank you.
[laughter] Yeah, no problem.
>> Sounds good. Thank you. Uh, Councelor
Roy, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, Chief
Connley, thank you for that. Um, couple
of questions that I came up with uh
during your presentation. Um, and I
think I know the answer to this one, but
I want to put it out there for
everybody. Can a city go above and
beyond what the state has on the books
for laws as far as charging juveniles?
Can can the city as a body come up with
maybe some laws to hold
that's the the the path we want to go.
So they can come up with ordinances, but
they they'll never be more restrictive
necessarily or or punitive, I guess, is
the word I would I I would say than a
state statute. And and District Attorney
Mlean may be able to answer that a
little bit better, but
>> and I will ask that when at that time.
Um that's one of them. Um I do have a
couple more that I saw.
Okay, right here. Now, can you hear me?
now? Oh, wow. Hey. All
right. [laughter]
Usually I have this booing voice.
Anyways, all right. What happens if um
parents are scared to search their kids'
rooms? What can they do for assistance?
>> I mean, we would certainly assist
parents with that if they they needed
our help. Um I
we are always a phone call away and and
we we have officers that you know if it
it's some we have a community resource
team we do have avenues that if they're
uncomfortable calling you know the 911
emergency line that that we can connect
them with somebody.
>> Thank you. Um let's see.
Actually I will hold with that. If I
think of any more, I'll try to come
back. Thank you,
>> Councelor Harman.
>> My questions have been answered. Thanks,
>> Councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just would like
to thank you uh for being here tonight
and presenting all that you all the
facts. Um, I really don't have any
questions. You've answered most of the
uh questions that I would have asked.
Thank you.
>> Uh, and last but not least, now the
councelor from 111. Councelor Nene.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thank you,
Chief, for being here today. Um, I I do
have two questions. Um, one is, um, the
escalation of crime. So, basically, we
deal with quite a bit of, uh, um, joy
riditing in the city, and I'm wondering
if there's any indication that there's
crossover from uh, let's say car
burglary and and and um, u joy riding
into uh, some of these gun crimes. I
think is there a connection so to speak?
I
>> I I would say for the most part no. Um
there may be a few cases, but uh I
agree. We we've definitely had an
increase in uh stolen motor vehicles uh
specifically with the youth this year,
but we don't necessarily see them the
same groups being involved. Okay.
>> There may be a little bit of crossover,
but not for the most part.
>> Okay. And and the second thing and I and
I just I don't know if you you're able
to verify this or not, but from my
understanding
five of the arrestes this year um were
age 20 um young adults of which um three
of them had uh aged out of the foster
care system and one of them had been
involved in a shooting when when he was
18 as well. Um, and I believe all of
these uh children had had struggles
within the LPS as well. So, I'm just
asking if there's like a connection
between
uh maybe the continuum of care for
people who are struggling in our
community uh to the adult crimes that
they were also committing most probably
as as juveniles.
>> So, I I can't speak to all of what you
mentioned. I'd have to research that,
but I can tell you that I can think of a
few off the top of my head that we've dealt with and charged as adults
that we dealt with as being involved in
shootings as juveniles also.
>> Okay. Thank you very much,
Councelor Roy. Back to you. Let's see if
this is on. All right, cool. Thank you.
Um, one of the things I don't remember
if we've done this before. Have we ever
had like a
gun buyback program? Has that ever been
done?
>> Oh,
» no. So, we have not. And I and I can
tell you that we have looked into that.
We've talked with ATF. We've talked with
some of the individuals that do that.
Um, and there are some challenges with
that. And, uh,
what they've seen in the past is is not
necessarily getting the guns back that
they'd be looking for. um you what what
they see is, you know, shotguns and, you
know, grandparents rifles that people
are hanging on to that they're turning
in. They're not they haven't seen um the
results that you we would be looking
for, the handguns being turned in that
are involved in violent crime.
>> Thank you.
>> Uh any other counselors have anything?
>> Chief, thank you so much for being here.
>> Thank you.
We will now
if we can hold uh audience applause and
everything else. Thank you. Uh we now
have uh Neil Mlan.
DA MLAN, thank you so much for uh for
joining us.
» Well, thank you all. It's a a pleasure
to be here with you, unfortunately, to
discuss a difficult topic that's uh a
big problem in uh Lewon and we're trying
to get a hold of it. Uh but I do
appreciate being invited to uh
participate in the conversation and
offer some information uh from the
district attorney's office. I do like to
begin these conversations about violent
crime increases, whatever is happening
in Lewon, uh just to say uh that I hope
everyone appreciates it would be much
worse than it is right now if we did not
have Lewon PD doing a fantastic job with
the limited resources you just
heard uh Chief Connley talk about. That
is a serious issue. Uh but nonetheless,
I know they're out there every night and
all day long uh working on this issue. U
so I was asked I I guess first to just
talk about uh what the DA's office does
uh to give a breakdown of of what that
is. Uh and I think it's most easily
described as our primary role primary
role is to uphold the law, protect
public safety, and pursue justice on
behalf of the community. Uh that's what
we do every day. Uh we try to do the
best job that we can, but that is uh
what we're tasked with doing. Uh we work
very closely with law enforcement. We
work with Lewon PD on a regular basis.
Uh we handle every criminal case that uh comes uh
through District 3. District 3 is Oxford
County, Andrew Goggen County, and
Franklin County. Uh but we handle every
criminal case other than murder and some
of the drug uh felony drug charges. Uh
everything else is ours. Uh it is a lot
of cases. Uh we work with Lewon PD. We
also work uh and I think it's important
to keep in mind with 30 other law
enforcement agencies. So with the
limited resources we have, we're not
just supporting Lewon. We're supporting
every town and every a law enforcement
agency across three counties. Uh and
that is important to remember. Uh
because we too have some resource issues
and I'll get to that momentarily. Um
what it is we do with every single case
that comes through uh is we are
specifically tasked with reviewing and
filing charges uh we're responsible for
all the discovery related to those charges uh which is an
increasing task on our office uh in the
current era of litigation. Uh but we
have to review all charges. We're
responsible for all the all the
discovery that comes in. We think about
law enforcement collecting evidence uh
which is true uh and law enforcement
does not work to me for me. They have a
very capable chief here in Chief Connley
and every department has their own chief
but we are none the none nonetheless in
the eyes of the court. We are
responsible for law enforcement. Uh so
we are responsible for every piece of
evidence that comes out. Something's
missing. It's not right. It's us in the
DA's office and the case itself uh that
suffer. Not suggesting that's an issue,
but it's another uh large task that
we're responsible for. Uh in every case,
we're responsible for negotiating all
cases prior to trials. Uh we conduct all
hearings and trials of every case that
go to hearing or trial. Uh we support
every victim and survivor. Uh very
limited resources and the staff that we
have to do that. Uh but we're
responsible for uh every bit of that
task as well. uh we're responsible for
all of the sentencing that happens if
we're successful at a hearing or trial
or plea negotiation and we handle every
appeal and postconviction review that
comes through. So those seven tasks all
in and of themselves uh very uh uh
detailed and um uh uh timeconuming tasks
we take care of with every individual
case uh in D3 district 3 right now uh
that includes about 3
uh 20 uh 3,250 cases uh that we're
responsible to do every one of those
things for every one of those cases.
Uh so it's a huge case load. Uh
and uh that just describes the cases
that are pending before the court. That
does not include all of the filings, all
of the different proc uh cases that we
process that don't get plugged into the
court. So your prosecutors are busy
every day uh most weekends and well into
the evening hours uh trying to keep up
with this task. Um, and this is all
important to the the violence and
because it goes to the resources we have
to apply to any individual uh task that
we try to be involved in. Uh, we have 16
prosecutors uh to handle those 3,250
cases. Two of those are drug
prosecutors, so they only handle drug
cases, which means we really have 14
prosecutors uh to handle all of those
cases. Just by way of a quick
comparison, uh we are the third busiest
court in the state right now. Uh Lewon
dis uh Lewon Court is uh and if you look
at uh D1 uh district 1, which is York
County, they have 19 prosecutors. If you
look at Cumberland County, they have 20
prosecutors. So we're at a disadvantage
just based on the numbers we have. But
what makes it even worse uh is we can't
compete right now uh due to pay par uh
pay parody and uh uh quite frankly case
loads and a desire to be a prosecutor in
today's day and age. We don't see the
same passion any longer, the same desire
to join our office. Uh so right now with
that same case load number I talked to
you about, we have eight prosecutors
across all of district three. Uh that
means that my deputy uh who's in the
back of the room is we don't we don't
have a prosecutor in Oxford County right
now. Uh so the deputy deputy uh Josh
Klein Golden is pretty much covering all
of Oxford County. I'm covering Farming
uh Franklin County solo and that leaves
six prosecutors to handle the third
busiest court uh in the state. Uh those
uh 1,833
of the cases are specific to Andrew
Goan. Uh what we have done uh because we
are aware of the gun problem uh in
addition to all the other problems is we
have created a unit of sorts or we've
assigned two of our best prosecutors to
assist Lewon PD uh with all gun violence
cases. Uh so if you imagine we only have
six, we're assigning two just to this
issue right here. They also have to
carry a case load outside of this. Uh
but they are primarily tasked with this.
They're available to law enforcement 24
hours a day. They're on call. Law
enforcement has their numbers. Uh so
they're taking calls at 2 or 3 in the
morning when these gun cases arise. Uh
they're helping with search warrants. Uh
but they're deeply involved. Uh and
again, that's the best we could do with
the limited resources. We have two
prosecutors assigned. Uh Deputy Klein
Golden also helps out with that. The two
prosecutors are uh Alexander Winter uh
and Brie White and they do a fantastic
job of addressing this in the best way
that they can uh with the limited
resources.
What do we need to do an even better
job? Uh we need more prosecutors. Uh
it's as simple as that. We need at least
another prosecutor in all three
counties. we could use two new
prosecutors uh in Andrewskogen County
just to be able to keep up with the
cases. So, what you'll hear sometimes is
people will say, "Well, just lower your
case load. It's up to you. You you're
the one that uh puts the cases into the
court uh processes and files them." But
that's not really true. That's a lazy
answer. And I'm uh glad to have that
conversation with the people that say
it. Uh because we don't pick crime. We
charge crime when Lewon or any other
department sees it. They don't pick
crime. They're not out there committing
it. They're addressing it when it's
committed. And it's our responsibility
to support them and support you all. And
we do it. Uh we don't uh refuse to uh
prosecute any type of crime. Uh because
I've heard loudly from all of you that
you don't want me to do that. Uh so we
put our cases forward. Uh we do the best
we can, but we need more prosecutors. uh
eight prosecutors for a district like this is impossible. Uh we
have lost a prosecutor uh to a better
paying job in another state uh pro uh
another state criminal law office, the
uh public defenders office. Uh we lost
out on a higher uh because they could
simply make more money and work a much
smaller case load. Uh we've lost a
prosecutor to uh the what we refer to as
the contract attorneys because the state
of Maine pays them $150 an hour. Uh the
prosecutor we lost was making just shy
of $40 an hour. Uh so we lost uh that
prosecutor. Uh we lost a prosecutor, one
of the best prosecutors we had. Uh one
of uh arguably as good a prosecutor as
there is in the state. Uh we lost that
prosecutor to burnout. And before
anybody thinks burnout is, you know,
something someone should be ashamed of,
it's really not. Uh the case loads are
overwhelming. And what you'll see with
prosecutors who really care is they care
about their cases. Uh there's an ethical
requirement that we do our job uh in
every case uh to protect the rights of
the the ch the accused, the victims. Uh
we represent the court. Uh, and as I
said, we have those massive obligations,
seven different obligations with each
individual case. And when a prosecutor
feels like they're failing at their uh,
ethical duty, it creates u u
it it can be really demoralizing, but
when you're dealing with three or 400
cases, uh, three or 400 cases, uh, it's
also overwhelming. So, add all of that
up. Uh and sometimes uh it it can get
the best of uh the best of us. Uh and
we've lost prosecutors for all those
reasons and we're having some difficulty
filling them. Again, going back to the
pay parody, because we can't compete.
When I go to hire somebody and I tell
them, "Come work for me. I'll pay you
much less and give you a much bigger
case load." Nobody's all that
interested. Uh and they know it. Uh they
know they'll make more money in the
other offices. They know they'll have
less cases. they'll have a better
quality of life. Uh and it's a really
difficult time to be a prosecutor uh
criminal prosecutor and we need the
legislaturator's help uh with that
issue. Uh both the new prosecutors and
the pay parody. I I can say just
ironically, I did just receive a a text
uh from somebody in the legislature who
has worked with us in the past and they
still understand the need to address
this pay parody and have just just now
suggested they will revisit it. Uh but
we need that to happen. Uh or we're
going to lose more prosecutors and we're
going to not and we're not going to be
able to fill the spots. Um,
so I I think with with that in mind, we
have a wonderful relationship with Lewon
PD and most of our police departments.
Uh, we have had a few of the prosecutors
go on the saturation details with them
to get out there and be with them to
answer legal questions or to see what
they're doing, uh, to understand what
they're doing. We've had people within
our staff who are county employees as
well as prosecutors do ride alongs. We
think it's important to know what Lewon
PD is doing and be able to uh experience
it so when we see their cases, we better
appreciate uh what we're seeing. Uh
we've met with them, as Chief Connley
pointed out, to discuss uh gun violence,
uh juvenile incompetency,
uh and drugs, and everything else within
the community. We regularly communicate
and work together. Uh we've met with our
federal partners. Uh they've offered
some ideas that we'll follow up on. Uh
in particular with the juvenile
competency issue which is playing a big
role. Uh some thoughts on how maybe uh
we should be looking at our own experts
to combat uh some of the uh evaluations
we're seeing. Uh we'll look into that.
But we are constantly working to do
better uh in the areas where we think
we're lacking. Um,
so I I guess other than that, again,
we've when we get back to the jun, so we
do not have a juvenile prosecutor in any
of the three counties. Uh, you have Josh
Klein Golden, myself, and a couple of
other people who assist uh when we need
it, but you don't have anybody dedicated
to it. We should have a dedicated
juvenile prosecutor. Uh because we're so
overwhelmed, we don't get to do the
training some other people get to do.
Training opportunities pop up and it's
like, well, geez, you have court that
day. We don't have anybody to cover
court that day. Uh so we're falling
behind in some of the training that's so
important to keep up uh with the latest
strategies and the latest developments.
Uh but again, your prosecutors are
showing up every day uh to work and
working really hard in the face of all
of this. Uh, so I'm a fan of the work
they're doing. I know you don't get to
see it every day and sometimes you see
the outcomes and you're not happy, but
boy, if you saw how they got to the
outcome and how hard they're working, I
think you'd be a fan as well. Uh, they
do a a tremendous job with uh very
little. Um
we've looked uh one of the prosecutors
who is really dedicated to this issue uh
provided me with some
uh some educational uh programs that we
should consider and we'll look into
those. I think one of them is uh called
uh the great program and it's a gang
resistant education and training program
where you can use uniform law
enforcement to work with uh elementary
and middle school kids to talk to them
about how to avoid this kind of
behavior. Uh I think some of these may
be federal programs. So we'll look at
funding. Uh we certainly don't have
funding for it. We're funded by the
county. Uh there's the OJJDP which is
the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency. Uh that is another
organization we've heard of recently uh
that we may see if there's anything they
can offer us. Uh these would be for
programs to deal with children after
they've been involved or maybe even
before uh like like the great program
that would be maybe a a proactive
approach. Uh and there's a focus
deterrence program as well that we'll
look into. Uh so those are things we
will continue to look into into try to
do a better job. Uh the last thing I'll
say, and we've talked uh about the
juvenile uh gun program, is we hear a
lot of people talk uh about the
children. Uh and I went to a meeting uh
a couple a week or so ago and I heard
somebody say that the children are not
the problem. So when these cases arise
on my desk, the children are the
problem. And they're not children,
they're juveniles. we should call them
what they are because when you call them
children or kiddos which I see way too
often you're minimizing the significance
of what they're doing. Uh so I am a
single voice within the system. I'm not
saying the pro other prosecutors don't
do the same thing but we don't have the
support uh for maybe some of that
ideology with others. But I think we
should be calling it what it is. These
uh juveniles have committed very serious
crimes uh that endanger the lives of
other people in the community. They they
endanger their own lives. Uh some of
these kids that are involved in it or
these juveniles, sorry, they're involved
in it. Uh they may be the shooter one
day, they'll be the victim the next day.
Uh so we have an obligation to all of
them. And I think we're failing them if
we continue to treat them like children.
The other thing we need to do is we need
people in elected positions to take this
serious. Uh not fight amongstel each
other or themselves not uh be divisive
in nature. Uh we need people to come
together and go this is a problem. We
need to unify to come to terms with how
we address it. Uh stop blaming it on
specific groups but also stop pretending
it doesn't exist where it does. uh we
have to call uh you know if you know
where it's happening, who's involved, uh
we need to call that out. How do we fix
the problem if we're uh not addressing
the regions or the areas that the crimes
are occurring? Uh we need to be
professional and thoughtful about it. Uh
but we also can't uh be divisive when we
try to make a difference in those
communities because those communities
deserve their children to be safe and to
live. uh they don't want their children
to die at the hand of a juvenile with a
gun. But we need to be open about the
conversation. It's not a politically
correct conversation. Uh we need to have
it. We need to be honest about the
language. Uh we need to be honest about
the facts. Uh and we need to uh do our
very best to address it. Uh because the
way I look at it is I'm a father of four
kids. My four kids are your kids.
neighbors, friends at the playground,
they may be your college friends
someday. They may be your colleagues.
We're all in it together. Uh there is no
distinction. A gun doesn't know a
distinction. A bullet doesn't know a
distinction. Uh we as the leader should stop making those distinctions.
We should be addressing it for the
problem that it is and being honest
about where it's happening, what's
happening, because that's how we're
going to fix it. And uh the last thing,
remember there was an old saying that it
takes a community to raise a child. I
never really agreed with that. I
understand the concept. Uh the community
does need to provide uh things to make
the community safe, playgrounds,
athletic fields, but the community does
not need to raise the child. The child
needs to be raised by their parents. And
we need to start expecting that parents
will be more involved early on because
if the parents are doing the best that
they can. If they need some support, we
should be there to give it. But that's
where a juvenile's life
or track begins. And if they get out in
the world and they've never been told
no, they've never been told what you're
doing is wrong, they've never been
punished by their parents for do
misbehaving, they're not going to listen
to me. They're not going to listen to
Lewis and PD. they're not going to
listen to anybody in this room. Uh, and
that's the problem we're running into
right now. There's very little respect
for Lewon PD when they're out there.
Very little respect for us in the
courtroom, very little respect for the
courtroom process itself much of the
time. I think all of that begins in the
home. Uh, and it goes to if you're
seeing guns, you've got to call that in.
Look out for your own children. Give
them the guidance they need. uh we'll
deal uh with it uh the best we can in
providing services and resources, but
once it again once it arrives on my
desk, I'm I'm the mean step parent
because it's now time to start talking
about accountability, responsibility,
and uh punitively what needs to be done
to make sure these kids don't kill
somebody or kill themselves. Uh and
lastly, Carly was so right. People need
to fund this stuff. we don't have a lot
of money. But if we don't start changing
some of the laws and statutes out of
Augusta, and if we don't start funding
the resources we need, those two things,
if we don't do it because we don't like
to spend money, we might as well just
watch this escalate even further. Uh so
we need people to take it serious in
Augusta, we need them to help us out uh
with funding and statutes. I'd love to
revisit the competency statute. Uh the
chronological immaturity is a concept
that I really struggle with. I think it
I will read a incompetency evaluation
and go great kids competent. I'll get to
the last two pages and chronological
immaturity will undercut it almost every
time. We should revisit the definition
at the very least. Remove it. I'm all
for that. I know that won't have a lot
of support, but we need to start doing a
better job. Remember juveniles, we're
not hurting them when we hold them
accountable. We're helping them because
we're keeping them from continuing to do
the things that are going to hurt
somebody else or themselves.
» Thank you,
>> Dan Mlan. Thank you very much for being
here and thank you uh for your entire
team and all the work you guys do. I
appreciate it. Uh we're going to start
on this side of the table. Ward one.
Councelor Nene, did you have any
questions?
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, yeah, I I do.
Uh, about the uh uh funding sources. So,
the county pays for um staff at the DA's
office.
>> It does. It's we are a hybrid office is
how I refer to it. The attorneys are all
state employees. And I'd love to change
this as well. Uh I'd love to be have us
all under the state umbrella so we can
properly be funded, but instead uh the
attorneys are are funded by the state.
Everything else is funded by you all,
the count the the county of uh Andrew
Scoggin, Oxford, and Franklin, which is
a huge burden to put on you all. We do
our best not to be uh to spend a lot of
money, but we know uh reassessments are
out there, taxes are high, people don't
have a lot of money, and uh we're asking
for money to be able to do what we need
to do. Uh and it comes from the county.
Uh so not specifically from Lewon, but
as I understand it, Lewon pays a big
chunk of that county budget.
>> We not only pay a big chunk of the
county budget, but it also increased by
20% this year um for for our taxpayers.
Are there cases in which municipalities
pay for for instance an attorney?
>> The attorneys are all uh licensed and uh
we are all part of the attorney
general's office. Uh we've had Lewis
we've had police departments very kindly
offer to off we'll give you a
prosecutor. We'll put it right here in
our our building. Uh but it it's not
something we can do to the best of my
knowledge and if we did we need the
approval of the attorney general. And the last question I have is just so
when cases come to you, juvenile cases
come to you, they're they're handled uh
only as criminal cases, correct?
Are there referrals to is there any
system of uh family or juvenile courts
that are that are not uh
I I assume normally you're dealing with
only felonies. Um if you could just
speak to to how that's divided out. No,
that we we deal with every juvenile
crime that comes in. Uh we have juvenile
community corrections officers who
oftentimes will review the cases, the
low-level cases in advance. And I should
I I think it's worth noting we have some
really incredible juvenile community
corrections officers here in Andrew
Scoggin County. I know they work really
hard uh and they're very supportive of
what we do and they've met with Lewon
PD. Uh but they will review cases uh
some of the low-level cases up front.
they may handle them through resources
and uh uh diversion programs before they
even get to our uh desk. But if a
juvenile doesn't cooperate andor there's
a history there, uh we get everything
from uh disorderly conduct to a bag
assault with a weapon. Uh the
interesting thing about the juvenile
system as well is you can get the same
sentence for all of those. uh they carry
classifications on the just like they
would with the uh adult, you know, class
ABC D or E. Uh but you can get the same
sentence for a class E disorderly
conduct that you can get for a class A
offense, which is uh a commitment. Uh so
it's it's a completely different beast,
which is why we need a prosecutor who
really understands the code, title 15.
Uh and right now uh we understand it but
we're not uh we're switching gears to
adult adult uh juvenile adult juvenile
and it's really something that deserves
specific focus.
» Councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mayor.
[clears throat]
» Thank you so much uh for being here and
sharing all of the information that you
did. Um that it was a lot it's a lot to
digest.
Um, I think you have said it very direct
and very clear. Uh, your office is doing
everything they can uh when criminals uh
get to your desk, but you're lacking
staff. Um, and I think a lot of that, as
you shared, is uh pay scale. Um, the
truth is is Augusta needs to do better.
Um,
we're saying that as loudly as we can.
You hear that we're suffering here in
Lewon. You hear our date, our DA's
office basically crying out that they
are overloaded.
If you don't help us, shame on you. So,
the person that sent you the text, which
you do not have to share the name with
me, nor am I asking you to, but I hope
that as soon as you leave this table,
they set up a meeting with you because
we need it. Thank you.
And I know this wasn't a question, but I
do
>> Sorry. Go ahead. Uh
>> I just feel like it's I I'm speaking
about Andrew Scoggin because uh that's
where we are. Uh and that's what you all
care about. Uh but I do think it's
important to say this is true of every
district attorney's office. Uh they all
need uh help. So it's a much broader
problem. Uh and I just think it's
important uh especially when other
people are listening that people don't
think I'm saying this is just our
problem. uh the help is most necessary
because it affects every prosecutor's
office across the state.
>> Council Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um so I would also
just like to say that um I I don't think
this is just a problem that's happening
in Lewon. I think it's, you know,
happening throughout our state. So
again, uh this the the state needs to do
better in helping. Thank you.
>> Councelor Haramman, did you have
something?
Yes, thank you. Thanks for being here.
Um, I wondered if I could learn more
about the non-competent designations.
Um, who makes those and what happens
when that designation is made and are
you seeing that happening at a different
rate than in the past or has it been
fairly steady?
>> So, it's different from when I handled
juveniles 15 years ago. So yes, uh I
haven't done juveniles specifically
uh for about 15 years. So when I don't
know how recently it's changed, uh but
this this system uh and the way the
evaluations are interpreted uh does seem
very new to me and I could be wrong. It
could be 5 to 10 years old, but it's newer than when I last did it. And
I think what's problematic about it is
uh it runs through some of the same
criteria uh that the adult system would do. The ability to help your
attorney to understand the charges to
understand what people are doing uh to
be able to communicate with your
attorney to appear in court. Uh all of
those things just like they might be in
the adult analysis are there. But those
are the parts that I regularly
that I see frequently I should say uh
seem to be met. But the juvenile what I see that's different uh is that
chronological immaturity component. And
I think when they get to that uh again
if I'm speaking freely it I mean
sometimes they'll include things like he
the child the juvenile misbehaves at
school. They have a they don't pay
attention. And I'm thinking you just
described my children. Uh but what
ultimately happens is it turns into a
non-competent because of an age. And I
think that's really dangerous. Uh
because we're failing the kids when we
do that. Understand I'm not picking on
uh the people that are making the
analysis or the good heart or the uh
intention behind it. I just really
believe and we're seeing the escalation
now that we're failing the children if
that's what you want to call them, the
juveniles, the kids. Uh but it's really
that component. Uh it can be trauma. It
can be trauma you experienced when you
were three years old. Uh that you know
now 15 or 10 14 years later uh they're
using as part of an analysis uh to find
incompetence. I my assessment is and
it's state forensics uh that does it's a state um entity. uh and again I'm
not picking at any individual analysis
an uh evaluator
uh but uh they do them uh they make
their analysis they're very educated
they know they know that uh the
psychology and all of those things that
uh one might say I don't uh but I also
feel sometimes that what I'm actually
seeing are juveniles duping uh
malingering doing
saying what needs to be said to get to
an outcome come uh and once we get to
that outcome uh I think it starts to
become a slippery slope uh if they make
that finding of incompetent
u and we we get to revisiting it I think
it's 60 days 180 days a year uh but
after the year and and that's if they
find there's a substantial likelihood uh
that they they might be able to be
competent so they have to make that
finding as well um and that is in there
a lot. The part I don't understand is
you see a 13-year-old kid uh get that an
analysis and when I read it, the reason
they're finding is chronological
immaturity. And I am not a doctor, but
I'm thinking in a year they're going to
be 14. They're still going to be
incompetent. I don't even know why
you're putting us through the nonsense
of uh they might be because really it's
14 and under. I've seen them in that 15
to 16 range using the same language. Um,
and I I just think it's a system that we
should all take a step back, relook at
it, apply it to the way uh, children,
juveniles, adolescence are acting today.
Uh, and really ask ourselves if we're
helping them uh, or if we're not just
making more excuses for them. Because
this is the the other thing I'll say
about that, councelor Haramman, is the
other thing we see, and I we see this
way too often, is somebody will be
incompetent, put back out on the street,
put right back in the same environment
they just came from, the same
neighborhood, the same family, the same
friends, nothing's changed. We're
setting them up for failure. They fail
again. Uh we've seen it where and I
think Chief talked about someone who'd
been caught and released five times.
We're seeing incompetence one two uh
times uh in the juvenile system and when
they turn 18 two months later they're
competent. Uh and my thought is they
were always competent uh and we failed
them and now they're going to prison.
And I think that's the problem with the
system right now.
Thank you,
>> councelor Roy. And if I can get
counselor to speak uh directly into the
mic so the entire audience can hear.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Uh my questions were answered
at this time. Thank you, councelor
Noble.
>> Mine were also it was just about how
they figured out the competency part.
>> Councelor Chidum,
thank you. I appreciate your uh
presentation.
I understand that the district
attorney's office is underfunded,
understaffed, overworked. Um, this
discussion tonight is specifically about
gun violence in Lewon. And
first question to you is, do we see gun
violence in South Paris, in Oxford, in
Auburn,
or is it nearly exclusively, if not
exclusively, uh, a creature of Lewon,
Maine? I I think in Lewon we have or in
Androskogan County. Um I don't I didn't
break it down by city. Uh but in
Androskogen County we have 29 juvenile
cases pending uh that involve firearms.
They're not all violent crimes. They
might be concealed weapons, but 29
pending. Uh in the other two counties, a
much lower uh number, but it's also a
much lower population. It's a much more
rural area. quite frankly, they're
probably doing things with guns they
shouldn't be, but nobody knows because
they're out in the woods. Uh, but when
you're in downtown in a highly populated
area and you're firing off guns, uh,
people notice, people hear it and they
want law enforcement to do something
about it and then they want us to do
something about it. So, I think the
answer is we see it more here. Uh, but
that's probably because it's in a highly
visible populated area.
>> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Well, that sort
of leads into my question about what about Lewon is an attractor for
this kind of behavior. Um, which is is a
question I'm going to have for everybody in this room. Actually, we
have 150 people in this room, 150 minds
that we could be applying to solve this
problem. Um, I don't doubt that we're
all trying, but we obviously need to try
harder. And I don't think it would be
wonderful if we could throw money at
this problem. That's a that's a poor
phrase, but we do not have the money to
do that. That's a constraint that our
citizens have given to us. We need to
figure out a way to address this problem
without financial resources, at least
financial resources coming from Lewon
taxpayers. Uh we've already cut budgets
to the bone. We've seen dramatic
increases.
>> Excuse me. Uh councelor, uh there's
going to be time for general comments
later. Do you have
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for for bringing
me back on track. Yes. Uh what specific
actions can the city council of Lewon
Maine do to assist you in uh performing
your duties and your responsibilities?
I'm not sure uh directly how much uh can
be done uh again directly with our
office but I think the things that are
helpful uh and we've heard lots of
people talk about these these issues but
it would be to provide alternatives for
kids within the community uh whether it
be fields after school activities I know
that uh that a lot of that is being done
uh but things that occupy kids, uh,
adolescence, uh, other than social
media. If you can pass an ordinance that
they can't have a phone and it, uh, look
at social media, that would probably
solve a lot of your problems. Uh, but if
you can't do that, uh, then you have to
offer them alternatives. Uh, they're
kids. Uh, and I know I was just saying I don't like to call them that, but
before they get to my desk, they're
kids. Uh, and again, I have my own. uh
and they're silly and they do stupid
things and they make stupid mistakes,
but they should do it in a way that
doesn't endanger everyone around them.
Uh they should ride a bike without a
helmet and not shoot a gun in downtown.
uh but if we can offer them things to do
uh or you all can do that uh and again
I'll say it uh and I
mean no disrespect by this but if this
committee can stay together uh and not
uh infight over things uh and really uh
remember that we're all trying to do the
same thing uh and help uh the kids out
in the community uh there are things
that can be done after school ba
basketball uh extracurricular activities
uh whatever you can be done that may not
even be super expensive. Uh just opening
up options uh to them. Uh work programs
uh things that help build some instill
within them a desire to work and make
money for themselves. Uh things that
they can do around town. Uh I know I've
had a conversation with somebody about
uh something like that. even if it's uh
school kids helping with graffiti or tra
I mean things that that you can get them
out there uh get them working build that
part of their personality uh or that
part of their character uh and provide
them things to do that are fun. Uh I was
at the basilica and my family were
getting ready to go into church and uh I
saw three kids playing soccer in the
parking lot that was completely lined
with vehicles uh losing the ball under
the under the uh the vehicles and then
being worried they might get in trouble
to go grab it. And all I can think is
there's going to be a better place for
them to play soccer uh because it it's
pretty clear they want to. Uh so I think
if we provide them the things that they
need uh to to be able to be active in
healthy activities,
I mean I know that's simple answer,
easier said than done, but I think
that's a part of it.
>> Thank you. And one follow-up question.
Um
these children, these kids, these
juveniles, uh have spare time. Juveniles
do silly things in spare time, but they
also are incentivized. Have you, in your
experience, found that there are drivers
of this behavior. For example, I'm
leading the question now. Uh, do we have
drug activity that's encouraging our
youth in Lewon to go down these paths
that we're trying to block off so
diligently right now?
>> So, I don't know if I can speak to that
on the grander scale, but do I see it in
situational instances? of course uh
there's drugs uh there's peer pressure
there's social media there's all kinds
of bad influences out there uh once they
leave their home which again uh is why I
think that that nurturing belongs begins
and should stay on some level within the
home uh because once they get out
they're exposed to uh again bad
influences peer pressure a desire to
elevate themselves within the community
um we I talked a little bit about not
being afraid being not being politically
correct and being afraid to say
something. I had a conversation uh once
about how to fix uh things and I used
the terms gangs and I was told to stop
saying that because that encourages
people uh to think they're in a gang and
I'm thinking they are in gangs. I don't
know what you what what part of that you
don't understand but uh we need to call
it what it is. Uh and that's what they
see. So they see that they see a free
pair of Nike sneakers to do something
stupid that they otherwise can't afford.
And that's a that's an adolescent thing.
We all could fall susceptible to that.
It's it's economics. It's impo it's it's
poverty. It's being in an area
very urban area that doesn't have a lot
to offer uh for outdoor activities. Uh
but yes, you see that on a small scale.
Drugs is always a problem. Uh drugs come
with guns. Guns come with drugs. So they
do interrelate I think on some level. I
don't know on what percentage of cases.
>> Thank you very much
councelor Martell.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you district
attorney uh man for being here your
presentation. Um first question. So
I I was told I I I guess you're the best
person to answer this. Uh I had a
conversation as someone relayed to me
that they believe there were statutes uh
from Augusta that limit how long a
juvenile can be held prior to conviction
and sentencing on a crime. Is there any truth to that or is there anything
uh I guess that what I'm trying to dig
down on is how are these kids shooting
up our city on Friday and back at the
dinner table on Monday so consistently
or maybe not at the dinner table but out
shooting again on Monday?
>> No. And I I think that's one of the
greatest frustrations. Uh and I think
you will hear a speaker that will know
much more about the statutes as they
relate to DOC. I think uh they will have
a probably a better uh more meaningful
answer. Um you can hold a kid, a kid can
be detained at Long Creek uh pending
hearing. It's just about the criteria
that needs to be met. And uh the
juvenile justice system is about least
restrictive. Uh so as long as there's an
alternative uh and I think again
personally maybe to a flaw as long as
there's an alternative an aunt cousin uh
a friend that's responsible uh the
JCCOs's are going to do their best uh to
find a place for them not to be in Long
Creek because there is a belief uh that
they don't really get a lot of positive
experiences in Long Creek and they are
still juveniles. I'm not defending it
but that's I think that's sort of the
philosophy. Uh so no I I don't there is
no no rule that says they can't be
detained until a hearing. Uh in fact it
does happen. Uh but there are there are
trigger dates you know after they are
picked up 48 hours to be seen by a
judge. Um
quite frankly if a juvenile is detained
there are regular uh reassessments or we
revisit it every 30 days. uh next
juvenile date, we're looking at it again
and saying, "Did you find a place? Are
there some resources uh that we can put
in place while they're out that will be
helpful?" Uh someone here uh mentioned
to me ankle bracelets uh or ankle
monitors, I should say. Uh we we uh we
used to use those in Waldo County.
They're effective. Uh but you need
somebody to pay for them. You need
somebody to monitor them. It's usually
one of the departments. Uh typically
it's been the sheriff's departments in
places I've been. Uh but that's that's
worth a discussion. The problem is
nobody believes pre-commitment.
Uh nobody
in a meaningful place position. I I do
believe there are juveniles that belong
detained until hearings. Absolutely. Uh
but in I think most people uh with some
exceptions believe it's not a good
place. We should get them out, get them
to a place where they can uh
rehabilitate uh while they wait for the
hearing. Of course, they're they're
innocent at that point. They haven't
been adjudicated of anything. Uh and
that is what you see. Um you see them
being released uh usually with
conditions of release uh with a JCCO to
monitor uh monitor them while they're
out. Uh that is another thing we I did
not address, but it goes to this point.
We need DHS to step up uh when people
are found incompetent. I think we have a
horrible system in place to uh to help
kids. Uh just because they're
incompetent doesn't mean they should
just be thrown back out on the street.
Uh and DHS should do should do a better
job of working with them. Uh and
resources generally. Uh we need whether
it be an ankle monitor or some other
system in place. Uh those are resource
driven and again those cost money but
those are the things I think would make
people feel safer.
Thank you. Um I do believe that there is
some flawed logic in that. So we want
especially for juveniles for the
criminal justice system to be
rehabilitative and that makes sense. But
the idea that we're going to avoid um
holding these juveniles at all costs for
every possibility. So the at least
myself I struggle with the idea that
okay so it's not good for these kids.
there's not a lot of good happening for
them uh if they're at Long Creek.
There's not a lot of good happening in
our community when they're released back
out to it. And when bullets fly and they
don't discriminate against who they hit,
um I think at some point we we have to
look at the good of the community over
the good of the individual. Uh the good
of the many over the good of the
individual sometimes. Um and
you know, I hear you talk about programs
and alternatives and options. Um, you
know, the carrot and stick approach only
works when you have a proper stick. And
I think that
um, you know, I think so, so an example
like ankle monitors sounds
like a like a great idea, could be
expensive. Um, if kids are shooting up
our city and they're not being held for
doing so, uh, if they cut off their
ankle monitor, their very expensive
ankle monitor, uh, what what's the
punishment for that? I I would argue
that shooting at someone is worse than
cutting off an ankle monitor. So, if
we're not holding kids or juveniles for
shooting,
>> uh we're going to have time for general
comments later. Do you have any other
questions?
>> Yes, I do have another question. Um you uh you and the chief spoke about
Augusta and legislation in statute. Uh
what's the most uh can can you point out
a couple statutes right now that you
find make it difficult to um prosecute
or hold some of these uh more serious
violent offenders
>> and don the juvenile offenders?
>> Yeah. What could be changed that that is
in place now that would help you do your
job and protect the community a little
bit more from your your job?
>> Yeah. And so to be clear uh it is a
system problem. Uh so when I was giving
those examples, that's the system
speaking. You did a very good job of
making the argument we make when we're
before the judge. Those are the
arguments we make. Uh but those aren't
necessarily the arguments that win. Uh
the the statutes, as I said, I'd love uh
for us to revisit the the competency
statute. I think that's turning that's
providing a lot of uh problems right now
and I think it makes sense to revisit
the language at the very least the
requirements uh the detention uh so uh
JCCOs are very limited in how they can
detain somebody they're very strict
criteria on what they can do uh to hold
somebody that Lewon PD or any other PD
picks up at 2 in the morning and if they
don't meet that criteria uh they're sent
back to the home not because the JCCO
wants to, but because it's not within
the statute for them to hold. So, that's
something that we should look at. Uh, we
have the ability to override them. Uh,
and we do. We do it respectfully. We do
it in communications. Uh, our
prosecutors regularly will say the law
enforcement will override them. Only
problem is we only override them until
the next hearing 48 hours later because
then it's the same process. Uh, and if
we haven't checked those boxes, we made
the community safe for the weekend. uh
in our opinion, but we haven't made any
long-term gain. So maybe revisiting what
that looks like. Uh maybe restructuring
uh how a JCCO can give them more
flexibility about detaining people
initially. It's not just the gun
charges. It's a kid out stealing a car
and driving it and not stopping for law
enforcement. uh and you pull them over
and again that should be a felony but if they are released they're going right
back to the home they just snuck out to steal the car. Uh so we should look
at that statue. Uh I think a lot of
statutes need to be looked at but
um and then lastly real quick um so do
these non-competitity
non-competency
tags uh definitions or so once a once a
juvenile has had that that they're not
competent does that follow them for
further cases? So is that if if say it's
a crime one deemed not competent when
they come back if they come back say 3
weeks later on another felony level or
gunrelated or or not crime uh I imagine
is that the first thing the defense
attorney goes to is like this person is
not competent is that does that hurt in
future charges in future prosecutions
>> I think if they're within the year of
that finding it does
>> okay
>> but that's true of the adult system as
well by the way
>> so it's not on a case by case basis it
stay with that defendant throughout
multiple charges.
>> Uh, usually if they have multiple
charges, depending if I'm hearing you
correctly, we would we would do it for
all of them. They would all be dealt
with as a as a global or as an aggregate
sum.
>> Thank you very much,
>> Councelor Naene. Back to you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to
follow up uh on the competency uh piece
as well. So, ju just to verify, if a
juvenile is uh is deemed to be
incompetent, that means they're
incompetent to stand trial or they're
incompetent to be held accountable
through the criminal system.
>> They're held incompetent to appear for a
hearing to be part of a hearing.
>> So, so a case that's brought forward for
somebody who's decide when somebody has
decided
incompetent, they never actually go
through a trial process at all. So
there's no alternative sentencing or any
of those pieces
>> unless they re regain competency. There
are things I think this goes back to DHS
uh and again I'm not the expert as I
should be because it's not a case load I
regularly carry but I think there uh in
the interim the judge does have the
ability to order some DHS or involvement
uh that would provide some uh some
structure uh or treatment maybe things
that might so if they're found
incompetent but the uh the evaluator
says these three things would might help
them regain competency. Uh then a judge
uh can uh order that they maybe have
those uh treatment uh poss treatment uh
options available to them. It doesn't
mean they get them, but I think that's something the court uh might be a
question for the court. I think that
frustrates them some.
>> Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm just
very surprised that it actually stops
the criminal justice system and then
also doesn't force alternative
treatment.
>> It pardons it. Yeah, I think the
language I use it pauses it. Y
>> Thank you,
Councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um,
this is quite disturbing. Um, and it
seems like that's
>> Sorry, D. Mlan, do you mind turning off
your mic while you're not speaking?
Okay, thank you.
>> It it appears as though that may be one
of our biggest issues that we're running
up against. So, I would ask um
how do we go about trying to get a
meeting with the right people to see how
we can tweak some of these uh uh laws
and policies. Uh again, I don't think
this is something that should wait a
year or two years. Uh I think this is
something that if possible, um we get
that meeting going right away. So, I I
don't know how we can help as council uh
to make that loud and clear, but I'm
pretty much suggesting that loud and
clear
» if we can have the audience members uh
refrain from speaking. We're going to
have public comment later.
>> So, we in the past, Lewon PD and and uh
my office has met with our delegation in
the past uh the Lewon uh delegation from
Augusta and discussed things. I think we
did some legislation for guns in school
uh and Jake was a part of that as well.
So, we've had success doing that. Uh so,
we can meet with the delegation, but
what we ultimately need to do is find
someone within the legislature uh that
is willing to uh propose a bill for that
change. That's how I think we typically
do it.
» Thank you. Um, so that would be my
suggestion is that we find someone that
is willing to do that if that is our
only path forward. Um, and uh, get that
ball rolling because again that seems
like that's a pretty big wall that's um,
that's holding up a lot of um,
accountability which is a serious
problem and I really appreciate the
statements that you said that
accountability um, to me is a form of
caring about someone. um if we continue
to
um let these juveniles um
in my opinion fall through the cracks
because we're not holding them
accountable is showing them really that that we don't care. Um so thank
you.
>> Uh further questions from the council
» DA. Thank you so much for being here. We
appreciate you.
We will now hear from uh our very own
Superintendent Jin Lingless. If you can
please join us.
Let's start by saying thank you to
everyone for being here. um being
mindful of time. I think community voice
is incredibly important. Um I was
looking over my slides as we as we were
listening. So without being repetitive,
I've removed a number of things, but if
anyone has questions uh following or
down the road, please feel free to reach
out to me. Uh but I do want to be
mindful of time.
I want to start by saying we can't give
up on our kids. Um they are the most
proximate to their choices and we have
to remember that. um there there's no
place to send people that it just fixes
everything. Uh so we have to be mindful
also that kids influence each other more
than you may realize. I know from a
school perspective we hear a lot from
kids who have seen something who have
said something. Uh and so it's it's a
powerful tool. We're growing that in our
community. We worked with LPD on it uh
as well.
And that research tells us uh done a lot
of looking lately that success can be
found in communities that are facing
these kinds of challenges through
multis- sector collaboration amongst all
uh all of us everyone in the room
families uh from parenting all the way
up through schools businesses and
others.
I do want to talk about some of the
lines that we can draw as a school and
I'll I'll spare the legislation
conversation but whoever gets elected I
have a number of things I'd love to
submit for legislation. Um but just to
start with what lines can a school hold?
Um we became frustrated uh the school
committee uh and I and and city uh
school leadership with the fact that
there's been a number of tools stripped
away from us. Uh but there's there's the
one tool that remains is that you can
take kids uh through a due process um
that has intervention layers at school,
intervention layers uh with me and then
ultimately you can take kids to what is
considered a quasi judicial process
which is a disciplinary hearing with the
school committee. There's a number of
steps involved. Um, but anytime there is
a firearm or a serious violent incident
that connects to our kids and I have to
think of the kids sitting sitting next
to maybe one of your students in math
class on Tuesday after being released.
We've decided that that's not an option.
And so we have uh taken steps to draw
those lines. It's not perfect. I don't
think expelling a student fixes
everything. Uh but I do think we need to
have lines and we'll continue to work
through that. When students are expelled
from Lewis public schools, there is an
opportunity for a re-entry plan and we
have not given up on that investment.
And so I wanted to share that it's nice
to say that we draw a line, but it
doesn't fix any problems. Uh and so we
continue to work with specific re-entry
plans with kids that we develop together
with them knowing their full situation.
Uh there are volunteer requirements,
counseling requirements often. Uh we do
have opportunities for teaching and
learning and and share some uh novel
experiences with community partners and
there there's still an opportunity for
some kids to earn at least a limited
amount of credit because we don't want
them to just work on self and lose full
progress on school because what happens
is they'll drop out and we've just
reinvented the same issue uh likely down
the road.
But also note that some kids have done
something or things that's gotten them
to a point where they have work to do
before they can even access the re-entry
plan. So it's not really common
knowledge unless you're living it as a
student or if maybe you're a school
committee member who's held the line. Um
but there are steps to these processes
and we do um work hard to hold those
lines.
I also want to share some things that
I'm hearing.
I had a kid tell me recently who was
involved in a firearm incident, which I
have a a unique role in which I get to
talk to them as as students and try to
figure out what's the next best thing
for them. And I'm also the person who
makes the decision whether or not they
go to a disciplinary hearing, but I do
try to build relationships with the kids
and and really just talk about what's
going on in your world and try to
navigate and problem solve everything
that we can. But I had a kid tell me
recently who was involved in a firearm
incident that the way he gets guns is he
profiles vehicles. He looks for things
that are unlocked. He's not stealing
money. He's not anything else. Just look
for a firearm. But he said he'll look
for trucks. And trucks are commonly
unlocked. And people with trucks are
more likely to have guns. This kid is
12.
years old. He told me this.
So, please lock up your firearms. Don't
leave them in your vehicles. Get them
locked up and put away.
Everyone's posting with the guns. We're
seeing this uh rampantly through
schools. It causes a lot of issues as
others have mentioned. Um, and so if if
everyone's posing with a gun or
something that looks like a gun, others
want to also look that cool, feel that
awesome, have that sense of adequacy.
It's a problem. Some of those kids are
posing with a pellet gun or a BB gun and
others are po posing with 45s,
handguns that can take someone's life.
Absolutely.
I had one kid tell me that he shoots
buildings because an adult told him to.
And I say, "We need to find out who
these adults are that are taking
advantage of our kids." And I'm talking
intentionally taking advantage of our
kids. Not just any kid. Usually kids
that have a low cognitive ability who
really want to fit in anywhere they can.
They're carrying guns and they're
carrying out tasks for other people who
are asking them to do it. So they feel
cool. So they feel awesome. They have no
intentions of killing someone, but if
they can light up a building at 1:00 in
the morning and people think they're
awesome for doing it, they'll do it. We
need to continue to track this and solve
these problems. I've also had kids tell
me they just don't feel safe. We've had
kids that we've we've had to search and
take things off of. Never firearm in the
school, but we do search and we've done
many searches. Um, but often times we
find kids with a knife. Why are you
carrying a knife at school?
It's because I don't feel safe when I'm
walking to or from school. And so these
are concerns that we we we just can't
allow it.
Something that humbled me recently that
I want to share with the entire group.
There's an old approach to instead of
saying hello or hi, how are you? Uh and
I forget where this came from and I
apologize to wherever this originated
from, but the greeting was how are the
kids doing?
And it made me pause.
Imagine if everywhere we went in our
community, we said to each other, "How
are the kids doing?" Because if they're
not okay, we have a lot of work to do.
And if they are okay, then we have to
maintain that effort.
I'm an educator, so you're going to hear
it from me. I do have thoughts.
Obviously, ensure healthy relationships
exist. Start by talking to the kids.
They're the ones most proximate to it,
and it's not a ton of kids. I know that
I I live in a world where there's a lot
of stereotypes of those kids, those
people. It's not that. It's it's
actually a little more mixed than you
think. Uh not not making accusations,
but a little more mixed than a lot of
people think. And it's a relatively
small group of kids. And I think we need
to build in more sense of adequacy in
our community where kids can develop
their identity and and grow through
that. We need to find a way to wrap
around supports. As Neil mentioned, uh
we know the high-risisk kids who have
been involved in numerous numerous
things. And so from Chief and Neil and
others that are going to speak tonight,
we need to find a way to wrap supports
around those kids uh and do something
differently.
And then I challenge everyone to take 10
good minutes to get to know a kid that
you don't already know because it's
worth it when you sit and talk with a
kid who might be troubled who might be a
great kid might change your your
perception of that kid or a specific
population that that are our neighbors
but 10 good minutes talking with a kid.
I learned a lot about a kid who got shot
recently.
It was a great conversation
but he was there and that happens.
I'll take questions. Uh again, I took
some slides out. One thing I'd like to
mention before I take any questions
though, the working relationship that we
have as a school system with Neil and
Lewis Police Department and our JCCOs's
is without its flaws. We talk all the
time. Whenever we need something, we
talk to each other. We communicate.
There are limitations and constraints
because of rights and and and whatnot,
but um we work together all the time.
>> Thank you very much, Superintendent. I
appreciate you being here. Councelor
Martell, we're starting with you.
» Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, uh,
Superintendent. Um,
why don't I write down I have a question
here. Um,
you know, I'll hold it for now. Um,
thank you very much for your
presentation. I appreciate what you do
in the schools.
>> Councelor Chidum, no questions. Thank
you, Mr. Mayor.
>> Uh, councelor Noble,
>> nothing.
>> Councelor Roy,
um, one of the questions uh, that I
have, are there any incentives for maybe
some teachers to build up some pickup
sports after school? Um, can we look
into something like that that helps
maybe keep kids in a good activity after
school? [gasps]
>> The easy answer is yes. Uh it it does
take money in space, but we have
afternoon uh programming that goes uh
well into when community partners have
kids in their spaces um and they're
keeping kids uh later in the evening.
And so I think the key is getting kids
that need that thing to do in the space
where it's already happening. I think
the city's done a good job committing
resources. I know we as a school system
have continued to seek grants and the
school committee has supported after
school programming and summer related uh
programming. So I think it could always
get better. Um, I do look at things like
some of our sports teams. The numbers
are just abysmally low. Um, and and I
think that's a maybe a generational
thing. Like it's it's it's way more
interesting to make sure your your posts
are active and you know what's going on
with everyone than it is to be on a
practice field and and be two hours
without it. But just another notice to
everyone that there'll be no cell phones
in the high school next year. That's a law that's been passed and we
move forward with that.
I I do think that would be helpful. But
I I agree. We we just got to get kids
engaged. When I talk about sense of
adequacy, I I really mean it can be
almost anything. If you build a
birdhouse or a foot stool or something
and you can bring it home and be like, I
did this [snorts] that matters. And our
kids right now, they're stuck to their
phones and they're not doing those
things. And so their sense of adequacy
is how awesome did someone or how many
likes did they have or it's it's so
superficial like we got to get deeper
with our kids.
>> Thank you for that. I actually have that
with um businesses maybe sponsoring an
internship or a mentorship with some of
the stuff that they do within the comm
uh the community. One of the other
questions I have is in in uh have we
looked into why
um when we expel youth and all that
stuff, are we looking deeper into why
youth are are going down that hole and
maybe trying to figure out how to
prevent others from going down that?
>> So the short answer is yes, the long
answer is really long. Every kid is an
individualized uh scenario. Um, one
thing that I want to really spend more
time on if there are researchers in the
room, and I know Bates has been helpful
with this kind of conversation, is
second generation
males especially,
seem to have um a different kind of need
to please their peers than than I've
seen before. And so I want to know more
about that. But those kids are also role
models for their younger siblings. And I I want to understand that that
influence and how that that's happening.
we are seeing uh you know for for better
or worse I've been in administration in
Lewis public school since 2012. So in
that time frame I've spent a lot of time
with with kids who are now the adults
that Neil's mentioning the young adults
and their siblings who are some of them
currently in school. So I know a lot
about the family dynamics and and it it
all plays in. Um, but I will say this,
all the things we can identify, for the
vast vast majority of them, we're not
filling what their needs are. From
counseling to,
you know, trauma to adequacy, you name
it. Um, there's a lot going on,
» test,
can you hear me now?
testing test came back there. Okay.
>> All right. Um couple more um things that
I thought about. I'm glad you touched
upon Bates College maybe, you know,
partnering up with Bates College to
invest a little bit in the community
with the school system to try to build
those after school programs and all that
stuff too. I think that's something that
I was thinking about. Um let's see.
that'll uh how about peerto-peer
peer-to-p peer homework help you know
stuff like that because again if we get
a lot of our youth engaging with other
youth maybe work habits and you know
healthy boundaries and all that stuff
maybe that might be a way to go too.
Yeah, all good ideas. Happy happy to
explore those.
>> Councelor Haramman,
>> I don't have any questions right now.
Thanks,
>> Councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, Mr. Langless, uh,
do we still have truent officers?
>> So, the question was, do we have truency
officers? And and so the answer to that
question is no, but yes. So, we used to
have a dedicated person u many years ago
that this is part of what they did as a
job. Um now it's it's morphed to uh
school administrators. Uh oftentimes
we'll go with an SRO to try to contact a
kid we've been missing for a while. Um a
truency is a a serious problem. Um and
when I talk a whole community, I don't
mean just it takes everybody for that
afternoon on the field. I mean the the
standards that we hold for each other
are incredibly important and kids are
watching all the time. And so when they
feel safe because people are drawing
lines, they they'll behave that way.
It's it's it's a really interesting
piece at least more so um as it relates
to truency, it's just I'm trying to
connect the two because if you're not
going to school and having a responsible
routine for yourself or as a parent
making sure your kids get to that space,
we're missing big pieces of why kids
often start misbehaving in school
because they feel lost academically. And
so it that's another piece is community
effort. I I'd love to see chronic
absenteeism and truency be reduced, but
it's going to take everybody to be like,
"Hey, why aren't you in school? It's not acceptable that you're not."
And and that's going to take a parent
getting up, right? Like so many of us in
this room have kids that have are still
growing or have grown. And you know, I'm
a superintendent. This morning, my kid
was here to do a workout uh as a summer
program. He did not get up the first
time I knocked on the door. He did not
get up the second time. He got up the
third time when I ripped a blanket off
of him. But that's that's my job you as
a dad, right? Because he's going at 7
o'clock for workouts. But but that's my
job as a dad. And we have a lot of kids
that their parents,
they don't even know that that's a
thing. They they don't realize that
there's something at 7:00 tomorrow
morning that their kids should be there
for and they're definitely not getting
them up for it. So we got to do better
across the board.
>> Uh thank you. Um so we don't have a
truency uh officer. We are hopeful that
the parents will do a better job and I
am hopeful too and I know how critical
that is but the reality is it's not
happening.
So I think we need a truency officer
um to make sure that if a kid uh is not
attending school after so many days
they're the ones uh knocking on their
door like we had uh years ago. I think
that was uh very useful and very helpful
from what I could uh see.
The second question I have um
the small group of individuals that you
were um
saying uh you know are basically the
ones committing these uh the gun
violence.
Are they in school that you know of or
are they kids that um are not currently
going to school? Well, not this summer,
but
>> I I looked over some things. I I think I
have my my data accurate, but I'd have
to dig some more. I believe there's been
one student that's had anything gun
rellated in the last two years that was
not already expelled from school for
other violent acts.
The other thing I would just suggest,
um, and I'd like to ask you if you think
it would be helpful, and it seems as
though the answer is probably going to
be yes, I hope. Um, it seems like when
you identify kids that are struggling
and, you know, may go down a path, uh,
we need some sort of system to prevent
uh any anything further from happening.
Um, and I don't mean just an
organization that comes up tomorrow and
says, "Oh, I'll be great at it." so they
can get a ton of money or uh but I think
we need real professional people, case
management people um once the school
identifies uh the students to step in uh
I believe that would be really helpful.
Um we we can't lose sight of of helping
these uh young people. Thank you. I
>> I would agree. Just just real quickly if
someone called me tomorrow and said, "We
have this program. What kids do you
think should be in it?" There's there's
plenty of people in this room that could
probably tell you exactly who could
benefit from additional supports, but we
do need the system and the resources.
And from a truency officer perspective,
I want folks to know that we mail a
letter to parents and we let them know
after 10 absences that your your your
child is truent and that if you don't
send your student to school, you'll be
fined up to $250. We have to submit the
language to the district attorney's
office who is already 700 cases behind.
and to prioritize a truency case for a
$250 fine is not making the priority
list. That's not on them. That's just a
reality. I just want to share that
upfront with people.
>> Councelor Long Champs, did you have
something else?
>> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So, uh what I
would just say to that is
we probably just need a truency officer
that can go knock on the door after a
few days of making no uh you know,
having no contact with this kid so that
they can see what condition they're
living in or what is going on. And then
DHS needs to do a better job at helping
also. Thank you.
>> Uh any further? Councelor Nene, did you
have something?
>> I did. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, um how
many uh students have been expelled uh
this year?
» This year, I think we're approaching 15.
>> 15. And um were all the expulsions based
on violent acts?
Yeah, I yes, all violent acts. Um, but I
do want to clarify too, um, we've
crossed a bridge. So, I don't know if
the legal team wants to block their
ears, but we we crossed a bridge as a
school system and said even if the
violent act happens outside of school,
but it has the opportunity to disrupt
the peace and use of the school itself,
we are still carrying that forward.
We're not we're not waiting for it to
happen at school. If it happens, it
happened. and we're taking action on
that.
>> Okay. And just as a followup on that,
what is LPS's responsibility for
placement of that child in an
educational system once they are
expelled from school?
So, in statute, you have limited
responsibilities. Um, if there's an IEP,
you have some instructional obligations.
If you if they do not have an IEP, your
responsibility to have a re-entry plan.
We go beyond that and provide supports
to to try to maintain opportunities for
volunteering, experiences, learning,
counseling. Um, but that's all off-site.
They're not allowed on school grounds.
Thank you. And the last question that I
have just to follow up with all of those
pieces is what are the processes in
which we uh as a school system identify
at risk youth and what tools are we
using in order to avoid the expulsion
which then uh and I'm just going to use
this framework but in most cases um
unless there's incredible engagement
from the parents of of that youth uh
basically throws that kid away. Um so
there's there's traditional constructs
to identify at risk grades, attendance,
uh skipping tardies, things of that
nature. Um we go beyond that with with
some of our systems with uh behavioral
analysis, uh trajectory or projection to
graduate or not or and what where you're
at in that pace. There's a there's a
metric for that in our system. But we've
also done some things that are not
traditional. Um our SRO's have done some
great things in the schools. I it's
interesting to see in the schools. And I
know some people have bigger feelings
about SRO's um in a different light, but
I watch our SRO's get fist bumps and
hugs and all kinds of things in our
schools and I think that's an important
step that we've taken. Um we also have
been working with um the community based
organizations who have brought staff
into our schools. So kids who have like
a hot spot moment, they can go see
someone. Um, you're going to hear from
Duncan, so I'm sure he'll talk about
some of the things that he's done in
collaboration with with school and kids
who are facing or have faced
consequences with with school and
community. Um, so we're we're looking to
fold in as many people as we can and
break down the barrier of it's a school,
so you can't do that here. We're saying
it's a school. How can you help us uh
get in front of some of these
situations?
>> So ultimately, you're providing
additional resources outside of family
and recovery courts, which are clearly
are not either either not functioning in
this
uh in this state or or or not fully
functioning.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Uh superintendent, uh you mentioned 15
students have been expelled this year.
Uh can you give us a breakdown based on
school? Were most of those in the high
school or were some in elementary or
middle?
>> It's a great question. So, you cannot
expel a student who is fifth grade or
lower unless there's a gun rellated
incident. Um we've had only one
expulsion this year. Uh that was uh it
was actually a fifth grader. So for the
younger ages, everything else has been
middle and high school. And that's
really about the constraints. I there's we've had some situations with
very young kids that they're not gun
related. Um but we have
I I'll say this if if the next session
is willing to hear some language around
some things we might be able to do as a
school system to help mitigate, I have
ideas.
>> Thank you. Uh further questions uh from
the council.
Superintendent, thank you very much for
being here.
We are now going to hear from the New
Beginnings executive director, Chris
Bnau.
Thank you for joining us, Director Bnau.
>> Thank you for inviting me. Um, I was
invited here because of my experience
and expertise in systems and funding.
And so that's primarily what I'm going
to talk about. Um I believe that the
responsibility for solving this problem,
the financial problem of getting money
to resolve this sits with state and
local officials, period. Um
I don't I do know that without
significant investment in multiple
different
domains that this is not going to get
resolved. And I did hear the mayor say
that he has heard clearly from the
citizens of Lon that he doesn't want
municipal dollars being spent. If you
don't want to spend money on this,
you're not going to get a solution.
That's just a reality. Um, one
contributing factor to the inadequate
response is that the city of Lewon does
not have a public health department.
This is a public health crisis. This is
not a criminal justice crisis.
These are children who are living in
fear in the community and they are
children. They are not juveniles.
When a child witnesses a friend die,
they do not they do not respond from a
logical place. They do not respond from
an adult thinking process. They are
developmentally different from adults.
They are incapable of making rational
decisions about their behavior when they
are in fear. Period.
uh whether whether or not the city uh
hires uh a public health official to
kind of oversee this process is not in
my power, but uh engaging with the main
CDC and the office of injury and
violence prevention and the children's
cabinet are critical for this city to
engage with. They have the capacity to
engage in this conversation. Um to this
end, I reached out to the children's
cabinet. What I heard back from the
children's cabinet's representative was
they don't have discretionary dollars to
invest in this. I personally have
problem with that. These are state
agencies that do have discretionary
dollars that they're choosing to
administer in different ways. And so I
feel putting pressure on the state
departments that have responsibility
here. We're talking about the CDC,
Department of Health and Human Services,
Department of Public Safety. those
departments have the capacity to make
internal changes and assign personnel to
different tasks uh to address this
issue.
Um if the children's cabinet in fact
doesn't have any money and it's a dead
end um there are pretty much two other
courses of action to acquire this money
maybe three. Uh one is the opioid
response funds. The the state has spent
1.4 million of 3.4 4 million in opioid
response funds. There's plenty of money
there. The city has $631,22.18
in unspent opioid response money that
can be spent to help resolve this issue.
Um the second option is uh seeking
foundation and corporate support. Uh I
don't think that any foundation or
corporation would invest in something
that this community is not willing to
invest in itself. And so you need to get
beyond the fact that you you don't want
to spend money. there's a problem in
this community that requires resources
and that means money. Um
the third access is there's something
called the JJ, the juvenile justice
advisory group and they have do have
some discretionary grant funding and I
haven't reached out to them personally
but there are folks in the room who are
connected as I am who will be looking at
those dollars and the potential for some
of those dollars to be addressing this
situation. Those are the the three
sources of money that I've been able to
kind of research and find out there. Um
my recommendation is that this community
uh respond to this as a public health
emergency and that it has uh a public
safety component. Like I'm not denying
that these children are shooting guns in
the street. Like that has to stop.
Absolutely has to stop. So there is a a
public safety component to a public
health crisis. Uh, and all of the issues
and concerns around how do we detain
kids or hold kids accountable, I think
are all valid, but trying to treat
children like adults is not a response
that's going to get you the result
you're looking for. Um, I think the city
should immediately hire a director of
public health to begin coordinating this
response. U the city should uh
immediately approach the children's
cabinet and the CDC to ask formally for
funds and resources. Uh the city should
petition uh the state to release some of
their opioid settlement funds. Uh and
they should release some of their own
opioid settlement funds. Um, I also
think that there are community partners
who are doing work with these young
people in the community that are being
effective, but they are doing it with
existing resources that they are
stretching to meet a grand need in this
community. And if those community
partners had funding, they could expand
the response and go deep into community
to help support the families and the
siblings and the kids that are suffering
here. This is about fear, children in
fear. Um, and really there's someone had
mentioned a a child and LA child and
well-being collaborative. That's a
really great group. There is a lot of
brain power in that group. That group
can create a strategy that the funding
that is brought to bear can be used to
effectively mitigate this problem. And
that's kind of where I sit.
>> Thank you very much, director. Uh we're
going to take questions. We're going to
start with councelor Nene.
» At the moment I actually don't have any
questions. U although I we're long
overdue for a conversation.
>> Thank you councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um so what I'm
hearing from you is that it seems as
though there's a funding issue. Um
correct?
>> Correct.
>> Thank you. That's really all.
>> Councelor Harman,
>> thank you for being here. Um, I guess my
question is in your work with New
Beginnings, do you see much overlap
between the youth that you serve and the
youth who are involved in these
activities or is it is it kind of
separate groups of people and do you
have any insights as to why the answer
might be the way it is?
uh we we see a slight amount of overlap.
Our outreach team goes out throughout
the city. Um but the young people who
seek services at New Beginnings are not
the young people who are involved in
these activities. And so I'm I'm one
step removed from this and that's why
I'm not offering uh solutions because I
am not a gun violence expert. Um and I
do not primarily work in this particular
neighborhood or community. And so I
don't want to step on other people's
toes who are much more deeply connected
and understand the problem better than I
do.
>> Thank you,
>> Council Roy.
>> Thank you. Um I just want to say thank
you for putting this together and taking
the time to um to really dig deep and come up with your thoughts. Thank
you,
>> Councelor Noble.
>> My questions were about the program, but
he's not here to talk about that. So,
>> councelor Chidum,
thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Mr. McNel,
thank you very much for being here. Um,
I appreciate your perspective that more
money could help solve the problem. Um,
thank you for your viewpoint.
>> Councelor Martell.
» Uh, yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um,
I struggle to to square some of some of
what you said. So, we just got done
listening to the superintendent explain
to us how a 12-year-old seems to be
using pretty high level logical and
deductive reasoning skills, figuring out
where to best find a gun, whether that's
in a pickup truck and whether they're
unlocked or whatnot. um that that
doesn't necessarily scream to me a a
juvenile that's incompetent of making
competent decisions is what I believe I
wrote down what you said or or a child
living in fear that seems like a
criminal mindset
that is uh reasoned and logic based and
uh results driven. Um could you help me
square those two things?
>> Sure. I didn't say that children are not
excellent creative problem solvers. I
did not say that children who are backed
into a corner and have no adult supports
can't get their needs met by strategies
that don't meet adult expectations. I
see every day in my life children who
have little to no support structure in
their lives, who do the absolute best
that they can to solve the problem that
they are presented with and can argue me
up and down until I am exhausted and can
no longer keep up with their circular
argument. That does not mean that they
are developmentally
thinking the way that adults do. The
biology of children is very different
from the biology of adults. The human
brain does not finish developing in a
female until age 24 and in a male until
26. At the age of 13 or 14, we are
talking about children who are
terrified. I don't know if anybody in
here has seen a friend of theirs die in
the streets before the age of 16. I
have. My response was not rational. I
was terrified. I had no adults in my
life to protect me. I did what I did to
protect myself out of fear so I wouldn't
be the next one. I luckily survived
that. These kids are facing the same
thing. They don't know what the
going on. They are doing what they can
to keep themselves alive based on
visceral reactions to horrible realities
in the street.
» I appreciate you coming tonight. I
fundamentally disagree with everything
you said.
any uh and I appreciate your your
fervor, but if we can uh refrain from
profanity here, that would be great.
>> I'm sorry. I apologize to everybody.
>> You are good. Um further questions uh
from the council.
Director Bricknell, uh I appreciate your
service to our city. Thank you so much
and thank you for being here.
We are now bringing up uh Duncan Pierre
uh from Restorative Justice Project.
Thank you so much for being here Duncan.
» Good evening y'all. How you doing?
Um, I'm here as a father and um as a
husband even though I work for
Restorative Justice Project. I'm
actually on vacation, you know, sporting
a t-shirt and shorts. Um, but I work
with these young people in this
community every single day. Um, and what
I'm seeing is uh they don't lack for
accountability. We live in a society
that um enforces that. What I'm seeing
is a lack of support. Um, as the
superintendent mentioned, a lot of these
youth are expelled. So, if I'm 12 or 13
and um, I spend the day not in school
and my parents are at work, the people
are supposed to be supporting me, like
what am I supposed to do? I find myself
outside with another group of expelled
kids. So, for me, um, I saw this coming
few years ago and I thought to myself,
how could I intervene? Even though, like
I said, you know, I work with youth, I
try to go above and beyond what I do
just as a private citizen. And I think
my call to action to the community would
be to anybody who cares enough, cuz
that's not going to be everybody, but if
anybody who cares enough to want to come
into the community and support these
youth, um, as we're mentioned, we're
talking about 29 youth, maybe in
peripheral like 50.
uh you know if took him to McDonald's,
sat him down, had a conversation about
like what's your life like? What's going
on around you? You know, what are the
things that you've seen and how has life
impacted you? And I, you know, for me
personally as my testimony um as a man
of faith, there are things that, you
know, I didn't know as a young child
that I had to grow to understand. And it
took people to come into my life to help
and support me to get me where where I
am today. And I'm very grateful for
those people. And I'm hoping that as a
community we can have some people
because we don't have money. So we can
wait for the money. We can wait for the
legislators. That's going to take time.
But as of right now, what we can do
tomorrow, we can go out on the street
and talk to some kids. We can try to
take the effort to find out who they are
and spend some time with them. Um today
I was supporting some young people. Took
them McDonald's. We were making a bench.
You mean like there's so many things
that we could potentially do within your
scope and power of influence. So that's
all I got to say. Thank you guys for
giving me the time.
» Thank you very much, Duncan. Uh we're
going to start with uh Councelor
Martell. Do you have uh questions?
» No, thank you, Mr. Mayor.
>> Councelor Chidum.
Thank you, Mr. Pierre. No, I have no
questions other than how do I get in
touch with you?
>> We will coordinate that. Councelor
Noble,
>> I don't have any questions at this time.
>> Councelor Roy, councelor Chidum, uh be
me to
» uh councelor Herman. Yes,
>> thank you for being here. Um I guess in
your experience with the with the youth
you work with, question.
>> Uh, in your experience with the youth
that you work with, do you see any any
I'm sure there are some common threads
that of things that they're
experiencing. Um, are there any that you
see that that we could just as a
community be aware of to look for um and
possibly support them through whatever
challenges they're facing?
Um what I would say is uh there's
actually not a lack of resources that
could help them, but it's a matter of
are they engaging in those resources,
right? So take an expelled kid who has a
re-entry plan. Um how do we get them to
engage in that re-entry plan that will
actually help them get back in school?
you know, what are the supports that
they need to calm their body, calm their
minds, you know, work through and heal
through some of the trauma that they're
experienced so that they can get to the
point where, you know, they could go
back to school, get an education, do the
things that they need to succeed in
life. Like, we have we know what they
got to do. It's just a matter of helping
them to do it. And, um, I don't think,
this is my personal opinion, I don't
think that is it lies on the
professionals, you know. Um, I'm
grateful for all you guys, but I'm
hoping to plead to your humanity as
people, not mayor, police commissioner,
superintendent. Like, it's it's your
humanity that cares for a 13-year-old
who shoots a 14-year-old that says, "Yo,
this ain't right. What can we do to
intervene in their lives to help them?"
And that is supporting them so that they
can engage in the counseling and the
school and the, you know, the the
parenting.
Thank you,
>> councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thank you for
being here.
>> I think it's going to take a lot of uh
we're going to have to come up with lots
of different ways to um there's many
layers to this and you're absolutely
right. Um, I see you almost every day at
the store, uh, with a lot of the
teenagers,
um, that come in that I love dearly, uh,
and that I think care about me, too. Um,
but you're right, it is taking a moment.
I will say that it does make a
difference. And although we're here to
really, uh, touch on gun violence, but,
you know, a lot of the kids that are
committing these crimes, uh, they don't
have good mentors.
And although we can sit here and say,
"Well, it's not our responsibility.
They're not our kids." Um, it is our
responsibility. It doesn't take long.
Um, I I'll share that I know it makes a
difference and it is a part of
um really getting to uh hopefully solve
some of these bigger issues that we're
having. So, I'm grateful that you spend
so much time uh in the downtown area.
I'm grateful that um you are a man of
humanity and you really care about our
youth and it is a large part of helping
solve this problem. So thank you
>> councelor Naene.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh thank you for
being here. Um one of the things that
you brought up resonates completely. Um
the piece that you're talking about with
the 13 and the 14y old that was my
neighborhood. Um,
one of the things that I've heard
repetitively, um, not only it's a
question of fear, as as Superintendent
Langlas had said, but it's a question of
care, right? I've heard kids literally
say, "Nobody cares if I carry a gun.
Nobody cares where I'm at, what I'm
doing at any given time." And so, I
think you you've made a lot of good
points. I think the challenge is
getting kids to engage in systems that
improve uh their lives, deal with the
trauma that they're dealing with, all
these other pieces. And unfortunately,
we don't have a mandate to make that
happen. And so, you're right, if more
people cared, I think it's possible, but
there has to be a way to to
um
let our kids know in our community that they are our kids and we do care
about them, you know.
Further uh further questions from the
council.
Duncan, thank you so much for being
here.
» We will now be joined by Christine uh
Thibo uh who's also bringing a
colleague. Uh they're both from the
Department of Corrections. Uh if you can
please introduce yourself uh once you're ready.
» Good evening everyone. My name is
Christine Tibo. I am the associate
commissioner for the department of
corrections division of juvenile
services. Uh for those of you that
aren't familiar with that branch of the
department, we oversee
Juvenile Community Corrections, which
you've heard about a little this
evening, and Long Creek Youth
Development Center, which I'm sure
you're all familiar with. Um but the big
secret that I like to let out of the bag
is that we also invest $4.6 $6 million
in the community in many of the programs
uh like mentoring uh restorative justice
MST and FFT for the clinicians in the
room things that we're hoping will keep
youth out of the system as well. Um so that's what the division does, but
I'll allow Jill to introduce herself as
well.
>> Thank you, Christine. My name is Jill
O'Brien. I'm the director of government
affairs for the Department of
Corrections, which means I go to the
legislative committee hearings where
they're debating the bills that we were
talking about. Um I there are bills that
the department wants passed over the
course of the session. Um and I work
with all of the different divisions of
corrections to identify what's working,
what's not, and coordinate with other
agencies. As Christine mentioned, the
Department of Corrections is involved
through our juvenile community
corrections. So, juvenile probation is
administered by the department of
corrections in Maine. And we also run
Long Creek Youth Development Center,
which holds both detained and committed
youth. So, detained youth are those that
are going through the juvenile process,
but no determination has been made yet
as to whether they committed a juvenile
crime or not. And then the committed are
those who have been found to have
committed the offense. And a judge has a
few options. One of them is to commit
the juvenile to Long Creek to the
Department of Corrections custody and
usually until a certain age, be it 18,
21, or for six or nine months, whatever
period of time the court decides is
appropriate.
As Christine mentioned, uh we spent $4.6
million statewide for community programs
and over $1.4 million of that for region
2, the region that includes Lewon. And
we fight every budget cycle to keep
those programs going. It's not a matter
of the state having a lot of money that
they're just not giving out. The budget
is tight there, too. And we we find this
extraordinarily important and Christine
has done a lot um and the department has
done a lot to make sure those programs
keep going.
We heard about this meeting and we
inserted ourselves because we think
we're an important part of this process.
And I think Christine can clear up
there's some uh the juvenile court
system is complicated and the
determinations the judge makes about
competence are based on experts opinions
of competence. So without delving into
the specifics of each case that's hard
to do. Um and legislative changes are
can be challenging and there's been a
push over the last few years to have
detention to be a a more difficult thing
for a judge to order. And so that's a
policy decision that you can all tell
your legislators how you feel about it.
So just to give you a little bit of my
background, I've been working in Maine's
juvenile justice system for 30 years.
And I see juvenile justice as an art.
And the art of juvenile justice is
figuring out that individual kid. Much
like Superintendent Langless said, each
kid comes to us as an individual. Some
of the youth we see I I would describe
as normative delinquent behavior. I'm
not going to ask you to raise your hand
if you broke the law when you were a
teenager, but statistics say most of us
did and we were fine. Um those youth we
like to divert. We don't believe they
need the courts. Uh we don't believe
they need expensive programming to fix
problems that may not exist. So, we like
to divert them with as light a touch as
possible and we rely on our community-
based organizations.
Secondly, we see kids that aren't really
risk of causing problems in the
community, big problems, but they have
huge needs. And you've heard others this
evening talk about the needs, housing,
poverty, um mental health, substance
use, those challenges that we have uh
that we see in the Department of
Corrections. Those youth need a lot of
services and support. Um but at the end
of the day, they are not likely to be
long-term recidivists.
A small number. And I'm pleased to tell
you that I think this is a minority of
the youth that we see in juvenile
justice are youth who are very high risk
youth for reaffending. And that's part
of our job is to do assessments and
figure out what what's the youth before
us. Is this a high needs kid? maybe DHS
needs to do more. If there's a risk that youth is going to continue to be a
uh a danger to themselves as well as all
of you, we want to take a different
approach and address those risks. And
science tells us and there are programs
that tell us what works. And so we're
really trying to prioritize what we know
works for those high-risisk kids. And
you've heard it from uh from others
before me. Mentoring
um that is a big a big one. And
engagement requires us to find the right
people. Um although we may all want to
reach out to the kids in Lewon and help,
we know that there are individuals that
are younger that are more um in line
with their cultural backgrounds. They're
going to be more effective. So we spend
time trying to find the right kid, the
right supports for the right youth in
our mentoring programs. Restorative
justice, um, Mr. Pierre works for
Restorative Justice uh, Project of
Maine. We help fund them. We actually
have a contract with them to provide
restorative justice for all of region 2,
which includes uh, Lewon. We h have
adopted new models of supervising youth
and and we supervise DOC supervise youth
from the point of arrest all the way
until they leave the juvenile justice
system. So if they're on conditions of
release, if they're on probation, if
they're at Long Creek, that juvenile
community corrections officer is the
constant most of the time, not always,
but most of the time the constant
through that youth's life. So we focus
on uh JCCOs as coaches not referees. We
want to provide supports. We want to
provide incentives. We want to help
reduce the risk by increasing strengths
and assets. Um and we we also have
family engaged CA case planning. That's
part of the Annie Casey Foundation
program that we're working with juvenile
probation transformation. And it relies
heavily on family engagement because we
recognize that youth will always have
their family. They'll always go back to
their family. So, we need to work with
them as a whole unit.
Um, just to give you some some numbers,
today there are 49 residents of Long
Creek and there are a lot of myths and
misconceptions about what happens at
Long Creek. And I won't pretend that
it's all wonderful, but there are good
things that happen at Long Creek. 49 of
the residents today, uh, of those 20 are
committed, as Jill said, they are youth
who've been adjudicated and sentenced to
stay at Long Creek and do a
rehabilitative program. And 29 of those
youth are detained. And to circle back
to a question that was answered earlier,
are there limitations on how long a
juvenile can be detained at Long Creek?
Yes, but it's a very narrow limitation.
If a youth is under age 12, which would
basically be an 11year-old who's at Long
Creek, that youth can only be detained
more than seven days, uh, if both the
prosecutor and the defense attorney
agree. I'm happy to say we do not have
any 11 year olds at Long Creek. We do
have youth who've been there for a day
and then they're released um by the
courts or or sometimes by us and we have
youth who've been there over well over a
year. One of the benefits of Long Creek
and this kind of ties in the competence
issue. If even if a youth is in the
juvenile process and a competent comp
competence determination is being made,
the judge hasn't decided yet. They're
still doing the evaluations.
That youth can be detained at Long
Creek.
Recently, in the p within the past year
or so, um there has been one youth who
is there for a very serious crime who
was found not competent but possibly
could become competent. DOC worked with
the state forensic services, um the
department of health, health and human
services, office of behavioral health
and our clinical providers, Wellpath,
who do tremendous amount of work with
all the youth there to develop a system
for establishing competence for those
juveniles.
And uh so that juvenile was first found
not competent but possibly could be
competent. at the next court date, the
court found that that youth was
competent as a result of the services
that were pro provided to that resident
while at Long Creek. So, there is a lot
of good being done there as well. Um,
you know, our our system is complex and
I I'm going to repeat what you've heard
several times tonight. We're proud to
work with local law enforcement,
community programs, the schools because
we recognize this is not a problem that
we are going to solve alone. Uh this is
a big community pro problem. Um I will
defer to Jill about any legislative
questions or did you want to add
anything? Just that uh certainly
not every youth's experience at Long
Creek is wonderful. it for detained
youth it is a stable environment staffed
by people who care tremendously for the
youth. It is without a doubt disruptive.
Um by the way the system is set up youth
at Long Creek if they're detained their
home schools are still responsible for
their education. So it's remote school
that's disruptive um for committed
youth. Long Creek has an accredited
school. Um there are a lot of wonderful
things going on there. Um but certainly
it is disruptive and better for people
to remain in a home that is supportive.
Happy to answer questions I can about
the legislative process and the
department.
» Uh we uh yes we will now uh take
questions from counselors. Uh councelor
Nene.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um I I do have a
couple of questions about um when you're
releasing uh juvenile
it's a I guess it's a procedural
question but in many cases it seems that
we release juveniles before they appear
before a judge uh for especially for
like let's say misdemeanor crimes um if
you've for instance stolen a vehicle
right which we call joy riding you don't
actually appear before a judge before
you're released is the Is that correct?
>> It's complicated. So, um, we are subject
to all of the laws that are in the
juvenile code, the same laws that govern
the DA's office, and there are clear
statutory guidelines on when a youth can
be detained at Longre. First, you need
to have a criteria for detention, which
means the youth has to have had uh
felony level allegations or they've
violated a condition of probation or
condition of release um or they are um
have a failure a warrant. There there
are certain criteria that exceptions,
but by and large, if a youth commits a
misdemeanor level offense and they don't
have history in the system, the law does
not allow that juvenile to be detained.
If it's a felony, then detention is
possible.
>> Thank you very much. Uh second question
would be when a determination of
competency competency or non-competency
is is found um can that be challenged or
is that just accepted um as
what it is?
>> The competence determination is made in
my experience so should be made solely
by the judge. Um and often it's with a
hearing not always. Sometimes it's very
clear one way or the other whether the
juvenile is or is not competent. But a
judge makes a determination on whether
the juvenile is competent. If the
juvenile is found not competent and not
likely to become competent, the judge
has three statutory options. One, the
judge could place the juvenile in DHS
custody.
Two, they can refer the juvenile to the
Department of Health and Human Services
for what's essentially voluntary
services. So DHS works with the family
to provide whatever they need or the
judge can order nothing. At the end of
that decision, between those three
choices, the juvenile charge is
dismissed. So there's nothing further
pending in the court. Now,
could could an attorney for either side
appeal a competence decision to the
Supreme Court? Yes. I to the best of my
knowledge, there has not been any appeal
on a a juvenile competence
determination, but in theory, yes. And the last question that I have is if
we're releasing juveniles that have
commit committed misdemeanors
um before um
well basically without without holding
them, do we then determine after we
release these juveniles if their uh home
life is stable and supportive and their
community uh situation is is such that
their their likelihood of recidivism is
low or do we not care about juvenile
um misdemeanor crimes. As far as
determining those pieces,
>> we definitely care. So, the youth gets
referred from law enforcement to DOC and
the JCCOS's will do an initial meeting
with the family, talk about what's going
on, uh asks about strengths and
challenges in the home, and if it's a
minor offense and the DA approves, we
can divert that case and handle it
informally. If there appears to be a
need for more intervention and perhaps
court-ordered services, then the case
goes on to court. But every case that
comes to the DOC, we do uh what's called
the youth level of service inventory.
It's a it's a risk assessment that kind
of helps us identify which youth are
doing okay, don't really need a lot of
intervention, and those that need more.
Thank you so much very much for all
that.
Councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, could you remind
me of that uh dollar value, the the
amount of money that is uh going out to
organizations?
Can you remind uh me of that 4 million
that's going out to organizations?
>> Yes, counselor. Statewide 4.6 6 million
in fiscal year 2026 and for region 2 it
was 1.4 million.
>> And what organizations uh is that being
uh given to?
>> There's approximately 10.
>> May I have the names?
>> Uh New Beginnings. We support New
Beginnings Shelter, Tree Street,
Spurwink, Main Behavioral Health,
Restorative Justice Project, the
statewide regional care teams, Prebble
Street, etc. Was that 10?
>> Uh,
>> we have a few others
>> that you can't share or
>> No, I'm I'm happy to keep going. Um,
>> please.
>> Youth advocate program, Tree Street,
Journey.do, main immigrant and refugee
services, several several community
programs.
>> Thank you. Um,
how do you track the success coming from
uh those programs? Do you and how do
you? So we certainly Christine, would
you like to?
>> Yeah. So we have a fabulous uh contract
manager who keeps reports. She requires
monthly reports from all of those
organizations on the number of youth
they've served. Uh a program like MST
with multi-istic therapy. We don't
necessarily get into the details of what
that was about, but that whether the
youth and the family engaged in the
services or whether they were closed out
prematurely for some reason, we keep
that kind of data. Um, all of the
programs do have to provide some
documentation of how they're using the
funds that we uh allocate to them. So,
sometimes we ask for receipts and
documentation on spending.
>> Thank you. Um,
I know there are uh a large number of
folks that disagree or would rather uh
not see Long Creek exist. Um, I think
Long Creek is very important. I did a
lot of volunteering there. Um, and I I
think it's very important to have a safe
place um for juveniles to go when they
have committed crimes. So, I hope uh
Long Creek plans to stay for a long
time. I think it's very needed. Um,
I did have one more question,
» but I can't remember.
>> We can come back to you, counselor.
Uh, councelor councelor Herman,
>> thank you both for being here. Um,
councelor Nene touched on this a little
bit, but when you when you make the
decision to release someone uh release a
juvenile to their family, um you
mentioned that that that family
engagement is important. What happens if
the family for whatever reason, whether
it's um lack of resources or um you
know, whatever reason it is, they're not
really able to support that juvenile in
the way they need. Um what what sorts of options are there then?
>> So, one of our contracts is with two
separate agencies, the Opportunity
Alliance and Wings. They cover different
parts of the state and they have
highfidelity wraparound programs. That
is a system that's designed for exactly
those youth to uh help identify natural
supports in the community. Um support
parents as best they can but supplement
where the parents are are not able to do
all that they need. mentoring programs.
We have the youth advocate program. Uh
and and as even though they are very caring and they do a great job,
they are struggling with staffing. To
echo another concern that you've heard
several times, um their staffing is
difficult for them to retain and and
keep long term. But those kinds of
things we do we we recognize that not
all parents have the resources that that
we that the kids need.
Okay. Thank you,
>> Councelor Roy.
>> Thank you. Um, one of the questions I
hope that you might be able to answer
is, um,
what is the approach if you have a youth
that goes before you
and you let go for doing a crime and
then they come back within a month or
maybe even a week or two? Is there an
approach that you follow? cuz we heard
earlier that we're having repeat youth
out there and it just they keep uh the
youth keep getting uh let back into the
city. So
>> So every youth who is arrested by law
enforcement and detained at Long Creek
appears before a judge within 48
business hours. That judge can decide
whether to release the youth at court on
that day and and sometimes they do. Um,
the judge may order that the youth be
detained at Long Creek, but allow the
JCCO, the discretion, to release that
youth once services are in place, or the
judge can order that the youth be held
with no right to release, meaning only a
judge can now release that youth from
Long Creek. Um, so if the JCCO happens
to be uh have that discretion, usually
what happens is we have a team meeting
where we pull together attorneys and uh
JCCO if there's a community case
manager.
The expectation is that within 5 days of
that original detention that the JCCOs
have pulled together the supports for
that youth and and everybody comes
together to make a release plan. Um, so
is it perfect? Absolutely not. Um, but
we certainly do look at all of the
factors and the risks of of reaffending.
Uh, I had a psychologist tell me once
the best predictor of future behavior is
past behavior. So, we look at, you know,
the history and and the domains, not
just what's happening on the streets of
Lewon, but what's happening in the
school, what's happening in the home,
uh, what are the support resources. So,
it's not a knee-jerk. we're gonna
release this youth and hope for the best
there. It's a very thoughtful
decision-making process.
>> Thank you for that. Um, so going into
that, are what are the rehabilitation
services that you have at Long Creek to
help prevent patterns?
» So, thank you for this opportunity to
debunk some myths. um youth. So, as as
Jill mentioned, youth are there either
on a detained status or on a committed
status. Youth who are detained have not
yet been adjudicated. They are presumed
innocent. They have due process rights.
We don't dive into the behaviors that
they've been alleged to commit. What we
do provide to youth who are they
detained status is clinical support.
Pardon me. uh clinical support. We have
on-site and on call uh clinical
behavioral specialists. We have a
psychiatric nurse practitioner, doctors,
dentist. Um all of those services that
help stabilize the youth in that
environment, we provide to the detained
youth. So, if they're having a a mental
health crisis or engaging in self harm,
we respond to that. We have an excellent
team of Wellpath clinicians that respond
to that immediately
once the youth is adjudicated and if
they are committed to Long Creek, we do
30 days of assessments on education
needs. Oh, let me back up. Detained
youth, uh, as Jill said, they remain the
responsibility of the home school, but
the homeschool can choose to have them
attend classes at our internal school,
AR Gold, and award credits. And most of
the time that's what the schools will do
uh just because it is less disruptive
than sending in independent teachers. So
for the detained kids they get
education, they get uh stabilization,
mental health stabilization, medical
needs. Uh they get to be part of all of
the activities that are going on in the
facility. They're not precluded from
having visitors or engaging. We had a a
fun summer fun day last week. They get
to participate in all of that stuff. The
only thing they don't get is an
exploration of what led to that criminal
conduct. That happens exclusively with
youth who are committed after they've
been adjudicated and after there's been
an assessment. We have sexual behavior
treatment if that's part of the issue.
Substance use treatment is is almost
universal. Not always but uh the youth
who are detained do get substance use
education as well. They get some of that
work. Uh certainly anger management we
have a tool called the savvery um that
assesses risk of violence and depending
on how the youth comes out on that
assessment. We do different types of
intervention around um you know helping
to prevent future violence,
self-regulation skills, uh trauma work,
all of the things you've heard about.
that uh but that again is a very
thoughtful and well-informed process. It
takes about 30 days to really gather
psychological testing, education
testing, IEPs if they have them from
schools. So there there's a lot that
happens there that you you don't read
about that in the paper, but there is a
lot happening there.
>> Thank you for that. And two really quick
questions. Um one, what happens if they
don't participate? Is there fall fall
back for or is there like a way
repercussions? Thank you.
>> Well, certainly we can't force a youth
to do something they don't want to do,
but we try to incentivize them. So, we
have level systems. We have, you know,
the the higher you are on the level, the
more privileges you get. We have an
earned living unit for those youth that
are really engaging. They get to wear
jeans and they get to walk through the
halls unescorted and they get a lot they
get more offgrounds privileges and do
more activities. So yeah, we can't you
know any of you have had teenagers try
and force them to do anything but you
can incentivize and and we do as best as
we can to incentivize u teenagers.
And then my last question would be um in
your experience when do behaviors become
patterns?
» In my experience and in speaking with
many forensic psychologists over my
career, um what what I believe and I'm
not a psychologist is that there are
indicators that a youth is going to be
what they call life course persistent.
And some of those are um perhaps the
most predictive is very early onset of
violence. I'm talking and I've seen this
in my prior to coming to doc uh a youth
who was six years old and choking out
another girl at the daycare with a ne
with her necklace. That kind of behavior
which is not normative and is very early
onset tends to be a predictor of a youth
who's probably going to continue to be
um disruptive into adulthood. Whereas a
young per and this is why getting a
history and an accurate history is so
important to us is you've heard someone
else say I think it was Mr. fake nail or one of the others. Teenagers do
stupid things. And sometimes those
stupid things result in consequences
they didn't intend that are very bad.
But when you look at that youth,
you have a different lens of this is
probably not going to be a life course
persistent offender. Uh we need to help
them deal with what they've done. And
accountability might be apologizing.
Restorative justice is a is a form of
accountability but it's a different
approach than those uh that we can
identify again with the assistance of
psychologists and experts in that area
of those youth that are going to be
problems into adulthood.
>> Thank you
counselor Noble.
>> I heard you talk about the wraparound
services FFT [snorts] and MST. How long
does it take for those services to be
put in place for the support of the
family?
It depends. So, right now, the state of
Maine, the Department of Behavioral
Health Services has a system that has
just been in place as of February. Some
of you may have heard about a federal
um Department of Justice action against
the state. And as a result of that
settlement agreement, the Department of
Health and Human Services uh is required
to do a what's called a single
assessment for any youth that needs that
level of care. They need to first get an
assessment by Entra.
Aentra determines whether they're
eligible for MST, FFT, those kinds of
services. Uh and if so, then the
services are paid for by main care. If
the youth is not covered by main care,
DOC provides funding that we will pay
the cost of those services for
non-covered youth. That's much quicker
than having to go through that process.
>> Thank you.
>> I think on and I have heard again that
it varies from region to region um on
availability of those services. I think
in what I would call the the rim
counties, Oxford County, uh, Waldo,
Washington County, some of those
counties, I think the services are less
accessible.
» Council Chitten.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, first of all,
I'd like to say that I wish there were
not a need for the Department of
Corrections at all. Uh, I wish that you
were both out of jobs. I bet you do,
too. Um, the most important thing I've
heard you say tonight is this $4.6
million state community programming that
applies before the situation. Most of
what we've heard about from many
speakers tonight, yourselves included,
happens after the fact. And the goal
here is to prevent the activity, the
gunfire, the violence in the first
place. So, I'm encouraged to hear about
this 4.6 million. Um, my question to you
is, is this a legislative budget that is
given to you? Is it 4.6 year after year?
Is there hope for growth of that? I want
obviously more of that money to come to
the organizations in Lewon to address
the problem that we're gathered here
tonight to address gun violence by youth
in Lewon.
That that's my question. Is is there a
chance of getting more money to come to
Lewon to sol to address this? Thank you.
>> Thank you for the question, counselor.
We absolutely advocate for more than
this every year. We put into our budget
what we would like to see. It doesn't
always make it into the final budget
that's presented to the legislature and
then what the legislature decides is
never as much as an agency asks for. So,
I would encourage you all to reach out
to your legislators and tell them how
important community programs are.
>> Just to follow up on that, u could you
offline give me the account number, the
accounting, the specific asks to go to
our legislators with uh you have my
email address. You can get that to me uh
afterwards.
>> Absolutely. Thank you,
>> Councelor Martell.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you guys
for being here tonight. Um so just in uh
my own personal experience I remember
growing up and being a teenager uh it
seemed like there was much more punitive
uh punishment accountability for crimes
and poor behaviors. It seems at some
point there was a shift made to I've
hear you use terms like uh restorative
justice and uh this indicate the the
moving towards trying to keep juveniles
at all costs for any reason out of uh
Long Creek or being detained.
uh how when when did that transition or
when did this movement towards this type
of
um I don't know adjudication or or
dealing with juvenile crime
when did that shift happen and how long
have we been uh trying to to operate
under that plan or that path or that
strategy?
I'm going to try to answer this as best
I can. I think some of you that were
around in the early 90s remember the
super predator scare and that there was
a
actually a researcher who said that
youth in that period of time were
without a conscience, without a soul.
They were um just awful and we were
going to have a blood bath in 10 or 15
years when those youth grew up.
And even though that's what the data
said, that's not what happened. And what
we've actually seen is a a sharp and
consistent decline in juvenile crime in
the community.
In my experience, um punishment and
accountability are terms that often
people ascribe their own meaning to.
Accountability doesn't mean it's easy.
It doesn't mean nothing happens. Um, in
my experience, if you have a youth who
has harmed their neighbor and you say to
that and the judge says to that youth,
you're going to do four days at Long
Creek Youth Development Center or you're
going to sit down with that neighbor and
apologize to them and you're going to do
something to repair the harm that you've
done. I can't think of a single juvenile
that will pick the restorative justice.
they will pick the easy way out. So I
think if you think about accountability
in terms of helping the youth grow from
their mistake, that doesn't mean it's
easy. It doesn't mean the kids like it,
but it means we are giving them tools to
grow from that mistake, not simply
imposing a discomfort that doesn't get
us where we want to be, which is a
reduction in that behavior. So, in my
experience, accountability is often
times more painful for youth if it's
restorative, if it's um talking about
behaviors. Show me a teenager that wants
to sit down and talk about their sexual
behaviors
as a condition of probation for a an
offense they might have occurred. They
will take a month, a year at Long Creek
rather than do that treatment. But
that's accountability is you harm
someone by this behavior. Here's what
we're going to do to make sure that
doesn't happen again or at least reduce
the likelihood of it. So,
>> thank you for that. My question though
was when did the shift in approach start
and roughly how long has that been?
So, I' I've been in juvenile justice for
30ish years, and I would say that it has
been a good 20 years since we learned
more about adolescent development, more
about, as Mr. Bnell said, about brain
development. And um so I would say that
the switch switch from a punitive model
to a more holistic model was probably
20 to 25 years ago.
>> And you're suggesting that there's been
a stark drop in juvenile crime since
that's been the approach.
>> I'm not suggesting it. The data clearly
shows it.
>> Okay. Um, it just feels like the the
situation that we're dealing with, at
least here locally, doesn't seem to
reflect that. And that's kind of the the
square I'm trying to circle. That's all.
I'm not questioning uh your data or what
you're saying. I'm just trying to make
sense of it. Uh, it seems like we've got
a juvenile shooting once a week, if not
more often in Lewon. And uh, Councelor
Tridum stated or at least pointed out
that this seems to be more uh more
serious in Lewon rather than other
cities. So, uh, maybe there's other
reasons for that, but, um, when I'm
reading the news each day, it doesn't
particularly feel like, uh, we're seeing
less juvenile violent crime.
>> Um, that's all. Thank you.
>> I I I I will say the data does support
your your, um, assertion that there is
more gun violence and it is certainly
not unique to Lewon, but it is more
common in Lewon. And I won't even
venture a guess um as to why Lewon as
opposed to other communities, but I do
think one thing that has changed
tremendously in my time in the system is
that the availability of weapons, and
you've heard that from others as well. I
think guns were less available to youth
25 years ago than they are today.
Thank you uh both for being here. Uh you
me, if I heard you right, there's uh
approximately 50 uh youth at Long Creek
at this moment.
>> 49. Yes.
>> Yeah. Okay. 49. And then the breakdown
by county, does that is that
proportional by population or is one
county have u proportionally more? Uh
are you able to share that?
>> I do keep that data, but I don't have it
at the top of my head. I will say that
there are uh fewer detentions when you
get into region three, which is
essentially the top seven counties. And
I suspect that's because law
enforcement, unlike having county jails
where law enforcement can bring someone
they've arrested to the county jail, if
a youth is arrested in Caribou, they've
got to be brought to South Portland.
that I think is a natural deterrent for
law enforcement to call and request that
a youth be detained unless they really need to be detained. Um so it is
less the the data it's not proportionate
per county by any means. Um, but I will
say that
Gusta South or you know is probably the
bigger twothirds of the at least 2/3 if
not 75% of the population.
>> Understood. Thank you. Uh, further qu
Yes Yes. Councelor Longs, did you have
something?
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I would just like
to thank you ladies again for coming
here and uh contacting us to be a part
of this meeting. Um, it's not definitely
not an easy meeting. Um, I believe in
Long Creek. I I think you need to uh
continue doing what you're doing and and
thank you.
>> Further questions from council.
Thank you both for being here.
>> Yes. Uh, a huge round of applause for
all of our presenters, please.
We will now uh take um uh comments from counselors. Uh counselors uh I am
not timing you, but if you could keep it
to to three minutes, that'd be that'd be
great for general remarks. We're going
to start with uh the councelor forward
one, Josh Nene. Councelor Nene.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, first and
foremost,
I want to thank everybody for coming uh
tonight. Uh I'd like to also say that
the availability of guns in our
community that youth have is a major
problem. That that is that is uh one
tier uh of the issue. Um if kids don't
have guns, which they shouldn't have
guns, ever have guns, then they can't
commit crimes with guns. So uh we need
to figure out an angle there. I would
also say that there are huge gaps in uh
supports for at risk children before
they become uh children who are shooting at children
and and unfortunately these are kids.
They're 100% kids but they're committing
adult crimes and and and that's very
challenging for this community. Um
people don't feel safe. Um kids don't
feel safe. Um, we've got a problem
there, a huge problem, and we don't have
the
resources financially to fix this. So,
we do need to work together to ask for
more financial resources to deal with
some of these things. And there and
there are systemic issues with all of
these pieces. when you're not compelled
uh to improve uh
the life of a child um because they
haven't committed a crime big enough. Um
we're we're literally letting those
children
just continue a path that that leads to
uh
danger for themselves and others and and
it's just not correct. Um, but I
appreciate everybody coming forward
today uh to present. Um, I I still have
a lot of questions about how we make
sure that we both both keep kids and our
communities safe um because there are
glaring gaps in that system.
>> Thank you,
>> Kyle. A long trip.
>> Kyle, is it is the public going to get a
chance to speak tonight or
>> uh Yes. Yes. We're we're moving quickly
towards that. If you can take your take
your
>> seat. Could you also um give us a break?
Uh maybe a five minute break. I think
the crowd could use it. You lost.
>> You could take a break right now, sir.
And we will get back to public comment.
Uh we we will get to public comment in a
little bit. Thank you.
>> Please take a seat. Thank you.
>> Uh councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, uh Mr. Mayor. Um
we've heard a lot tonight. Um,
but I'm not sure that we've heard of
anything that will really immediately um
help us with the current situation.
Um,
we're experiencing gun violence almost
daily. Um, it once, you know, was really
uh more so happening at night. Now it's
happening in the broad daylight. Uh you
heard our chief say that we are 11
officers down.
Everyone is underst staffed
in my opinion. And no one's going to
like to hear this or not no no one but
there will be some fan uh some people
that are not fans of this but I believe
this is a call for our national guard to
come and help us.
Um,
I would I'm hoping that Governor Mills
will sit with our law enforcement, our
DA's office
uh to really come up with a plan.
We need a deterrent out there and our
officers need to focus on violent
crimes.
This to me really calls for uh state
help. Again,
there's really no real target when these
young folks are shooting.
They're shooting at cars, apartment
buildings. There are families living in
the downtown
that don't have
they they don't have the financials to
move like some of us that are sitting in
this room. They are stuck there. A lot
of people are poor. There are families
that are staying in the back of their
apartments to protect their families
from a stray bullet. That's
unacceptable.
We have to do something. And the
National Guard could come and help.
Walk around our streets and let our
police work on other crimes. We are 11
officers down. We need to do something
to help protect the citizens here.
So, I am hoping
that um
Governor Mills
would take um what what I'm asking into
serious uh consideration
and and help us here in Lewon. That's
all I have for now. Thank you,
Councelor Harmon.
I just want to thank everyone who came
out tonight both to present and answer
questions and those in the audience. Um,
I definitely learned a lot about this
topic and I look forward to continuing
to work on solutions.
Uh, Councelor Roy,
» just want to thank everybody that came
out to uh offer up some great um um
insight into some backgrounds. Um,
I would really like to hear what
everybody else has to say right now
because I think together we can gain
some ideas. I know I've got some ideas,
too. work on some community, you know,
resources and programs and incentives.
And um I'd like to hear what everybody
else says. So, I'm going to pass that.
>> Councelor Noble.
Uh councelor Chidum.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um there's been a
lot of discussion tonight. I hope that
the folks in the audience have learned
as much as I have about some of the
intractical problems that we're we're
facing. I think the most concrete
suggestion that I heard tonight, and I
would urge everyone in this room to take
it home and spread it, is to lock up
your guns. Do not leave your guns on the
front seat of your pickup truck so that
a 12year-old can be told by an
11year-old there's easy pickings. That's
your fault if your gun is stolen. And
I'd like to see some consequences for
people who have guns stolen from
unlocked vehicles or people who have
their guns in their vehicles. Anyway,
that's the most concrete uh item that I
picked up from tonight and I hope all of
you have learned something. Thank you,
>> Councelor Martell.
>> Thank you. Um I want to speak on guns,
too. Uh here's the thing. Every juvenile
that's going around in our community
carrying a gun or shooting a gun is
already breaking a law. Any adult that
has put the gun a gun in the hands of a
juvenile broke a law doing so. Uh more
gun laws only serve to disarm
law-abiding citizens from protecting
themselves. The people that are running
around breaking these laws right now are
comfortable breaking the laws that are
in place. I have I see no indication
that new or furthering laws are going to
change that. The only uh people that
laws new laws affect are law-abiding
citizens. And I think it's clear that
the people committing these crimes
aren't by definition law- abiding
citizens.
Um,
everyone wants to say a lot of times I
hear uh it's not political. You know,
kids shooting kids shouldn't be
political. This shouldn't be political.
This is a political issue. The problem
that we have um
this problem didn't happen overnight and
it isn't going to be solved overnight.
And there's a certain ideological
political slant that I believe has
fostered the environment that created
this situation and allowed it to worsen.
So uh two things the almost universally
our speakers tonight said legislature
Augusta laws representatives coming from
the state. So um as far as the public
goes uh two suggestions. Uh there's
probably two things that the normal JQ
public can do. That's uh see something,
say something, and then get out and vote
in November for candidates to go to
Augusta to represent us that are going
to take public I'm not campaigning. Uh
go out and vote for people that are
going to take public safety seriously.
That's what you can do as a public.
» I appreciate everyone coming tonight.
Thank you for uh the presenters and
making time this evening. Thank you for
you all making time this evening to come
here and thank you for uh I don't know
how many people aren't watching online
but thank you very much. Uh public
safety is a shared responsibility and
these conversations are important.
There's many conversations happening um
at this time and uh and I am encouraged
by it and I hope more people get
involved. Um, thank you all and I want
to thank the counselors uh as well and
uh a huge shout out uh to staff for uh
making it possible to meet here both
city staff and school staff.
Uh so a couple of things uh uh for
public comment here. So first off, if
they're uh some of the presenters, if
they're still here uh afterwards, you
can feel free to come up to them and ask
questions uh after uh public comment.
And then uh Jake are uh sorry um
Superintendent Langless uh are those uh
note cards?
Yes. So we have uh if you have questions
uh for the presenters uh we are going to
compile questions and then you know kind
of publish a an FAQ later. So uh next to
Superintendent Langless are not cards
with pens. So feel free to come and uh
fill out one. And so yes, we're starting
public comment in uh just a few seconds.
So, I want to remind people that this is
a city council meeting. There will be no
campaigning. Uh no profanity. Uh this is
a special uh meeting. So, we need to be
on topic about youth gun violence. Uh I
urge all of us to be respectful and
courteous and uh set a good example for
our youth. Uh please continue, sir.
>> Uh guess I have to push the button
again.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh Charles Arthur soul 70 Horn Street.
um [clears throat] 12 officers down,
one is on medical leave, but yet they're
using a drone. They bought the drone,
and the insurance on that drone will be
85,000 a year. Wow. I think that would
get us a couple of officers, maybe one
or two. Um, another thing is that the
cameras um I was out two nights ago and
um because I I'm 73 by the way took a
nap and I was out a nice night full moon
and I'm on the corner of um of Horton
and um Ash and um a ruckus breaks out.
Eight people fighting in the street
under a camera, city camera. So, I
flicked my vehicle lights hoping to get
the attention of who's ever watching the
camera. But then after 20 minutes and
the girl getting her head beat up on the
asphalt, I um I had to go
[clears throat]
get a make a phone call. And then they
showed up. How nice. Maybe I'll Nobody's
watching the cameras. Maybe it's because
of the laxity of no policing. But you
can spend on a drone,
you know. Um, another thing is that um,
no money. This the superintendent of
school going on almost three years ago
bought a million-doll building at the
corner of um, of Sabadis and Main Street
and um because the roof blew off and um,
CMMC I guess was was selling it for a
million dollars. Now the city's uh um
now and it was used for radiation
treatment. So now the city's got to do
the clean up on it and um and then prior
to that because I'm 73, there used to be
a a retreading plant for tires in there.
So
>> can you please get back on topic?
>> Excuse me. That's not
>> Please stay on topic.
>> That is on I am on topic. That is a
million dollars that could have went
into policing.
The school budget's a disgrace.
Now, about people, civilry, not seeing
too many police officers um out on the
streets when people are passing on the
left and the right, speeding up the
street, hear it all night, squealing out
around corners. Uh the society, I look
at it, is almost useless in Lewon. Now,
the only bright star I saw tonight was
uh uh council from W 2, uh Miss Long
Champamp. She start when she first came
into the neighborhood uh in the city,
she um had children who well, let's face
it, um they were
>> That's time. Thank you.
>> Don't stop your
>> That is time. You are done. Thank you.
We're We're going to the next person.
>> Good. Now, I would
>> We are going to the next person.
>> I would also ban Facebook if you would.
» Yeah. Let's
» further public comment. Thank you.
>> Hello, my name is Jess. I live in Lewon.
Um, I'm feeling very frustrated because
I've heard the kids, the kids, the kids
probably about like 50 times tonight.
But where are the parents?
I don't see any of the parents here of
these kids. I don't see any of us going
into these neighborhoods walking around
and trying to invite some of these
people in so that way we can kind of ask
them what's up. you know, why can't we
start a little committee to go into
Kennedy Park? You know, have like trust
activities. We play kickball, you know,
uh frisbee, disc frisbee, you know, you
get an extra five points if you get it
in off a tree. Then these kids, you
know, then that doesn't cost anything.
we can get played against sports or some
of these other people to donate
kickballs, basketballs.
If there's someone in here who knows how
to skateboard, we'll bring these kids
over to the skate park and teach them
how to skate. But we need to get the
parents more involved. And we need to
hold them accountable.
Personally, my whole entire life, I've
had to be held accountable for more than
I should have had to be accountable for.
I'm a new beginnings kid.
Look at me. You know, I'm doing okay.
I'm not out shooting people up when I'm
16. But, you know, as a community, we
all need together. Come together and and
come to a board and just kind of bounce
some ideas. You know, it's not going to
hurt. What's the one thing that connects
all of us? Music.
I personally would like to go out into
the park and play music and bring these
kids in and teach them a skill. You
know, youth build programs need to be
brought back. You know, where they're in
the classroom one week and on a job site
another week and then they get paid a
little stipen. So, this is like a little
bit of cash in their pocket. But, you
know what? They're being taught a skill
and they're being taught education.
And I don't know where the pending went
for that, but I mean, we need to bring
it back and we need to get the parents
more involved because tonight I've only
heard the word parents maybe used five
or six times. So, you know, it really, really has to do with the
parents cuz they need to step up. They
need to be here for their kids. You
know, these kids are not coming from a
good background. They don't have any
role models. Like, what are they going
to do? So, they don't know how to do any
of this that we were talking about. They
need their parents. They need a role
model. They need a big sister, like a
big brother club, you know, like there's
so many solutions that we can do where
it's not going to cost any money.
So, that's all I have to say. Thank you
very much for everybody coming.
>> Thank you. That's time.
>> Have a good night.
Hey guys, Janet Bowden, Ward 2. Uh, we
finally got an emergency meeting
tonight. I'm not going to hold back my
feelings. Um, I don't think this is
because Carl woke up and decided to lead
because residents um this is actually
because a residents and a counselor
pushed hard enough that he had no
choice. A month ago, we had a community
meeting and Carl didn't show. He
actually said he never planned on
attending because there was a Republican
gubanatorial candidate and a
conservative news outlet that organized
the event when he wouldn't step up. So,
he picked politics over people. And
since then, downtown hasn't gotten any
safer. It's gotten worse.
The month of June alone has resulted in
11 incidents involving juveniles with
guns.
We can all see that this isn't just bad
luck or a handful of incidents. We've
got a youth justice system that is
broken.
Juveniles get released, they end up back
on the streets, and we have to
experience the next gun-related
incident. Restorative justice alone is
not working. We need higher
accountability for juveniles caught with
firearms. We need to stop pretending
this cycle is going to fix itself. Carl
refuses to own the problem, refuses to
engage in the community when we ask him
to, and then acts like this meeting is
the solution. It's not. I have
personally reached out to you through
text, through Facebook Messenger,
through um social media asking you for
what your plan is. What are you doing?
How are you helping the community in in
this tragedy? And you have completely
ignored me.
So, let's talk about solutions.
start in Augusta. City Hall
can respond after the fact, but the laws
that shape youth accountability and
public safety come from the state. If we
keep sending the same people from the
same political party back to Augusta
with the same power, absolutely nothing
is going to change
this fall. Just vote for different
representatives.
real change in leadership, real
accountability because Lewon can't
afford another term of wait and see and
let's look the other way. Thank you.
» Further public comment.
[clears throat]
>> Before I start, I just want to say Carl,
I don't think a lot of people realize
that this was an official city council
meeting and that's why there was
applause for the presenters. People were
trying to show appreciation and respect.
Um, I think maybe you could have made an
announcement at the beginning that even
though we're not in city council
chambers, the same expectations apply.
Um, but I don't think people were
intentionally breaking your rules.
Uh, uh, that wasn't supposed to be part
of my time. That was just feedback to
Carl. This has been a long and
exasperating evening, especially since,
like Janet said, a bunch of us did this
already. You just refused to attend. You
lied about what it was. your your lie is
in writing that it was some sort of
candidate event and it wasn't. Um,
so yeah, we we listened to a lot of that
and in the beginning it was great and
then we listened to a lot of people
patting themselves on the back for not
solving this problem. I'm absolutely
mind-b blown that a teenager can shoot
up an apartment building, go to Long
Creek and nobody says shooting that
apartment building was wrong. Nobody
addresses that with them. What? No
wonder they get out and do it again.
This is insane.
This meeting was supposed to be about
solving this issue, but it has
absolutely devolved into turning the
shooters into the victims. Oh, these
poor kids. We need to give these poor
kids more activities. You know what?
That man over there that you tell to go
away that you won't let speak. Spends
time in Kennedy Park. Zero of you have
been down in Kennedy Park talking to the
kids. He has. He was shooting basketball
with kids. He was inviting the community
to this meeting. He was asking people
for solutions.
He spoke to a man who wants to do
exactly what Mike Roy suggested and
wants to organize teams of kids to play
sports. Why can't you connect with your
community?
Why does it take a man from Scar Bro
that you want to lie and say is just a
blogger to connect with the youth in
your community about shootings?
We heard from Chris Bicknell that more
money would solve this problem. And then
we heard that he's getting lots of
money. And just so everyone in this room
knows, he also got mass shooting money.
Zero of the nonprofits that got mass
shooting money did anything to address
this problem. Eman Osman's nonprofit got
mass shooting money. Eman Osman left a
gun in his car unlocked. Eman Osman was
not charged with criminal negligence.
Eman Osman was not held accountable by
the school committee. Eman Osman was
then put on the ballot illegally and put
on this city council. You guys are
intentionally destroying Lewiston and we
see it. Scott is the only one on that
council that has power to change it and
I think he has zero intention.
I think that because he ignored my email
when I when I sent him a screenshot of
his email to a constituent from last
September where he said he was
diligently working on this issue and I
said really how what are you diligently
doing please? He is my representative in
Augusta.
He will not speak to me. He does not
deserve that seat. I would like people
to know that there are candidates on the
ballot that are in this room. Please
vote for them and not
come. That's time to stop. I'm just
going to repeat it till they hear me. So
just be safe.
>> Thank you.
>> Vote for the people that time. There's
no campaigning. Thank you.
» Further public comment. Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Destiny. I'm
from Windham. I'm not from Lucen. I'm a
Lucen shooting survivor.
Like many people in this community, the
Lucing shooting on October 25th, 2023
changed my life forever. 18 innocent
people lost their lives. Many others
were injured and survivors and families
continue to carry the trauma every day.
After everything this community endured,
many residents expected our leaders to
focus first and foremost on public
safety and accountability. Instead, we
have watched Mayor Carl Shelene devote
significant time and energy to opposing
federal federal immigration enforcement
efforts and supporting policies that
many residents believe make cooperation
with federal authorities more difficult.
The lessons from the Lewis shooting
should have pushed all of us to focus
relentlessly on public safety,
communication between agencies, and
preventing other tragedies from
happening again. Many residents feel the
city leadership has focused more
attention on political issues than on
the concerns of the people who live here
every day. This should not be about
politics or political parties. It's
about priorities.
Mayor, what are you waiting for? Another
tragedy like the one caused by Robert
Card on October 25th?
Questions still remain about your role
as a board member of the main mill and
whether the relationship created a
conflict of interest after $65,521.79
was directed to the nonprofit.
Lon deserves leadership that puts
[sighs] the safety
in residents first, listens to survivors
and families, and focuses on rebuilding
trust in a community. We owe that to the
18 people who never came out, who never
came home and to every survivor whose
life changed forever on October 25th,
2023. Thank you.
Further public comment.
>> Hi, my name is Die Pum Whittier and I'm
a Louison Ward 2 resident and I'm here
tonight because I love Louisston young
people and I want to thank everybody
that came out tonight and I feel that
Lon should be really proud of itself
that there are officials and
professionals from the state and local
uh community who want to do something to
help young people. Uh, I've been uh a
longtime youth advocate and I've been
reading a lot lately about juvenile gun
violence and I found an approach and
maybe LPD is aware of this. It's called
violence interruption and it uh reduces
juvenile gun violence by meaningfully
engaging with a small number of
individuals at the center of gun
violence. And that caught my attention
because we've repeatedly heard that the
youth that are involved in gun violence
tend to be a small group. So, we know
who they are. And I'm not an expert on
this subject by any means, and I don't
mean to use this as any excuse, but
anger, fighting, and violence within our
youth often come from a place of trauma,
pain, no hope, frustration, fear, and no
support systems. I believe their actions
deserve consequences and accountability,
but I also believe that we need to
remember that these young people are in
trouble and they're living a downward
spiral.
I would propose along with that violence
interruption approach to seek guidance
and do some brainstorming from school
counselors, mental health professionals,
some of the officers involved in
community policing and see if we can put
together some sort of street outreach
that can meet these kids where they are,
some type of mentorship connection. I've
mentioned a young per mentored a young
person for 26 years. I started when she
was nine and it's very rewarding and I
know that there are people in this room
that love our youth and would be willing
to you know go along with certain
guidelines and guidance to reach out and
really meet these kids where they are. I
really strongly feel that if um they see
that we believe in their potential some
of them might consider something other
than violence and become role models for
those around them. And certainly we all
need someone who believes in us. Thank
you.
My name is Amy Ranger and I am um in
Ward 7 and I teach at Lewon High School.
And a lot of people have mentioned
tonight where the parents and I'm coming
from the perspective of having had a
student who was involved in one of these
acts of violence.
uh knowing him personally the some the
people I'm thinking of he doesn't have
parents
um
so the conversation about holding
parents accountable I'm thinking about
this kid who I know is a good caring
young young kid
who
made a very very very bad choice but has
no guidance at
So, I'm really in support of a lot of
the conversations around
helping kids find an activity or or
something that would get them connected
to the community. And I'm thinking about
this kid and the the barriers to him
getting help. Like he he wanted to be in
sports. I was trying to help him get in
sports. He didn't have a physical. He
hadn't had a physical. He didn't have
health insurance. I'm calling his
caregiver. It wasn't his parent. It was
there was so many barriers. and uh he
didn't end up getting involved in
sports. And then
so I I'm I'm in in strong um I'm
thinking about if if there's a way that
anyone here
can be supportive of teachers at Lewis.
Um
have conversations with teachers because
they're the ones that are directly in
connection with these kids. Um thank you
so much
Matthew, Ward 4. Let's start this off
and be perfectly honest. Teenagers have
done dumb things since the beginning of
time, and they're going to continue to
do them.
But
we also need our parents and guardians
to be the adult role models and yet not
be afraid that because they're going to
be this adult role model that they're
going to be have DHS called on them
because they're being hard on these kids
because I listen where has been DHS
Office of Child Family Services in
supporting these kids and families?
We know the sad truth is when these kids
edge out of the system, there is no
support from the state.
Then I have a real good question. How
many of these guns that have been taken
off the street were acquired here
locally within our community not just
stolen but bought by somebody versus how
many of them are from away?
And then have the ones who were
who weren't stolen but bought and given
away have they been charged with crimes?
Our kids need people to believe in them,
care in them, because when you support
them, they know there's somebody out
there who cares about what they do, and
they'll want to continue this,
continue your support. I know this
because I've done it for multiple kids
and young adults. I just got a kid to go
back to college after she's been out of
college for two years
because she needed someone to believe in
her that she could do it.
Now, instead of returning these young
offenders to their same stomping
grounds, their same friends, their same
everything, have we looked at using the
kinship logic and shipping them to
family members, maybe outside of their
exact community? Maybe that will allow
them to change their trajectory in life.
But part of the other problem these kids
are seeing is they're seeing the
long-term effects of the lack of
enforcement, be it in drug dealing and
prostitution here in Lewon, and the lack
of what I will call the broken window
crimes. So that they see that there's no
response, no punishment. Why should we
change?
Finally, Long Creek is not a happy
place.
where we have to where our kids get
sent. We used to have a lawn and
Goodwill Hinckley among others that used
to run along the very same lines. The
kids that went there
earned their way up and out of the
system by accountability. These kids
will tell you it was never a nice
>> Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Joel Burian and
I'm a um
uh live in Lewon and and Susan is uh my
council person.
>> Can you see what I can do? Press button.
How's that? That better?
just lean in when you talk.
>> Okay. Uh my uh coming into this meeting,
I knew that it would probably be very
difficult to talk. Any type of violence
issue that you deal with is very
difficult for anybody community and in
as well as the victims as well as
others. I've had the privilege of
working with a number of trauma victims
in in my role as a social worker, not
only here, but in two other states,
[snorts] including uh suicide as well as
violence toward others, uh including gun
violence. What I hear tonight is a
number of good ideas from a number of
dedicated people and I think there's
some solutions here. I know that the
district attorney has talked about some
of his needs. The police chief has
talked about her needs as well as other
people on the city council. I think one
of the things is that if we're focusing
in on maybe the youth violence issue,
one thing is to make sure that the
people that are have a stake in this,
especially the people that are involved
in doing these things dayto-day have not
only the resources but also the ability
to work together. An idea might be that
when we have kids that commit these crimes or involved in it, there is
a mechanism to bring community together
to say this is what we need. This is
what we need to make sure we're
protecting the people in the community,
but also making sure I think a strong
kind of a wraparound model that was
described earlier by the Department of
Corrections might be an option being
able to do that. The other thing is is
that coming together as a group in the
community to talk about issues relating
to what's needed. It's better to work it
together and then you approach the
attorney you I'm sorry you approach the legislature or whoever you want to
get funding for as a group as a
community to say this is what we can use
in Lewon and maybe addressing this issue
right now might allow other things to
happen to improve what needs to happen.
But I think there's a lot of good people
here. It's just like coming together and
saying, you know, as a group, we're
going to do it together. So that's just
my point. And thank you so much for
having this meeting tonight. Thank you.
I'm so short.
Can you hear me? Okay. My name is
Melissa Dunn. I'm a community organizer
in Lewon. I've been doing antiviolence
efforts since 2018 or even prior than
that. Um doing peace marches, vigils,
trying to go to ground zero where
incidents of violence happened in
community to um offer community
response, get comm people connected to
resources. Network continued uh even a
two or three summers ago when we started
having shootings and we went to ground
zeros. We knocked on doors. We talked to
neighbors. We talked to impacted
families. We even talked to youth who
had bullets in their bodies
um since then. And so um there's been
extensive conversations especially
restorative justice processes and
restorative practices for impacted
community especially the youth who may
have witnessed this this kind of
violence or became a target because they
shared the same name as somebody
wi with in this violence and feared for
their lives. And um out of our
discussions for a community program uh
the mothers and the youth came up with
an afterchool program to be more
designed specific to their cultural
needs and uh so I would ask community to
trust in community to lead their own uh
issues especially around prevention and
awareness. It's a fallacy and it's
inaccurate information, misinformation,
disinformation to say that nothing has
been done about uh antiviolence efforts
in Lewon. Now, gun violence has always
existed in Lewon. When I was a teenager,
I was beat with a handgun from the guy
that I was with at the time. Broken nose
concussions, and that was in teen dating
violence I experienced being trafficked.
And I know as a 45 year old woman uh
that uh and experiencing more gun
violence and domestic violence that
domestic violence is interconnected to
gun violence. And so I'd ask people to
check biases when we're talking about or
referring to kids who are in survival as
gangs or gang activity or that the
assumption they must be involved in
drugs because um because of my close
work and I'm not going to share details
here. Um, I know that uh they're they're
more so having access to these weapons
for survival. And it should tell the
community something
and what we're feeling in if if youth
feel they have no other choice for
safety. If they're resorting to firearms
for safety or survival and the police,
we want to believe that they're going to
save us, but they're not. They don't
answer the call. They're not there. It's
community, our connections with one
another. Thank you,
» Ronnie Parody, W 6. Uh, I just wanted to
bring up and I know the city council has
heard me several times that was
mentioned about public health. you did
not pass the public health person that
we wanted this year. And it's really
disappointing because we really need a
public health officer in Lon. If we're
not using a public health because of
money, we need to seek a grant or we
need to use a we're not using a public
health committee the way it should be
used. We should be using the committee
that it comes at least twice a year to
council. We need meetings on public
health and gun violence is a public
health problem. I worked downtown Lon as
a public health nurse from 2005 to 2015.
I never had any problems down working
down in Lon and I've been in every
single apartment house in downtown Lon,
believe me. And I grew up in downtown
Luc when it was really nice. Um but
anyway, we need public health and we
need it. We need to get our committees
from the seniors to the thing. We are
not using our advisory committees the
way they should be used. Please do
something about public health. We need
that. Look for a grant and everything
like that. Uh I know you heard me
before. You'll hear me again at city
council meetings. I'm pushing for public
health and it really needs to be in this
city. Thank you.
» Hi there. My name is Gail Bander
Sylvester. I was born in Lewon. I
graduated from Lewon High School in
1985.
I left Maine for a long time, then came
back to Lewon to be near my parents. I
was at the door handing out flyers. The
flyer title is the best gun control
ever. I'm inviting all of you if you
weren't if you didn't get my flyer,
they're on the table. I'm inviting all
of you to a meet and greet at Nutty
Netty's on July 25th.
1:30 to 2:00 will be a meet and greet
and 2:00 will be the first meeting of a
new organization called DOA
and there are three initial goals.
One is to plan free workshops for
parents and their children. 2hour
workshops to be held in different
locations around the city wherever we
can do them at businesses at adult
education in the schools at the
libraries in the park wherever whoever
will help help will host a meeting. So,
I'm looking for volunteers. Whatever
your interest is, you can teach a 2hour
workshop.
It can be about sports, a sports clinic.
It can be about a uh in the arts,
something with art, music, business, it
can be any topic. We need to get our
kids interested in their own lives. We
need them to have interests and we need
to make it possible for them to pursue
their goals. The second objective is to
establish a write in a a drop in
[clears throat] excuse me writing center
and resource center for adults also at
the workshops. I forgot to say that
that's for the parents and the kids. The
kids will be doing the activities and
the the adults will be having uh
education about how they can further
their children's interests.
um to establish a writing drop in and
resource center where kids can come and
do art and write and where parents can
pick up equipment,
paper, whatever they need for their kids
to do at home. The third initiative is
adopt a child program.
partners will seek sponsors for children
interested in lessons.
>> That's time. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Please come and please pick
up a brochure.
>> Thank you. That's time. Further public
comment.
» My name is Troy and I'm in Ward 4.
I want to kind of take a different angle
just a little bit. Uh, I wanted to reach
out to whoever's watching this online.
And if you have any friends that aren't
here, get people more uh involved. It'd
be nice to have more people show up,
some different faces to come in here,
maybe some different opinions.
Uh, also to kind of get back on topic, I
would fully support bringing in a
three-letter agency
um of any letter combination you want to
do. IC, FBI, ATF, DEA, whatever. Bring
those people in here and clean house.
Get these people out of here. Um, the
other thing is,
sorry I lost track of uh where I was
going with that.
Oh yes, excuse me. So, the thing that
really uh ticks me off the most about
the gun stuff currently is that we've
been very fortunate
so far that this hasn't killed anybody
in this room. hasn't killed. I think one
person has died. Sorry, I don't have
those stats on me. I think one person
has died and that's it. I know some
people have been hit, haven't died,
whatever. So far,
none of us have died, but there's a good
chance it could come. And uh the thing
that ticks me off the most is that I'm a
two-way guy and
I've done everything by the book my
whole life. I've paid all my bills. I've
obeyed the law. I pay my taxes. I mow my
lawn. I bring my trash out. I have a
nice place. I do all the right things.
And some jerk is going to make me
change my some jerk is going to change
my life that I never wanted to do
because they decided that they had a
different objective and they were going
to
insert themselves into my future.
And I don't want that for me and I don't
want that for anybody else that protects
themselves that they have to then defend
themselves and now they are screwed
forever because you don't just get to
protect yourself and go on your merry
way. It's not how it works. So that's
what fries my ass. Have a nice day.
Further public comment.
Good evening. My name is Rick Lapp
Chappelle. I am angry that we have
reached this point. Before we can fix
these problems, we must be honest about
how we got here. We must have the
courage to acknowledge where we have
failed. Parents, we all have a
responsibility to raise our children
with respect, discipline, and
accountability. Our young people need
guidance, expectations, and
consequences.
To our city council and the mayor, you
have failed to lead on three serious
issues facing Lenon. Rather than
confronting them, you have repeatedly
refuse to address them. Youth violence,
the needle epidemic, and the handling of
funds intended for the victims of the
Lewon tragedy have demanded action. Yet
too often they have been met with
silence or delay. The people of Lewon
deserve leaders who will face difficult
issues head-on instead of pushing them
aside. I want to thank Brett Mel and
Susan Long Champamps for showing
leadership on the issue of youth
violence. We need more people willing to
step forward and confront the difficult
problems.
Our state legislative delegations. All
four representatives and our senator
also bear responsibilities.
Lewon deserves stronger advocacy and
real action from Augusta. I've only
noticed one of them here this evening.
If this meeting is truly about finding
solutions, we need honest conversations,
real accountability, and leaders who are
committed to making Lewon better. Not
just talking about it, but doing the
hard work to make it happen. Remember,
leadership means confronting difficult
problems, not avoiding them. Thank you.
» Further public comment.
>> Hello, my name is Brandy Walton. I'm
from Ward 4. I've learned so much here
tonight. Um, this is my first city
council meeting, so I am in very
encouraged um to be able to know that
there are people in the community that
care about important subjects. Um, I'm
really here because I heard National
Guard and in the comments I hear ICE.
And what would we do to prepare the
companies, the local businesses that run
Lewon and have for years and years that
have the very signs up that don't want
them there. The people that feel like
they have been racial prof racially
profiled. our kids and our neighbors who
might not look like the kid that came
from the perfect mom and dad's family
and may, you know, go go in certain
parts of the city that might seem that
they're in there for the wrong reasons.
Um to basically make sure they feel safe
as well. the people, the kids that um we
know the bad taste that ICE and National
Guard and really a lot of people in
uniform put in the citizens
heart now, especially the young people.
They've seen a lot on TV just on
Facebook alone.
the amount of negative, disgusting
comments that are made and hearing how
hard that these people in these
positions are working, knowing that the
Lewon Police Department is down 11 and
one on medical leave. You don't know
that. being a Facebook warrior going
around and following the biggest news
and to really get involved and to hear
what these people are doing and the time
they're taking away from their families
to be able to ensure that stuff is
moving forward. My hats go off to you
Long Creek and everybody else that's
doing the work. I'm sure there's common
ground, but if you're going to be having
people in the the city that's going to
be trying to help bring ordinance, and
it very mel well may be needed where we
are so short staffed in the agencies,
but what can we do to help welcome them
with the people that aren't the bad
people, that aren't making bad choices,
um to make them feel safe and want them
in their neighborhoods, um in their
schools, around their schools, I
couldn't imagine going outside on Lisbon
Street and seeing National Guards
walking up and down. That alone is scary
to a lot of people. So, what will we do
to ease the minds of the people that
we're trying to protect without, you
know, I know a lot of you know what I'm
talking about and I know a lot of you
won't say anything. So, I'm here today
to say something. I
if we can do it with a way that we can
trust the people in uniform, I think
it's a great idea. But if we're coming
in hotaded and get them out of here and
those people and that's not going to
solve anything. In fact, I might put a
sign on my door.
>> That's time. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
» Hi, Wendy McPike. I'm a taxpayer in
Lewon. Um this has been a very helpful
evening. I really appreciate all the
people that have come and shared
different perspectives
um different insight of different things
that they've experienced that they know
the research things about Long Creek I
didn't know um things about the school
and what they're doing. Um I really
appreciate all of that. Um it's helpful
and also the resources that are here.
And one of the things that I've my
husband and I talk about a lot is there
are a lot of people in Lewon and a lot
of organizations and agencies,
nonprofits doing a lot in Lewon. And I
I'm hopeful that this um meeting that
they're going to be having at Nutty
Netties there, I say that right. um that
they're going to have some of those
people come to that meeting to discuss
what they're doing, where some gaps
might be, who can fill those gaps within
those organizations and within those
communities because these kids we're
talking about are the future of our
country, the future of our town, the
future of this city. So, it's important
that we don't just dismiss them and that
we try to look for ways to help them and
show them that we give a crap. Um,
because they're they're here. They're
our future. They're going to be taking
care of us someday. So, it's we need to
show that we care and in a way that's
meaningful. Um, and if it means more
funding, we're all everybody's short
staffed everywhere. Um, it's an issue
and there seems to be some tangible
things that we can do and just paying
attention, saying hello, not continuing
the divide that was talked about earlier
today. Um, that we come together as a
community and stop pointing the fingers
and try to figure out how to help these
youth that are our future. So, that was
kind of my thing. I had something else,
but I didn't write it down. So anyway,
that's it.
>> Last call for public comment.
My name is Robert Blasby. I live in W 6.
And at this point, I'm just kind of
hoping I'm not one of those people or
them.
Hoping I'm not mistaken as
one of those or one of them. I hear that
a lot. Seen it a lot on Facebook. Kind
of feel like that's where part of this
problem lies. It's a matter of culture.
I haven't been here too long in Lewon.
Um as a matter of fact, today I'm
breaking one of my cardinal rules, which
is if I haven't prepared something to
speak, I don't speak. But today I kind
of felt compelled to speak
because I had more hope coming here
today than I am leaving with hope. Not
hopeless, but I have less hope.
I've listened to some of the questions
being asked which
we probably could have found out on
Google. We have AGs here who are working
tirelessly to protect us.
We have other people here who work for
other agencies and we have no idea what
it takes to do their job. We don't know
where their funding streams are. We
don't know that they're underst staffed.
And what everyone is met with is the one
thing I didn't come here for, which is
political debacery.
Both sides. I don't care who you are. I
don't care what ward you're from. It's
them or us. When I moved here, I saw I
closed on my house hours around the
shooting and all I saw was Lewon Strong
all over the place. Blew everywhere. I
felt included in that.
I don't know. I kind of feel like it's a
little bit more divisive now than
anything else. And that's everyone's
problem. That's all of your problems who
represent us and it's everybody else's
problem who's sitting here. I haven't
heard anything productive today. I've
heard a lot of blaming, a lot of
fingerpointing, but nothing that's going
to lead to results. I haven't heard a
lot of good questions.
How are we going to fund it? There were
a couple of defin definitely a couple of
questions about funding streams that
could point us in the right direction.
But I've seen
counselors sitting up here listening to
people who are killing themselves to do
this work who have sat there and rolled
their eyes and snickered.
It's disrespectful and distasteful.
And it's not a good representation of
your ward. Whoever it was, you know who
it is.
Anyway, I hope that this becomes a
little bit more productive down the
road. I hope that there's a lot more
cooperation.
Hope there's a lot more generating of of
good ideas and collaboration. But from
what I've seen tonight, I haven't seen
it from from anyone.
So, good luck.
Further public comment.
» Good evening. Can you hear me? Thank
you. Um, my name is Fatuma Hussein. I
actually live in Auburn, but I work in
Lewon for the last
24 years. So, I spend more time in Lewon
than in my city.
Um, one thing that I want to say is
first of all, um, the mass mass shooting
funding that should be fixed. It really
needs to be fixed and it needs to go to
right people. So that's one thing. I am
Somali. I'm a Somali descent. We too are
victims of crime. We too are victims of
gun violence. We have a lot of kids. Um,
I know that's the elephant in the room,
right? like we talk about this gun
violence that is in circles, but it's
actually about Somalis and I I just want
to say it, you know, right there and
then so that people are aware of what
we're talking about. A lot of Somali
people are good. We are taxpayers.
We have made Lewon a thriving place. We
have had a lot of issues along the s
along the way. A lot of us are women and
children. We do not have, you know, many
head of household that are men. we don't
have a lot of role models and therefore
um you know accountability I think is
one of the things that we need to do. I
think if we have gun problems back in
2006 we predicted I predicted we have a
lot of um you know um sorry drug
problems
and
at the time what I said was if we don't
do anything about drugs we will have a
lot of gun problems and if we don't do
anything about gun problems we will have
bombs and that that I'm going to say it
on the record because where we're headed
is not good. It is not good that we have
leaders who are not getting along. It is
not good that we we're pointing at each
other's fingers. We're not coming up
with solutions. We know that the issue
is big. We also know that we have
children who are vulnerable. They don't
have the services that they need and if
they do it's limited. We have a lot of
trauma. We come from war torn countries
and that is also problematic. I am
talking to you as a mother of eight
children. and I have four boys and four
girls. And I've worked tirelessly to
ensure that my kids have the best school
education and support at home. It was
not easy, but it was really something
that I had to do. A lot of Somali
mothers are not the same. We don't speak
English. We have a lot of issues. And
therefore, what we need to do is come up
with a solution that is communitydriven.
I think there's got to be some
leadership changes, too. Because if
leaders are not getting along, they need
to leave and we need to have the right
people who are going to make changes.
And so Lucen is still strong. It is
always going to be strong. We need to
work together. And mayor, I implore you
for you to have a committee that can
look at this that has no bipartisan. I
know.
>> That's Thank you. Thank you. Last
>> last call for public comment.
Wow.
I'm just going to try to summarize some
of the things I've heard tonight.
>> You just have your name and where you
live.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Jean Keane, Ward One.
Um, just want to summarize some of the
things. Unfortunately, we're at a point
where it comes to money a little bit
and you people are responsible for that.
The state's responsible for it. That's
where we're at.
Secondly, and Jake will probably verify
this as well, this meeting reminds me of
parent student conferences at schools.
I'm a 40-year educator,
taught math, fizzed,
athletic director, part-time assistant
principal.
And what we find when we have parent
teacher conferences
is that the parents
that should be there don't come.
They don't come.
And I don't think the people that need
to hear what was said here tonight are
here tonight.
The people that are here tonight are the
same ones that go to the teacher
conferences.
So somehow
as a council, you need to find a way to
reach those people.
other things like gun owner
responsibility,
legislation, and so forth. Those are all
issues.
The number one issue in my eyes
is lack of parenting.
When they come out of the womb, you got
to start parenting.
If you wait, it's too late.
You got to manage social media. You got
to check their rooms. It's your house,
not theirs. I'd like to end with two
stories that from my career that had an
impact on me.
At one of the schools I was at when a
student
uh disobeyed the drug and alcohol
policy, it was a 365day
penalty.
We had the kid that did that. He came in
with his parents. We discussed it. the
parents. Okay,
we agree with it. 6 months later,
they came in.
They had put their son through all kinds
of uh rehabilitation stuff and so forth.
We let the kid back in because they
parented.
Second story, we wanted to suspend a kid
because he got in trouble. Parents went
to bat for the kid and got him out of
it.
Six months later, he went to college,
killed himself.
Parent came back to me two weeks after
that.
>> Thank you.
>> Parent came back after that and said he
should have listened.
>> That's time. Thank you.
>> Thank you for all you do.
>> Last last call for public comment.
Andrew Jones, Ward 2. Uh, we heard a lot
of comments tonight about uh,
restorative justice. And I'm not saying
I disagree with restorative justice. I
just think it has its place for certain
things. Uh, restorative justice would be
great for, you know, like broken windows
or somebody playing mailbox baseball. Uh
but when we're talking about uh sailing
rounds through downtown and potentially
putting people's lives in danger, I
think we're way past the point of
restorative justice and we really need
to uh involve the criminal criminal
prosecution of these youths. Um another
thing I had heard uh from the chief was
that uh there was isn't a possibility of charging parents for the uh crimes
committed for their use. And I I I would
love to know more about that because I
mean right here in Lewon, the stepfather
of Jasper Smith is facing a manslaughter
charge um because Jasper got a hold of
his handgun and accidentally shot
himself. Um he he's uh he's in peril of
losing his freedom. Um and that's right
here in Lewis to Maine. Uh across the
nation, uh states are picking up uh the
ability to uh hold parents accountable
for when their children do things with
firearms like shoot up schools. Um you
know, there's a man in Georgia who is
gone away for the rest of his life, uh
charged with murder, even though it was
his son who used a firearm to murder his
classmates.
>> [gasps]
>> Um,
another topic I just wanted to touch on
is, um,
there's a lot of talk about looking for
taxpayer money to fund various
nonprofits to do a lot of work. And I
would just say that if this council were
to be in the position to fund such
things that they scrutinize them, I
would hate to see a repeat of uh, the
mass shooting money and how that was
used. um a member of this council for a
day was a recipient of that money. Uh he
is he had a firearm stolen out of his
vehicle, didn't get charged for that,
and he's also under indictment for
trafficking of firearms, which I think
contributes to this problem in our city.
Um lastly, another thing that the chief
touched on um when asked was what is the
commonality? uh why is why is Lewon such
a uh a hot spot for this particular
crime? And I would question the
demographic of the individuals
responsible. Granted, I'm not in the
downtown. I don't see this stuff
happening myself. You know, I live in
the suburbs. We don't have this problem.
Um but we saw the video on Jefferson
Street. And while we do not know the
background of that child, we do know
what he looked like. and I would
question if there's a commonality
between him and the other people
responsible. And uh that's 3 2 1. Have a
nice night.
>> Uh any further public comment?
is now closed. Uh back to
the council for any final thoughts if
councilors have them. Uh we're starting
on the other end this time. Councelor
Martell, is there anything you'd like to
say as we're wrapping up?
>> Nope. Thank you, Mr. Mayor,
>> councelor Chidum,
>> merely. Thank you to all of you who
presented, all of you who spoke, all of
you who listened. Um, I think there were first steps taken tonight.
Long way to go. Thank you very much.
Councelor Noble,
Councelor Roy,
>> just want to say thank you to everybody
and um yeah, thank you for coming out
and listening and offering up your
thoughts.
>> Councelor Harman,
>> same for me. Thank you to everyone who's
here.
>> Councelor Long Champs.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Yes, thank you uh for
coming out. Um we have heard a lot um
about different resources for our youth.
Um some solutions. We've heard that we
need a lot of lots of money. But one
thing that we really haven't talked
about and I won't talk long about this,
but what are we doing or what are what
is our plan to protect the people that
have nothing to do with this youth gun
violence where the stray bullets are
hitting their houses or their cars?
That's why I called for the National
Guard to come here, not to intimidate
people, but to help people. We are 11
officers down and there is maybe a
handful of people that and cuz I scanned
the room and I'm in downtown every
single day, seven days a week, 12 hours
a day. And there was maybe a handful of
people in this room from downtown.
I hear scared parents, grandmothers
that will only run to the store quickly
because they're afraid of a stray bullet
hitting them. It is our
responsibilityility
to help. We are 11 officers down. By
golly, we need some sort of help. And I
will continue to say it and I will
continue to show up. And I love Lewon
and I love every single person in here.
black, white, I don't care who you are
or what you are. And most people,
everybody that knows me know that that
knows that that's true, but we have to
do something. There are people that are
living in fear every day in the downtown
area because the reality is is you never
know if you're going to the damn laundry
mat, if you're going to get hit with a
bullet. My mother won't even leave her
house. She lives on the corner of Horton
and Pine Street except for to go to a
church function.
Thank you, councelor Longs. Um,
councelor Nene,
>> thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to
say to all the folks that came out um
tonight, thank you. Uh, everybody
watching at home, uh, I hope you've
learned some things. Everybody who works
in these fields, thank you so very much
for your time and coming to speak speak
to us. And just to point out, the room
was filled with the folks that show up
at student uh parent parent student
meetings. This this was in some levels a
meeting for the suburbs. And so the
question is how do we bring this message
to the people who are actually impacted
by the violence every day? Um and so th
I think those places are where we have
to have some of these conversations.
Thank you.
>> Uh I really appreciate everyone coming
out. Thank you for uh thank you for
speaking. Thank you for uh tuning in. Uh
you know in this room uh many different
viewpoints and philosophies are
represented but I truly believe that uh
all of us here are coming from a good
place and we love Lewon. So I appreciate
you turning out tonight. Thank you so
much and a huge round of applause again
for our presenters.
Uh, may I have a a mo? Yeah, we are at
an official council meeting. So, may I
have a motion to adjurnn? Uh, councelor
Martell, second by councelor Nene.
Madame clerk, uh, you what?
Okay,
we're now adjourned. You all have a
wonderful evening.