Increasingly, Maine police on front lines for mental illness interventions
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
BY EDWARD D. MURPHY
July 15, 2018
Involuntary committals are up, as are related service calls, forcing a shift in how authorities train for and perform their jobs.
Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce poses for a portrait at the county jail on Thursday. Staff photo by Derek Davis
Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin J. Joyce said calls related to people in crisis are spiking.
Maine is seeing a surge in involuntary committals – cases where people are held for mental health issues against their will – that is changing how police do their jobs.
The number of those committals has risen steadily in the last decade, from 344 in 2009 to 401 last year, an increase of nearly 17 percent. In another measure of mental illness affecting law enforcement and the courts, the number of Mainers found not competent to stand trial has leapt from seven in 2008 to 136 last year.
As state-provided services for the mentally ill dwindle, more front-line intervention work is performed by Maine’s law enforcement community, significantly changing how police train for and perform their jobs.
The number of calls for service that were mental health-related for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office rose from 383 in 2013 to 486 last year, an increase of nearly 27 percent. This year, the pace is continuing to rise, with 278 calls for service through early July, according to figures from the sheriff’s office. And those numbers don’t include calls for other issues – such as domestic violence or a disturbance – that are rooted in mental illness but categorized differently.
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Massachusetts police officer, bystander die from gunshot wounds
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Grimes described Chesna as a 42-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 4 and 9.
WEYMOUTH, Mass. — A Massachusetts police officer and bystander died Sunday from wounds sustained when a suspect allegedly took the officer’s gun and fired following a vehicle crash and a foot chase.
Authorities said Weymouth officer Michael Chesna was shot multiple times by his own fire arm before 8 a.m. Sunday, and died from the injures at South Shore Hospital.
Officials said an unidentified elderly woman also died after being hit by stray bullets in a nearby home.
Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes said the shooting suspect, Emmanuel Lopes, was in custody. No additional information about Lopes has been released.
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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. MARINE COUPLE FOUND GUILTY OF SENDING REVENGE PORN OF YOUNG WOMAN TO HER PARENTS
Newsweek
BY JAMES LAPORTA
7/14/18
“I’m not to be trifled with,” Marquez wrote Kate on Facebook Messenger. “Making Vince tell your dad was purely for my entertainment. You don’t want to see what I’ll do to ruin you.”
A married couple of former U.S. Marines is being held accountable for tormenting a young woman, a year after a news investigation first disclosed the abuse. 2nd Lieutenant Vincent G. Provines, an ex-U.S. Marine Reserve officer, was found guilty Wednesday of federal cyberstalking charges in the Sherman Division of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas.
His wife, ex-U.S. Marine Reserve Lance Corporal Cesaria “Cecy” Marquez, admitted to participating in the cyberstalking and took a plea deal in late June. The couple had threatened to post nude photos of the young woman online.
Provines’ attorney did not respond to a Newsweek request for comment. The jury deliberated for roughly five hours before returning the verdict of guilty. Provines faces a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison; a $250,000 fine; and three years of supervised probation, according to court documents. Marquez’s attorney, James Whalen, who said his client did not want to comment, told Newsweek that Marquez had agreed to five years probation. The couple is currently in divorce litigation.
The young woman (whose name is being withheld by Newsweek to protect her privacy) reached out to this reporter in March 2017 to tell her story.
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Dozens of friends, family bid farewell to once unclaimed Army veteran
Hawaii News Now
Chelsea Davis
Saturday, July 14th 2018
Sands served in the Army from 1962 to 1965 as an Airborne Infantryman, and his friends say he belongs in Hawaii alongside his fellow veterans.
KANEOHE, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow)
An Army veteran whose body went unclaimed for months has been granted a final resting place at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery.
James “Jim” Sands moved to Hawaii from Texas decades ago and made several friends at the beach and at the bars. But when he died last spring — no family members came forward.
After a story about Sands aired on Memorial Day, someone tracked down his sister in Riverside, California.
His sister, Nicki, released his body to the military so he could have a military burial. And on Friday morning, dozens gathered to bid their final farewells.
"He was a great guy. He was a wonderful person. He had a great sense of humor so I've been told," said Chaplain Maj. Raymond Hawkins.
The McPhees, a couple that hadn't seen Sands in about 40 years, were among those who wanted to say goodbye.
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Firefighter killed in Lincoln crash was Marine veteran
KCRA 3 News
July 13, 2018
South Placer Fire: David Volk received Purple Heart Citation after being injured in Iraq
LINCOLN, Calif. (KCRA) —
A South Placer firefighter who was killed Friday in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash on a Highway 65 off-ramp was a Marine who was wounded in Iraq, according to the fire district.
David Volk, 31, died after his motorcycle crashed on the Lincoln Boulevard off-ramp, the fire department said in a released statement.
It's unclear what time the crash happened, but the scene was discovered sometime around 6 a.m. Friday.
"We're kind of looking at everything. There's some physical evidence, there's some skid marks. So, we have to look at everything before we can make that determination," California Highway Patrol Office David Martinez said.
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