An Act To Better Coordinate the Work of Mental Health Crisis Agencies with Law Enforcement Agencies
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1030
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: DION, GERZOFSKY, GATTINE, GILBERT, MALABY, STUCKEY, BREEN

Legislative Document 
No. 1030 
H.P. 713 
House of Representatives, March 24, 2015 
An Act To Better Coordinate the Work of Mental Health Crisis 
Agencies with Law Enforcement Agencies 
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative DION of Portland. 
Cosponsored by Senator GERZOFSKY of Cumberland and 
Representatives: GATTINE of Westbrook, GILBERT of Jay, MALABY of Hancock, 
STUCKEY of Portland, Senator: BREEN of Cumberland. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  34-B MRSA c. 3, sub-c. 3, art. 3 is enacted to read: 
ARTICLE 3 
CRISIS INTERVENTION COORDINATION 
§3641.  Crisis intervention coordination 
The department shall provide assistance to crisis intervention teams, agencies and law 
enforcement agencies to enable them to coordinate crisis intervention services and to 
fulfill the terms of the memorandum of understanding required under subsection 2. 
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings. 
A.  "Agency" means a person, firm, association or corporation that provides mental 
health services through one or more contracts with the department for the purposes of 
providing crisis services, but does not include the individual or corporate professional 
practice of one or more psychologists or psychiatrists. 
B.  "Crisis intervention team" means a crisis intervention team established under 
section 3622. 
C.  "Law enforcement agency" means the State Police, a sheriff's department or a 
municipal police department. 
D.  "Law enforcement officer" means a person who by virtue of public employment 
is vested by law with the power to make arrests for crime or serve criminal process. 
E.  "Person in need of mental health crisis services" means a person who appears to a 
law enforcement officer to be experiencing a mental health crisis or to have an 
untreated mental illness that compromises the ability of the person to function safely 
in the community. 
2.  Memorandum of understanding.  By July 1, 2016, a crisis intervention team or 
agency shall enter into and sign a memorandum of understanding with each law 
enforcement agency that provides law enforcement services in the area of the State served 
by the crisis intervention team or agency.  The memorandum of understanding must be 
effective for 3 years and must be renewed for a 3-year period upon expiration. The 
memorandum of understanding must include the following: 
A.  A description of the process that the law enforcement agency uses to identify a 
person in need of mental health crisis services with whom the law enforcement 
officer has contact in the course of performing official duties, regardless of the 
custodial standing of the person; 
B.  A description of the protocol that the law enforcement agency uses, within 24 
hours of contact with a person in need of mental health crisis services, to share a 
contact report with a crisis intervention team or agency; 
C.  A description of the process the crisis intervention team or agency uses to receive 
the report provided under paragraph B; 
D.  A description of the protocol the crisis intervention team or agency uses to 
communicate with the person in need of mental health crisis services or the guardian 
or family members of that person; and 
E.  A description of the procedures that will be used to convene on a quarterly basis 
multidisciplinary team meetings between the crisis intervention team or agency and 
the law enforcement agency to review the experiences of the parties to the 
memorandum of understanding and to discuss opportunities for improvement in the 
provision of services to persons in need of mental health crisis services. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide assistance 
to crisis intervention teams and agencies that provide mental health crisis services and to 
law enforcement agencies to enable them to coordinate mental health crisis services.  The 
bill sets July 1, 2016 as the date by which a crisis intervention team or agency must enter 
into and sign a memorandum of understanding with each law enforcement agency that 
provides law enforcement services in the area of the State served by the crisis 
intervention team or agency.  The bill requires the memorandum of understanding to be 
effective for 3 years and to be renewed for a 3-year period upon expiration. The 
memorandum of understanding must include descriptions of the following: the internal 
processes that the law enforcement agency uses to identify a person in need of mental 
health crisis services; the protocol that the law enforcement agency uses to share a contact 
report with a crisis intervention team or agency; the process the crisis intervention team 
or agency uses to receive the report; the protocol that the crisis intervention team or 
agency uses to communicate with a person in need of mental health services or the 
guardian or family members of that person; and the procedures to be used to convene on a 
quarterly basis multidisciplinary team meetings to review experiences and discuss 
opportunities for improvement.