Staff Report

Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart interviews Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matt Harrington about the state of public safety in Maine.

Stewart: Matt, tell me a little bit about your background outside of the Legislature.

Harrington: I’ve been in the Legislature ten years, but I’ve also served in law enforcement for 18 years; and I was a firefighter and advanced EMT before that.

Stewart: Obviously, the state of public safety is really in flux in the State of Maine. You have a lot of history in public safety and law enforcement. What would you say the Republican vision is as it relates to public safety in the State of Maine?

Harrington: First and foremost, I think we need to bring back a culture here in Augusta that supports law enforcement. Over the last seven years, we’ve seen a culture of degrading law enforcement, not supporting them—whether it be budgetarily or from a support standpoint. LD 1971, which is currently sitting on the Governor’s desk, is a prime example of that—not supporting our ICE officials.

Stewart: So, that really underscores the state of things under Democrat control. Share what it would look like with Republican control in Maine. What would the future of public safety and law enforcement look like?

Harrington: I think we would see a culture that supports law enforcement. There would be no doubt in any law enforcement officer’s mind that state government supports them. We’d be giving them the resources they need to do their jobs and they would know they have support here in Augusta. Currently, we are not seeing that; and we need to bring back a culture of support.

It’s easy to demonize ICE officials and Border Patrol, but we need to remember a lot of these folks are lifelong Mainers. They’ve signed up to do a job enforcing federal law and we should be supporting them.

Stewart: The reports are that in Maine you can get hundreds of thousands of free needles and even “boofing kits” handed out by nonprofits. Obviously, we don’t think that’s effective at combating addiction or the opioid epidemic. What are the approaches that Republicans would take to get our arms around that problem?

Harrington: I personally would completely do away with the needle exchanges. I represent the City of Sanford, which has had a huge problem with needles being found all over the city in sidewalks, parks, etc. It’s disgusting and a public safety hazard. Kids have a right to go to the playground and not find a needle. Now we have daycares that won’t even bring the kids to the park because they’re afraid a kid will step on a needle. We need to do away with these programs.

Stewart: I totally agree. I think needle exchanges and all these other dangerous handouts are a bad idea. Certainly, what I’ve seen is Republicans making substantial commitments with investment in resources for folks struggling with addiction and investments in community to build out options for those struggling with addiction rather than enabling drug use. Is that a fair assessment in your mind as well?

Harrington: Absolutely. I think we see it firsthand when the City of Sanford dismantled some of the homeless encampments. All of the individuals were offered treatment services and the vast majority of them refused these offers. It goes to show that we’re enabling this culture. We have resources available for treatment and we need to force people into treatment to get their life back on track.

Stewart: Tough love—saying no to folks who are addicted and being firm in that position but also helping them to get what they really need, which is treatment and mental health resources.

Harrington: It’s incredibly difficult to get off of these substances. When the government is enabling them, you’re almost making it impossible for them to get clean. I think the tough love approach does work and we need to get back to commonsense approaches like that.

Stewart: It should be clear which party in Augusta is going to stand for common sense and tough love when it comes to public safety, drug addiction and mental health resources. I’m grateful to have champions like Matt with us in our caucus to help lead that fight. Republicans are going to continue to lead the way on these tough policy conversations. Thanks for being with us, Matt.

Harrington: Absolutely. I look forward to continuing these debates going into the Second Session.

Senator Harold “Trey” Stewart III represents District 2, which includes communities in Aroostook and Penobscot counties. He is the Senate Republican Leader and a member of the Legislative Council.

Senator Matthew Harrington represents District 33, which includes the communities of Alfred, Lebanon, Sanford and Waterboro. He is the Assistant Senate Republican Leader and serves on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee and the Legislative Council. Sen. Harrington also serves as a municipal police officer in York County.

Text edited for clarity and brevity.

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