State Sen. Matthew Harrington (R-York) is praising the Sanford City Council for urging state lawmakers to take stronger action on Maine’s homelessness crisis, particularly regarding repeat offenders and untreated mental illness.
In a letter sent Thursday to Sanford Mayor Becky Brink and City Manager Steven Buck, Harrington said his dual perspective as both a legislator representing the area and a Kennebunk police officer gives him insight into the daily challenges communities face with “repeat offenders within this population.”
Sen. Harrington criticized LD 1478, a 2021 law that directed police departments to adopt a “homelessness crisis protocol.” He argued the measure has limited prosecutors’ and law enforcement’s ability to use certain legal tools and incarceration options typically available in such cases.
The result, he wrote, is that individuals refusing mental health or substance abuse treatment “are free to continue with self-destructive behavior… without consequence.”
Harrington said both enforcement and treatment are necessary, pointing to the removal of large encampments in Sanford as evidence that decisive action can restore public safety. “We apparently can’t treat our way out of it either when treatment services are offered and denied by a large majority of the homeless,” the state senator wrote.Â
He also raised concerns about the state’s capacity to handle those arrested under current laws, noting that individuals are often released through what he called an “inadequate bail system” only to reoffend. He cited recent fires at a vacant building on Heritage Crossing in Sanford as examples of potential risks to the broader community.
“This is a problem the Legislature needs to solve,” Harrington wrote, adding that bipartisan support, particularly from lawmakers in Portland, Bangor, and Lewiston, will be necessary to make progress.
He pledged to continue advocating for law enforcement tools alongside mental health and addiction treatment resources.
