After regretfully noting the departure of the Police Department’s behavioral health liaison in March, Chief David Ruger recently announced Erin McGann has returned.
McGann, who was widely praised by town officials for calming stressful situations, will work part-time until voters – town officials hope – approve a full-time replacement. The $70,000 position listed as a crisis support position is included in the 2026 budget to be voted on at the May 20 annual Town Meeting.
McGann began with the Police Department in December 2023 through a liaison program with Sweetser, a non-profit mental health agency in Saco. However, since she resigned to take another job with the state of Maine, “Sweetser has had difficulties providing another behavioral health liaison for this area,” Ruger said.
She was hired back for two days a week and will take evening calls from residents who need help, Ruger said.
In her part-time role, McGann will continue to help police in responding to stressful situations and in calming domestic disturbances, he said.
McGann plans to help wherever she is needed, she wrote in an email, adding that “partner and family violence situations will be part of my job.”
Most behavioral health liaisons in Maine respond to situations that potentially involve mental health issues, she said.
“We are available in the office and in the community as needed,” she wrote.
Behavioral health liaisons connect individuals with services, unlike mental health workers, who provide hands on care.
At a community meeting last fall, Ruger praised McGann for her work helping officers on stressful calls.
“Officers come back after a call with her, amazed at her skills to calm a situation,” Ruger said at the time.
If voters approve this position at Town Meeting this week, the department will look to hire a new full-time liaison, ideally to start July 1.
“If the position were to be voted down,” Ruger said, “that would take the town two steps back and [be] a travesty to the residents.”
