NESPIN Impact in Maine

In FY2019— • 128 Member Agencies with 1,272 Sworn Personnel Served • 260 Officers From Maine Attended Trainings for a Total of 3,604 Hours The Regional Information • 20,523,158 RISS Property and Recovery Tracking System (RISSProp) Total Records Sharing Systems (RISS) and 563,869 RISSProp Inquiries mission is to assist local, state, • 5 Analytical Requests Totaling 12 Products Delivered federal, and tribal criminal • 3 Equipment Loans justice agencies by providing • 143 Total Requests for Research/Assistance and 943 Investigative Database Searches adaptive solutions and services NESPIN/RISS Initiatives that facilitate information As threats to our nation continue to emerge, law enforcement at all levels of government must have the sharing, support criminal ability to quickly and securely access critical information and intelligence. RISS is an innovator and leader investigations, and promote in providing this capability. Examples of RISS’s efforts include: RISS Support for Narcotics (Including Opioid) Investigations— RISS has been named as an important officer safety. partner in the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. RISS is one of the key field-based information sharing, analytic, and investigative entities that leverage this capability to The New England State enable interjurisdictional and multidisciplinary information sharing and facilitate collaboration among local, state, and federal public safety partners to address both local and nationwide threats. Police Information Network Maine Pawnshop Reporting—NESPIN assisted the Maine State Police (MSP) in their support of legislation (NESPIN), one of six RISS entitled “An Act to Increase Transparency with Regard to Pawnshops.” Representatives of the MSP, NESPIN, Centers, began providing and local police departments testified in support of the proposed bill at two legislative committee hearings and suggested several possible modifications to the proposed legislation. The new legislation that was signed by the services to its regional member governor and passed requires Maine pawnbrokers to report transaction data regarding a purchase or pawn to the agencies in 1980. NESPIN’s MSP. The MSP has designated the RISSProp database as a repository for the pawn information, which will be region consists of: searchable by law enforcement across the country. Partnerships: • Organized Retail Crime (ORC)—NESPIN continues to support its law enforcement member agencies’ • Connecticut efforts to combat ORC. NESPIN securely distributes information from the New England Organized Retail • Maine Crime Association (NEORCA) to law enforcement on a daily basis. Over the past year, NESPIN has • Massachusetts expanded its ORC support footprint beyond Massachusetts into bordering states. NESPIN support of ORC investigations includes having a designated intelligence research specialist to serve as a resource for law • New Hampshire enforcement in these cases, providing equipment loans, analytical services, the RISSProp database, mobile • Rhode Island forensic services, and an information sharing platform for investigators. • Vermont • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Partnership—NESPIN is assisting the ATF in its Secondary Market Program by comparing data in the RISSProp database to trace information submitted by • Eastern and law enforcement agencies on “crime guns.” This initiative assists law enforcement in reducing “time to crime” Maritime Canada information on firearms that have been sold to pawn and secondhand dealers in the New England region. Officer Safety: Since 1980, the number of • Surviving the Unthinkable: Law Enforcement Officer Safety—Promotes the importance of police criminal justice agencies departments having a plan to take care of officers who are severely injured in the line of duty and are forced to cut their careers short. benefiting from NESPIN • Mental Health for Law Enforcement—NESPIN cohosted a multiday conference for Trauma Behind services has grown to more the Badge that brought more than 300 law enforcement and mental health professionals together to than 960 agencies. collaborate on topics such as officer suicide and other important issues. • Event Deconfliction—NESPIN has taken an active role in promoting deconfliction in the New England region. The three nationally recognized event deconfliction systems are the RISS Officer Safety Event Deconfliction System (RISSafe), Case Explorer, and SAFETNet. Maine Leadership for NESPIN In addition to federal monitoring, NESPIN is governed by a policy board composed of one state and one local representative from each member state. In Maine, these leadership positions are held by the following NESPIN members: Colonel John Cote Sheriff Dale Lancaster Maine State Police Somerset County Sheriff’s Office 45 Commerce Drive, SHS #104 131 East Madison Road Augusta, ME 04333 • (207) 626-3805 Madison, ME 04950 • (207) 474-9591 [email protected] [email protected]

Examples of Successes in Maine

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and Biddeford Police Department Equipment Services Narcotics: For three months, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Biddeford Police Department used a NESPIN surveillance van to develop evidence in a synthetic narcotics trafficking case. Several subjects were identified, and one subject was arrested. The van’s use was successful in helping to obtain sufficient probable cause for the issuance of arrest and search warrants. The suspect was arrested, and 10.40 grams of fentanyl were found on him. This was a great use of NESPIN resources to address a dangerous drug case.

South Portland Police Department RISSProp Services Burglary/Theft: Investigators with the South Portland Police Department were looking into six possibly related local residential burglaries. There were indications that the perpetrator might be within a certain age group. The primary detective on the case conducted indepth research using RISSProp, seeking to identify male individuals of that age range who had sold jewelry. He identified a major suspect and worked with the victims to verify that the jewelry sold by the suspect was indeed their property. An arrest was made, and substantial amounts of the stolen property were recovered.

Portland Police Department Intelligence Research Services and RISSProp Services Burglary/Theft: The Portland Police Department (PPD) entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) a brandname boat Global Positioning System unit that was reported stolen during a residential burglary. The NESPIN intelligence research staff conducted a review of the NCIC entries and compared them with RISSProp submissions. As a result, it was discovered that the unit had been sold to a Portland reseller. This information was provided to PPD detectives, who subsequently recovered the stolen unit from the reseller and commenced to bring charges against the suspect.

Brewer Police Department Analytical Services Burglary/Theft: Investigators with the Brewer Police Department, the Bangor Police Department, and the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office were investigating multiple burglaries and thefts in the Penobscot County area. Once potential suspects were developed, a request was made to the NESPIN analytical staff for cell phone call mapping and analysis assistance. As a result of the analysis, investigators placed the suspects’ phones at the scene of several burglaries and thefts. The analytical results were integral to the arrests of the suspects.

Maine Drug Enforcement Administration Equipment Services Narcotics: Agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Administration utilized a NESPIN surveillance van to monitor the activities of two suspected crack cocaine dealers in eastern Maine. The information obtained was used to acquire probable cause for the arrests of both individuals.

Lewiston Police Department Intelligence Research Services Weapons/Disorderly Offenses: The Lewiston Police Department arrested and charged a Massachusetts individual with weapons and disorderly offenses. Subsequently, an investigator with the Androscoggin District Attorney’s Office contacted the NESPIN intelligence research staff for assistance in making inquiries on the defendant’s criminal history and whether there were any outstanding warrants. This request was made after direct inquiries to Massachusetts authorities by the District Attorney’s Office were inconclusive. The NESPIN staff determined that the defendant had an active warrant in Massachusetts and was able to secure a copy of the warrant. Armed with this information, the investigator secured an extraditable warrant from Massachusetts, and the defendant was arrested, pursuant to said fugitive warrant, and is currently awaiting extradition. The investigator credits the work of the NESPIN staff with making the fugitive’s arrest possible.