An independent panel of New England state police officials is recommending that Maine State Police expand training for responding to active shooter and mass casualty events.
Maine State Police Col. William Ross requested the review last month on the same day that Ross released his agency's own internal report on how it responded to the mass shootings that killed 18 people in Lewiston.
That Sept. 6 "after-action review" from the Maine State Police had said the massive law enforcement response on Oct. 25 helped ensure that no more civilians or police died but also identified "numerous lessons learned that should be applied to future operations."
Ross asked that that his counterparts, who are members of the New England State Police Administrators Conference, examine his agency's own report on the shootings.
In its findings, which were dated Oct. 11, the New England group said the Maine State Police internal report sometimes lacked details. But the panel did not find any glaring deficiencies in the original report and, instead, it often echoed or amplified many of its recommendations.
For instance, the New England group recommends that Maine strengthen its process for quickly establishing an "incident command" and officer staging areas to avoid what it called the "self-deployment" of law enforcement. Maine State Police have acknowledged that was a problem last October when hundreds of officers — including many tactical units — descended on the area during the manhunt. That led to duplication of effort and also created the potential for dangerous situations in the tense situation.
"This became more of a liability than an asset," reads the report from the New England State Police Administrators Conference. "There was a failure to limit the scope of the response in the early phases of the incident, which resulted in self-deployment of any agency with a tactical team," reads one. "The self-deployment issue should be addressed in greater detail."
Maine State Police officials responded that this issue was discussed during post-incident debriefings and that "ongoing, clear communication (and) identifying Tactical Command will prevent this in the future."
Among other things, the New England group also called for more specifics on changes to active-shooter training for all law enforcement and training for responding to the needs of family of shooting victims. Some families of victims had expressed frustration at the length of time that passed before they received official notification that their loved ones had died.
Maine State Police officials said they appreciated the feedback.
"We know that providing detailed information (in) reference to our response can help our fellow Mainers with their own personal journey to wellness and recovery," state police said in a press release that included the New England group's report. "Colonel Ross and his team look forward to utilizing all of the feedback detailed in the (Maine independent) commission’s report, our own after-action report and the attached independent review to start the implementation phase of this process. Continued training, policy review and collaboration with partner agencies from across the first responder spectrum is imperative and will be ongoing."
