The discovery of the remains of a Wells resident who died in her home more than two years ago has raised the issue of how different police agencies respond to concerns about a person’s well-being.
Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and a former police chief in South Portland, said officers would need a good reason to force their way into someone’s home.
“You’ve got to have some pretty good information that this person has not been seen,” Schwartz said. “I don’t think you can just kick a door in. You have to have some information that leads you to believe the person is in need of some help.”
Police believe Lucie McNulty, who would be 69 by now, died in her home sometime in 2013. Wells police attempted well-being checks after a neighbor and an out-of-state friend contacted them to express concern, but police couldn’t see into the house and had no evidence that something had happened to her, so they went no further.
How police handle such situations varies from department to department in Maine.
“We would try to contact neighbors, relatives, whoever, to see if they’ve seen them, try to peer into the windows like these guys did,” Cumberland County Chief Deputy Naldo Gagnon said. “There needs to be a little bit of exigent circumstances to crack the door in, but we’ve done it.”
Exigent circumstances refer to the exceptions that would allow police to enter a residence without a search warrant. That can be blood on the floor or information that someone is in danger.
“We get calls where someone says they haven’t seen so and so for a while,” Gagnon said. Deputies will check the person’s home and look for signs, such as stacked-up newspapers or mail piling up.
“One way or another we make some progress,” Gagnon said. “Once in a while you go and see somebody laying on the floor, in medical distress or deceased.”
In Portland, how far an officer goes to check on someone depends on what information is available.
“We don’t have a written policy on that and it would be largely dependent on the officer’s evaluation of all the information we have,” Portland Assistant Chief Vern Malloch said. “I know a lot of officers knock on neighbors’ doors, check for cars in the driveway and signs (that) things haven’t been moved. It wouldn’t be the first time somebody is on a monthlong cruise around the world and some friend in Delaware didn’t know that.”
In response to McNulty’s undetected death, Wells police are stepping up publicity around their “Good Morning” program. Established around five years ago, the program is designed to assist senior citizens and adults with disabilities by providing daily contact with police. Each morning, participants call into police dispatch between 7-10 a.m. to check in. If no call is received, an officer goes to the person’s house. Each program participant – there are about a dozen now – can provide police with a key and permission to enter their house, although that is not required.
“If (McNulty) had been part of this program, if we hadn’t received a call, we would have gone to check on her,” Wells Police Lt. Gerald Congdon said.
Staff Writer Gillian Graham contributed to this report.
David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
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