The rumford PD will use lemhwa grant funds to establish a wellness program for its agency

The administration polled officers regarding wants and needs, attended state level leadership trainings regarding wellness, and informally assessed what they felt would help current and future employees. Administration, with assistance of some community partners, developed plans to start this wellness program, took into consideration how most efficiently to spend the funds, and starting planning for evaluation and sustainability, both during and after the grant period. As part of the new wellness program the administration will collect data and report to DOJ all use of force incidents, in-custody deaths, officer suicides, and officers killed and/or assaulted. The administration is confident this program will be a proactive step improving community relations by bolstering officers overall wellness. IT will coincide with crisis intervention training redirecting emphasis on community policing, increasing police accountability, and improve community-based crime prevention.