Lack of communication between drivers and police officers sometimes leads to dangerous results, but a new program aimed at preventing such interactions is taking hold in Maine.
Police Chief Marc Hagan has the blue envelopes available for pickup at the Topsham Police Department. Other Maine police stations are adopting the program. Courtesy of the Maine Down Syndrome Advocacy Project
The Blue Envelope Program provides blue envelopes to drivers on the autism spectrum, with Down syndrome or other intellectual disabilities, or high anxiety. Inside, drivers can store their driver’s license, vehicle registration, and proof of insurance for easy access. If the police stop the driver, they can place the envelope on the dashboard or hand it to the officer. This prevents the driver from having to search for each item, and the blue envelope serves as a signal to the officer that the driver may have an intellectual disability or a high level of stress.
The Topsham Police Department is the latest Maine agency to join the program.
Erica Koch, co-founder and co-chair of the Maine Down Syndrome Advocacy Project, contacted Topsham Police Chief Marc Hagan about the Blue Envelope Program and wanted to know if the Topsham Police Department was interested in distributing the blue envelopes to the police. season. The first police station to adopt the Blue Envelope Program in Maine was the Cape Elizabeth Police Department in September 2023, according to a news release from the City of Cape Elizabeth.
“I thought it was a really interesting concept and something we needed here in Maine,” Koch said.
The Topsham Police Department adopted the Blue Envelope Program in the last week of May, at no additional cost to taxpayers and no heavy lifting for police, Hagan said.
“After talking to (Koch), it seemed like a no-brainer that it would be a good thing for law enforcement to participate in,” Hagan said. “If we pull someone over or are in an accident, the driver hands us this blue envelope and it immediately provides us with a level of awareness about something we may be seeing that would normally give us some safety concerns. … If we understand why people act the way they do, it helps our own officers calm down a little bit.”
The Maine Down Syndrome Advocacy Program is exploring the possibility of spreading the Blue Envelope Program statewide. It has provided other special needs advocacy groups, such as the Autism Society of Maine, with blue envelopes to hand out in their regions.
The Down Syndrome Advocacy Program provides blue envelopes to police departments or any requests from individuals, Koch said. Down Syndrome Advocacy is considering applying for grants and private donations to cover the costs of printing the envelopes; $1,000 will cover the cost of about 4,300 blue envelopes.
“I’ve gone as far south as Wells, as far north as Madawaska, so we’re going to cover the entire state,” Koch said.
The program began in 2020 in Connecticut. It soon spread to other states such as New Jersey, New York, California and now Maine. Other police departments that have adopted the Blue Envelope Program include Westbrook and South Portland. Blue envelopes are available in the lobby of the Topsham Public Safety building across from City Hall.
“It is not necessary to have Down syndrome to be able to use (the blue envelopes); we make them available to anyone,” Koch said. “So whether you are autistic or have anxiety, for example, the envelopes will be available to you.”
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