HARTFORD — Shea Harris was homeless, couch hopping, sleeping on floors of friends and at her great-grandmother’s house during her junior and senior years in high school in Sacramento, Calif.
Growing up, she witnessed both family members and classmates in the grips of substance abuse.
Sex trafficking, she said, was “a huge problem” in Sacramento. Her response, at 16, was to co-found a youth group to educate young people and connect them with resources to reduce exploitation.
After high school, “I just wanted to leave California and make a better life for myself,” she said.
Now, as the Hartford Police Department’s newly hired community specialist and police liaison, she has an opportunity to help people overcome the adversities she once faced herself.
“I’ve struggled when I was young and I had mentors to help me,” said Harris, now 29. “So I’m glad I’m here to be that support for someone else.”
Harris saw the job, which she began March 2, as a way to merge two pivotal paths in her life.
“Oh my god,” she said her reaction to the job opening was, “law enforcement and social services.”
Created in 2002, the Police Social Work program is a collaboration between the nonprofit Health Care and Rehabilitation Services and the Hartford, Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Springfield and Windsor police departments along with the Vermont State Police Westminster and Royalton barracks.
HCRS has partnered with the Hartford Police Department since 2015, said Knowles Wentworth, Health Care and Rehabilitation Services Police Liaison Program coordinator. The program provides police liaisons to work alongside law enforcement to respond to incidents involving mental health, substance abuse, homelessness and other social service needs, Wentworth said.
“Situations are heightened and escalated and there’s always great opportunities for (police liaisons) to help support and calm people’s nervous systems,” said Wentworth.
Wentworth became coordinator of the HCRS police liaison program in June 2025 after working as a liaison for the last 14 years, most recently with the Brattleboro police department for the last three years.
“We have three liaisons with master’s of social work degrees,” Wentworth said. “And most everyone has applicable college education, either in psychology, criminal justice, human services, et cetera. Their backgrounds are really quite varied”
Harris holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Berkeley College in White Plains, New York. While she initially thought she’d become a probation officer, she subsequently moved to the Upper Valley where she worked as a team lead at Orion House treatment facility in Newport.
Prior to coming to Hartford, she worked as a housing coordinator at the Oasis teen shelter in Claremont.
Harris began her job as Hartford police liaison by spending the first week shadowing other HCRS liaisons at the Brattleboro Police Department and Royalton Barracks of Vermont State Police.
Now she responds to calls with Hartford officers. Harris said she recognized the need for intervention, de-escalation and, simply, connection within the Hartford community.
“Mental health services,” she said. “Helping people who are struggling with substance abuse, suicide, connect with the resources they need.”
She’s also there just as “a familiar, friendly face to talk to,” she said.
HCRS police liaisons provide on-scene consultation, follow-up support and connections to community resources beyond the mental health counseling and treatment at HCRS, such as the Clara Martin Center, the Department of Children and Families, Senior Solutions.
“That’s to name a few,” said Lt. William Furnari of the Hartford Police Outreach Division.
The Hartford Outreach Division was created in January 2024 to support and complement the work of the department’s patrol and criminal investigation divisions.
“We are focused on the root causes of crime,” said Furnari, who started as a patrolman with Hartford police in 2019 after working as an officer with the City of St. Albans for seven years.
Roughly 80 to 85% of calls to which Hartford police officers respond are not criminal in nature, the Valley News reported in November 2024.
Since May 2025, Hartford police liaisons have responded to “more than 101 referrals,” according to Hartford police’s interactive police activity dashboard.
“It’s going to take more than arresting people to end our substance abuse and homelessness problem,” he said. “Through collaboration with HCRS and Clara Martin and other service providers in the greater Hartford area, we look to help folks who are struggling with mental illness, substance abuse disorder or who are either unhoused or improperly housed.”
In addition to Harris’ role, the division also includes a full-time crime data analyst hired in October 2024, a substance use responder from the Clara Martin Center hired in January 2025, and a community services officer hired in March.
Furnari took over leadership of the division after the previous commander, Lt. Karl Ebbighausen, retired last March.
Ebbighausen, who worked for decades in Upper Valley law enforcement, retired in March 2025. Later that year, in September, the Vermont Criminal Justice Council revoked his law enforcement certification amid credible accusations of sexual harassment, the Valley News reported in October 2025.
When Furnari took over, the division was made up of himself, and both the current crime data analyst and the Clara Martin substance abuse responder.
Since Ebbighausen’s departure last March, Furnari said there hasn’t been a challenge in attracting new staff to join the outreach division. Harris was chosen for the police liaison job out of four candidates.
Efforts to obtain the contract between the Hartford Police Department and HCRS from Furnari and Hartford Town Manager John Haverstock were not successful by deadline.
Harris and the new community services officer are the department’s most recent hires.
“Both were enthusiastic to come here and work with us,” Furnari said.
Harris, not even a full month on the job, seems to be the right fit for the job, he added.
“She brings a great energetic attitude to the work,” he said. “When we interviewed her, it became apparent that she had a passion for this work. And she’s got a personality that fits well in a police department.”
