At the beginning of each shift, Officer Rachel McDonald and social worker Sarah Scafani go over the list of people they need to find.
The pair are one of five officer-clinician teams who make up the Portland Police Bureau’s highly specialized Behavioral Health Unit. They share a patrol car, spending several hours every day trading notes about the people on their caseload, swapping stories about their toddlers and debating the need to wear their ballistic vests every minute of their shift. (McDonald wears hers. Scafani doesn’t.)
“I love this job,” said McDonald, who initially trained as a therapist and then served as a patrol officer for seven and a half years before joining the unit in 2024. “We actually have time to help people.”…