LINCOLNVILLE – The words “crime wave” are not likely to be uttered in the same sentence with “Lincolnville” anytime soon.

This rural Waldo County town, with a population of 2,042 at the heart of the midcoast, epitomizes the small-town character of much of the state.

It really is two towns: Lincolnville Beach, a little hamlet that comes alive in the summer with tourists enjoying the picturesque harbor, sandy beach, and seafood restaurants; and Lincolnville Center, a village a few miles from the coast, surrounded by equally picturesque rolling hills and 200-year-old houses.

Despite the bucolic serenity, a debate has simmered for more than two years over the need for a town-run police department.

The debate was settled – for the time being, anyway – with the decisive vote Nov. 6 on two competing referendum questions. By a 465-290 tally, residents agreed to spend $19,635 to fund the department through the end of the fiscal year in June.

By a similar tally, residents defeated a question that would have eliminated the police department and the chief’s position.

So why does a small town need a police department, with its pressures on the taxpayer-supported budget?

Tom Russell, who was hired as chief in June when longtime constable Rick Osgood retired, believes there is far more criminal activity in town than most residents realize – no crime wave, but the kind of troubles any growing town will experience. At his home computer, he can scroll through the list of incidents he has compiled since August: burglary, theft, domestic violence, traffic accidents and disorderly conduct.

But perhaps the most compelling reason he gives for the need for a full-time police force is Lincolnville’s location.

“MBNA’s on both sides of us,” he says, referring to the credit-card lender that employs more than 2,000 in Belfast to the north, and about 1,000 in Camden and Rockland to the south.

Increasingly, MBNA employees are choosing Lincolnville and surrounding towns, where land is still relatively inexpensive, to build homes. Houses popping up where cows once grazed can mean more break-ins, and more reports of prowlers.

And many of the MBNA employees who don’t live in town must travel through, on U.S. Route 1 or state Route 52, on their way to or from work. More cars on country roads mean more accidents. Even when the accidents are minor, police must sort out the details, and that gobbles up hours in paperwork.

Phil Roberts, police chief in Camden, lives in Lincolnville and supported keeping the town department.

“I know the calls for service are increasing drastically,” he said.

A 20-year veteran of the Camden force, Roberts said he recently came across statistics that showed how many accidents his officers handle each year. He was shocked at the increase in the last few years.

Some of those who wanted to eliminate the department argued that the town would be better off contracting with the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department for a full-time deputy. Sheriff Scott Story said the cost of providing a deputy for 40 hours each week and a cruiser is $70,000 to $80,000 annually. Lincolnville will spend about $50,000 this year for its department, but Russell said that figure will likely rise next year.

But Russell and Roberts see quality of service as key an issue as cost.

Just last month, Roberts said, a car accident was reported in Lincolnville, just a mile north of the Camden line, at 12:56 a.m. Rather than wait for a deputy from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department to arrive, a Camden officer crossed over into Lincolnville and was on the scene within five minutes of the report.

The deputy didn’t arrive until 1:23 a.m.

Another incident, when someone saw a flashlight shining inside a neighboring house whose owners were away, resulted in a 90-minute wait for a deputy, Roberts said.

The Sheriff’s Department isn’t at fault, the Camden chief is quick to say.

“They’re spread pretty thin,” with typically three deputies on duty, covering the 750 square miles of Waldo County. Instead, Roberts believes that the time has come for neighboring Lincolnville to pay for a full-time police department.

And Russell, 56, who is an 18-year law enforcement veteran, believes he can offer Lincolnville service that cannot be measured.

“When something’s out of place,” such as a strange truck parked in a driveway, “I’m more likely to spot it,” he said, than a deputy just passing through.

It’s hard to say whether the demand for municipal police departments in the “MBNA corridor” is a trend or not.

Searching through some historical documents in his office, Roberts finds that Camden hired its first chief in 1942 and grew to seven officers by 1974. Now, with a population of 5,254, Camden has 11 officers on the payroll, providing around-the-clock service.

Belfast, with a population of 6,381, has had a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week department for decades. So has Rockland, with a population of 7,609.

The police chiefs in both Rockland and Belfast note that their cities are service centers, and have far more people in them on any given day – working, shopping, attending school – than population figures indicate. Both chiefs point out the sharp jump in traffic accidents in recent years to which officers must respond.

Rockport, with a population of 3,209, has a 24-hour police department, as does Thomaston, with a population of 3,748. (Subtracting inmates at the Maine State Prison, Thomaston’s population is closer to 2,700, according to a clerk at the town office.)

Rockport will spend $361,735 on its police department this year. Thomaston will spend $221,126.

Searsport, a town of 2,641, has a police department that provides nearly around-the-clock coverage; a period in the early morning hours when no officer is on duty is covered by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department.

But not everyone in that town thinks a municipal police department is the best use of tight tax dollars. Several years ago, there was a move by some at the annual town meeting to eliminate the department by slashing its funding. For a time, a call to the department was answered by a machine.

A gripe that could be heard around town then was that all the department did was write speeding tickets.

Roberts counters this by noting that nationally, the top “request for service” of police is to monitor and crack down on speeding. In Lincolnville, Russell has had 45 to 50 requests between August and October to set up radar speed checks.

In the late 1980s, Winterport – the second largest town in Waldo County, with a present population of 3,602 – had its own police department. Sam Butler, who served on the Board of Selectmen during that period, said the department cost about $35,000 annually, partly because one of the two officers worked for free, charging only for expenses.

In 1990, a candidate who vowed to eliminate the police department defeated Butler in a re-election bid, he said. Townspeople agreed, voting to disband the department that year.

Sheriff Story divides Waldo County into three zones, which are patrolled by three deputies in cruisers. The Maine State Police also covers the county, responding to complaints if a trooper is closer to an accident or a domestic disturbance than a deputy.

Creating a fourth patrol zone is not on the horizon for Waldo County.

“I don’t see that being an immediate need,” Story said.

For now, Lincolnville’s new police chief is being paid $32,000 a year to work 35 hours each week. But in fact, Russell said, he is working closer to 55 hours weekly. He will propose that the town budget money next year to pay for part-time officers, giving Russell a more realistic workweek.