Panel unveils policing concept Proposal calls for department shared by 3 towns in Katahdin area

Police officials and local volunteers involved in the Katahdin area vision process have developed a proposal for a Katahdin region police department using 12 full-time officers and two reserves to serve East Millinocket, Medway and Millinocket.

Developed by the police subcommittee of volunteers who are working toward developing more efficient municipal services, the regional police force would include a chief, a full-time detective and 10 patrolmen, including sergeants. The subcommittee agreed in a meeting Friday to send the proposal to the municipal services committee.

Currently, the East Millinocket department operates with four officers, with one officer on each day and one on each night shift, according to Chief Garold Cramp. Medway contracts for police coverage from East Millinocket, which includes 12-hour shifts, seven days a week provided by reserve officers, Cramp said.

At full staffing, the eight-officer Millinocket department has an officer on each day shift, along with a detective on half a day and Chief Carlton Jones Monday through Friday, Jones said. The department has two officers on the night shift, he said.

While the total number of officers wouldn’t change under the regional department, the configuration would. The proposal would have a full-time administrative chief and a full-time dedicated detective, both likely working the day shift. Millinocket would have a single patrol officer on each of the day and night shifts, and East Millinocket and Medway would share a single patrol officer in a similar schedule. The proposal also calls for a secretarial position to handle clerical work.

A roaming sergeant would work night shift and respond to calls anywhere in the tri-town area as needed, according to Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue. With a regional department, officers could respond to towns other than where they were assigned, Conlogue said.

Jimmy Busque, who is also a Millinocket councilor, opposed the idea of the local department having fewer officers on the night shift.

“I think a lot of people are going to have trouble with it,” Busque said.

Wayne Scarano, subcommittee chairman, shared Busque’s concern about staffing, but said the proposal represented an outside-the-box look at the situation according to the direction of the vision committee.

“There’s a myriad of things that could interfere with a one-man patrol, but this is as good as we’ve been able to come up with” in order to incorporate all three towns, Scarano said.

Figured by using a percentage of the populations and valuations for the two largest towns, the operating budget for the regional department could mean a savings of $3,000 for East Millinocket and $11,000 for Millinocket, Conlogue said. Medway’s contracted rate could increase by almost $15,000, for a total of $100,000, he said.

Medway resident and Board of Selectmen Chairman Bruce Jones said the other selectmen would want to know exactly what it would get for the extra money. Avern Danforth, chairman of the municipal services committee, said the costs and services should be broken down for each town.

No pay cuts were anticipated, Danforth said, and added that the proposal was chosen from several options. The proposal also would continue to utilize the police stations in both East Millinocket and Millinocket, Conlogue said in a recent interview.