Voters to decide on police contract in Stonington

STONINGTON – Voters will decide next week whether to approve a contract with the Maine State Police to provide full-time patrol coverage for the town.

Residents will vote on the contract at a special town meeting set for 6 p.m. Monday, June 21, at the Community Center.

They will be asked to authorize the selectmen to sign the contract with the state police and also to raise an additional $30,000 for law enforcement, according to Town Manager Richard Avery.

Voters at the annual town meeting in March already had appropriated $30,000 for law enforcement. If approved on Monday, the additional allocation would be added to that amount, Avery said.

“A trooper should be available at the start of October,” Avery said Tuesday. “That’s three months of coverage. That amount should cover it.”

For several years the town has indicated an interest in an increased law enforcement presence beyond the patrols provided by the state police and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department. Voters have approved funds for additional patrols, but officers have not always been available.

Stonington has some significant law enforcement problems, some more visible than others, according to the town manager. Concerns include drug use, domestic abuse and assaults as well as public rowdiness, vandalism and dangerous driving, Avery said.

“Those public offenses have an impact in terms of security in town, especially in the downtown area,” he said. “The goal is to attack both areas of crimes.”

If approved, the contract would provide for a state trooper to patrol the town 40 hours a week. The town also will cover the cost of the cruiser.

One of the concerns residents have raised about the proposal is that the town will be paying a lot of money for an officer to patrol the entire island. That will not be the case, Avery said. He stressed that the town will be paying only for patrols within Stonington. Although the officer will be available for emergency calls outside the town limits, the town won’t be charged for the time spent out of town, he said.

When the officer is off duty, the town will be covered as it is now by the state police and sheriff’s department.

The annual cost for police coverage will be about $100,000 plus an estimated additional $10,000 for extra court time. If approved that would account for about 10 percent of the total municipal budget, which is now about $970,000. Overall, it would be about 4 percent of the combined town’s $2.7 million budget, which includes the school budget and the county tax.

The state police academy has a class in progress. That class will graduate in mid-September, and an officer will be assigned to the town shortly thereafter. Avery said the officer should be ready to begin patrolling in town by early in October.