Council considering myriad of bad options
IN THE CITY
by Matthew J. Irwin
On the lighter side, the Presque Isle Police Department, on behalf of all of the city employees, would like to wish everyone a very a happy Thanksgiving holiday.
Also, as you may know, the police department recently invested some drug forfeiture funds into a new phone app that you can download for free; it provides many interesting and interactive features that allows you to stay tuned into what’s happening with the PIPD, crime trends, sex offenders, those with outstanding arrest warrants and many other features. It is available for both Android and Apple operating systems, please go to your app store and check it out!
More importantly, in recent City Council meetings, a variety of options were explored in order to help reduce the cost of Presque Isle’s government for the taxpayer. It’s apparent there really are no good options; leaving councilors to sift through a myriad of bad options in hopes of magically finding those few things that will save the right amount of money and cause the least amount of disruption or heartache to the lives of Presque Isle citizens. I do not envy the city councilors during this challenging budget process, and wish them success in making the tough decisions that must be made.
As the police chief, I feel obligated to inform you of those items under consideration by the Council that may impact police services to Presque Isle. The following options have been discussed: 1. Eliminate the police department in its entirety and contract with the Sheriff for police services. 2. Eliminate the public safety dispatching component and contract services from the Sheriff or State. 3. Eliminate the midnight shift of the police department. 4. Further reduce sworn staffing. All of these are complicated issues that offer substantial savings … but at what cost. You as residents and business owners in Presque Isle need to consider whether these costs should be reduced or eliminated and whether the services available to you are worth the expense.
This is a valid debate and a conversation worth having. Only you, through your elected officials, get to determine whether you want a police officer patrolling your businesses and neighborhoods at night or do you prefer to leave their welfare or your livelihood to chance or an oncoming dayshift? The Sheriff and his personnel do a fine job in this County but they primarily focus on rural policing rather than municipal policing; there is a difference. Does it matter whether your police officers and firefighters have professional, useful, and life-saving communications assistance that is captured and recorded or are you fine with an initial dispatch of a call but no, or very limited, updates as the front line personnel respond to your call for service? Does it matter to you that when you need emergency services and call for help, you will be talking to someone in Houlton and/or Bangor rather than someone in Presque Isle?
So far in 2013, the Presque Isle Police Department has answered almost 1,400 calls for service between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. We have conducted over 4,200 business security checks; where the midnight shift officers get out of their cars and walk around businesses to check for burglaries, vandalism, unlocked/open doors and windows. These are the sorts of services that would be forfeited if any one of the ideas delineated above is implemented.
As I presented to the City Council several months ago, Presque Isle has a residential population of about 9,600 (last census) but due to our service center status, the availability of shopping, two college campuses, several hotels and a host of other variables, Presque Isle crime numbers (property crime, theft, burglary) more closely resemble a Maine city with a population of about 18,000 (Scarborough, Gorham and Windham among others) or more, based on the FBI’s most recent Uniform Crime Report. As is the case in so many other ways, Presque Isle is different from similarly sized and situated communities in Maine.
The cost to taxpayers for having a police department is unquestionably substantial and needs to be reviewed with regularity and a critical eye; however any one of these choices cause substantial risk and certain reduction to the quality of police services to residents and businesses alike. The Presque Isle Police Department stands ready to help the community better understand these issues and their impact(s). Please let your city council, city manager, or me know how you feel about these matters so we can ensure the best, most affordable plan for the city of Presque Isle.
Chief Matthew J. Irwin of the Presque Isle Police Department can be reached at 764-2535 or via e-mail at mirwin@presqueisleme.us.
