To the editor:
The Secession representatives of the future Town of Lyndon want to take this opportunity to assure the residents of the secession territory that their safety was of great concern to us when we studied the issue of police protection.
We discussed public safety in great detail and came to the conclusion that Lyndon should not be held accountable to the whims of a bureaucratic police department, which like all bureaucracies, tend to go into a self-perpetuating mode of overstaffing and high compensation packages. The residents, however, deserve the assurance that their safety will be guaranteed.
All residents of Maine deserve police protection and the great State of Maine provides every citizen with quality law enforcement provided by Maine State Troopers who have our welfare as their main goal. Aroostook County has its share of excellent troopers that patrol the highways and by-ways of The County. We have already paid for this service through taxes we pay to the state and we fully expect that this excellent service provided by Troop F of the Maine State Police will continue.
Additional police protection is provided by the Patrol Division of the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department. We pay for this service as part of the property taxes collected by the city of Caribou. Sheriff Crandall has told us that his average response time to calls for service is about 30 minutes. Conversations with the Sheriff are ongoing to determine, whether or not, it is feasible to station a dedicated deputy in the town of Lyndon for increased coverage to be paid for by contractual agreement with the Town of Lyndon. That need can only be determined by the citizens of Lyndon, if and when, secession is complete.
The Caribou Secession Committee strongly believes that the best, most cost effective way to provide services is through inter-local collaborative agreements with neighboring towns or the County of Aroostook. Those inter-local agreements shall be the rule, not the exception.
Lyndon should also strive to provide services through contracts with the private sector utilizing the competitive bidding process. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the future Town of Lyndon makes use of the state and county police services already being provided and paid for and does not attempt to establish its own police department.
Suitable, cost-effective alternatives presently exist and the duplication of those services leads directly to property taxes that are much higher than they need to be.
Maynard St. Peter
Caribou
