HOULTON, Maine — Town councilors on Monday evening opted to move forward with a plan to see if it would be more cost effective for the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office to provide policing services for the community.
The idea was not well received by some community members in attendance, and Aroostook County Sheriff Darrell Crandall said Tuesday that he plans to recommend to the council that the Houlton Police Department be maintained.
“The town is too big and too busy to not have a local police department as far as calls go,” the sheriff said Tuesday.
Crandall said that he had been approached by Council Chairman William McCluskey, who asked what it would take to contract with the sheriff’s office for law enforcement services for the town. Crandall said he was not sure about any details yet concerning what kind of services Houlton might want from the sheriff’s office.
“Once I know, like we do with any town official that asks, I can provide them with a cost estimate,” he said.
During Monday’s council meeting, Priscilla Monroe, a Houlton resident, said she supported the Houlton Police Department and praised Chief Tim Deluca and the speed with which officers in the area responded to calls for assistance. She predicted that crime rates would skyrocket without a local police force, and that those who needed help may have to wait hours for it due to the size of the sheriff’s office coverage area.
Deluca, who just started working for the town in January, said Tuesday that he did not want to comment too much on the council’s action beyond saying that he supported the men and women in his department and that no other agencies could “meet the quality and extent of services that we provide.”
Councilor Rosa McNally was cool to McCluskey’s idea, pointing out that a plan to eliminate dispatching services provided through the police department two years ago had failed.
“I have seen accidents where the Houlton Police Department is the first on the scene,” she said. “I really urge the community to come forward and participate in this and be heard.”
The next council meeting is scheduled for May 22.
