Waldoboro Police Chief Bill Labombarde said Aug. 7 that he has received three applications from within his department, for the detective position vacated by Lance Mitchell in July.
Mitchell is now serving as a reserve patrol officer in the Damariscotta Police Dept.
In addition to Labombarde, the Waldoboro Police Dept. currently has one sergeant, a school resource officer and four patrol officers working full-time. A shellfish warden and animal control officer work part time, as do four reserve patrol officers who fill in as needed.
Labombarde said he works patrol two or three times a month, “usually because I just want to get out of the office and go stop cars.” He said it is important for him to get out into the town.
While most of the complaints the department receives involve assisting citizens who are in motor vehicle collisions, accidentally locked out of their homes or involved in civil disputes with neighbors, Labombarde said Waldoboro has a large number of domestic disputes that are related to substance abuse issues.
He said he is seeing an increasing number of cases involving the abuse of prescription medications and the chemical combinations often referred to as bath salts.
Labombarde said such drugs have a ripple effect that can lead to domestic violence, the deterioration of family connections and an increase in daytime burglaries of homes.
“In the lion’s share of domestic violence calls some kind of substance abuse is involved,” he said.
He said patrol officers face a “mixed bag” of more than 6000 complaints a year that make it difficult for them to complete investigations in a timely manner.
Labombarde said the immediate calls often interrupt patrol officers when they are in the midst of the detailed work required for investigations, sometimes delaying completion of interviews and reports for days.
“It gets pushed further back and further back and further back,” he said. “Pretty soon it’s a cold case.”
Mitchell had approximately a dozen open felony cases when he left the department. Labombarde said the open cases include burglaries, child abuse and sexual abuse.
“We get a lot of those,” he said. “It takes an awful lot to investigate a child abuse case.” He said such cases require a great deal of care to accurately complete reports and documentation.
A detective would also investigate any fatal motor vehicle accident, since liability in such an event could lead to a charge of vehicular manslaughter. Two such accidents occurred within eight days of one another in June.
Currently, the chief and his patrol officers are working to advance those investigations.
“Sometimes they’re just accidents,” he said. “But sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that make someone criminally liable.”
Waldoboro citizens approved the detective position in 2008, Labombarde said. Mitchell began work in January 2009.
Labombarde said a detective’s job was “a different line of police work.” He said detectives have to work with victims, suspects and the courts.
The Waldoboro police officers who have applied for the position will face an oral interview board comprising Labombarde, representatives of the Lincoln County and Knox County sheriff’s offices, someone from the district attorney’s office and a municipal department head from either the emergency medical service or fire department.
A member of the board of selectmen may also be on the interview panel.
If the new detective is hired from within the department, that job would begin in late September and a patrol officer position will open up.
“We’ll have things back to abnormal,” Labombarde said with humor.
Labombarde said the ideal candidate would have very good interview skills and be patient.
“You’ve got to have a good sense of what makes someone think a certain way,” he said “It’s a niche to be a detective.”
