Wiscasset Police Chief Jeffrey Lange talks about his proposal for a community police officer in February. (Abigail Adams photo, LCN file)
Wiscasset Police Chief Jeffrey Lange’s proposal to create a community police officer position is off the table. Lange was pursuing a Community Oriented Policing Services – COPS – grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund the position.
However, the COPS program has since been eliminated and federal funding for the grants pulled, Lange said. He received notification about the cancellation of the program about a month or two ago. “It’s disappointing, but we’ll move forward,” he said.
While his proposal was not contingent on receiving the grant, Lange had proposed folding the enforcement responsibilities of the harbor master, shellfish warden, and animal control officer into the police department. The community police officer would have been tasked with those duties, in addition to parking enforcement.
Lange said he would still like to see the duties of the harbor master and shellfish warden fall to the police department “for supervision and operational control.”
The department’s current staff would be able to handle the additional responsibilities, Lange said. He has said the consolidation of the departments would save Wiscasset money and increase revenue for the town by improving enforcement.
The proposal to consolidate the harbor master position dates back several months, with the most recent conversation in early March. The Wiscasset Board of Selectmen never took action on the proposal, and consolidation of the departments was not discussed during the budget process for 2017-2018.
The harbor master’s budget and the shellfish warden’s contract were unchanged in the 2017-2018 budget. “The COPS grant went away and the conversations just stopped,” Town Manager Marian Anderson said.
Harbor Master Preston Dunning provided selectmen an update on his work during the board of selectmen’s April 4 meeting. There was no discussion of bringing the harbor master position into the police department during the meeting.
While Lange’s proposal is not incorporated into the town’s budget, “I don’t think anything is set in stone” for the upcoming year, Lange said. The harbor master and shellfish warden have annual appointments that will expire June 30.
