The Damariscotta Police Department has temporarily reduced patrol hours from the long-standing 24/7 schedule, Lincoln County Sheriff and acting Police Chief Todd Brackett said March 13.
Officers were informed of the decision in a March 7 meeting, Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus said.
Brackett said the change was his idea and is a “stopgap measure” to get the department through the budget year without a full-time police chief, Brackett said.
The department has already exceeded the budget for reserve officers, Brackett said. The department has been short at least one and often two officers throughout the fiscal year.
Lutkus said the town is “spending a lot of money on overtime for a relatively quiet time of the day.”
“We’ve used quite a bit of overtime and it’s difficult to get reserve officers to work those… shifts,” Lutkus said. “They have full-time jobs.”
The Lincoln County News is not reporting the off hours at the request of the acting chief.
Brackett and Lutkus said the 2013-2014 budget would allow the department to resume 24/7 patrol, but Lutkus said that could change as the town attempts to absorb possible losses in state revenue.
“I don’t know whether I’ll be requesting that we continue reduced coverage or not,” Lutkus said.
