PARIS — Selectmen decided to table a decision on the future of the Police Department after hearing from Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant about what services his agency could provide.
Gallant said Paris has three options: keeping its police department and size it as needed; disbanding the department; or contracting with the Sheriff’s Office.
He shared two options for covering the town, which would give 24-hour coverage but not the 24-hour patrol the Police Department currently provides. The former means when there is no deputy patrolling during the early-morning hours, deputies would be on call.
The first option includes three deputies and one detective, with patrols for less than 24 hours a day for $437,000 for the first year and $387,500 for the second. The second potion provides three deputies, one sergeant and one detective, with 24-hour patrol coverage on five out of seven nights a week. The cost is $637,500 for the first year and $549,200 for the second.
“The reason I put it together that way is that’s what I need to try to propose to the (county) commissioners if I needed money,” he said. The county is going through the budget process to have a plan in place for Jan. 1, 2016.
Resident Scott Buffington asked the sheriff which proposal he would choose. Gallant said the second, more expensive plan.
Interim police Chief Jeff Lange’s budget for the department is $605,739 and includes four patrol officers, one detective, one school resource officer, one sergeant, one chief, one administrative assistant and four part-time patrol officers. He said for roughly $56,000 more, the town gets to have eight police officers and an administrative assistant.
Gallant said his office covers 29 towns, plus two plantations and 17 unorganized territories. There are 19 patrol deputies, five detectives, himself and Chief Deputy Hart Daley, all of whom work full time.
The sheriff said Monday night he wanted to clear up some things.
“I don’t go around the county as the sheriff saying, ‘I want to take over towns.’ . . . The only reason I am here is because I’ve been asked to be here,” Gallant said.
“I am not saying Paris P.D. does not have an excellent police department. . . . You have a good thing going with the drug task force there. If it hadn’t been for your chief it wouldn’t have gotten going.”
He said he brought solid proposals and has a deeper force to pull from if Paris wanted coverage from his office.
Gallant provided Paris with a coverage proposal two years ago that offered more services and personnel for less money, but this was before the town’s call volume increased by 40 percent, Town Manager Amy Bernard said before the meeting. The 2013 proposal included 5.5 deputies for $609,425 for the first year and $483,003 for the second.
“When I look at the proposal with the wages and benefits, honestly, it’s skyrocketed since the last proposal,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Robert Wessels said.
The sheriff said some of the increases come from the contract recently settled with the deputies, which raised starting pay.
Gallant said as of Monday, Paris had more than 3,000 calls.
“Right now, if you got rid of your detective on Paris P.D., you would put a big burden on patrol,” he said. “There is a definite need to have a detective there.”
The board unanimously decided to table making a decision for at least until its next meeting in two weeks.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
