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Our town has been without a police department for a few years. There are times when it is kinda nice to be able to walk into the police station with questions and/or problems and talk to an officer. We in Millinocket don’t have that luxury. It was also nice to be able to recognize those who we pay to protect us. With the officers all reporting to an office 10 miles down the road, we seldom see any of them unless we do something wrong.
When we had a local department of our own, the officers were residents of the town they served. We got to know them personally. They paid taxes to the town that was paying their salary. Now they are often supporting the town down the road while we pay them to keep our town safe.
The East Millinocket Police are doing a fine job patrolling our town, but I feel that we should have closer contact with those we are relying on for our safety. Not too long ago the subject of consolidation arose for the benefit of the school kids, and that was not received very well, but the protection of our town didn’t seem important enough to consider keeping our police force.
I think that we need our own police department, and I also think that our town officials and public servants should live in the community that supports them. If they are residents of the community they are working for, I think they would be more apt to go the extra mile, when need be.
Timothy Smyth
Millinocket