WASHBURN, Maine — A small group of Washburn residents agreed on Thursday night that permanently closing the police department would be the town’s best option. If voters agree on June 11, it will happen.
About 15 residents turned out for a public hearing at the Washburn District High School gym, along with town officials and representatives of the Maine State Police and Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office.
Aroostook’s small towns have struggled to retain law enforcement amid staffing shortages and difficulties with recruiting. Van Buren shuttered its police station in 2021, and Limestone followed suit a year ago, diverting responsibilities to state troopers and sheriff’s deputies. Now, Washburn residents will decide on Tuesday, June 11, whether to keep their own police force or leave law enforcement to deputies and state troopers.
“So, pretty much, we would like to have a police department, but we don’t see a viable way to even staff it, plus the cost is too much,” resident Rodney Corey said. Others in the audience nodded in agreement.
The police station has been empty since Feb. 29, when part-time Chief Cyr Martin’s tenure ended. Left without police leadership and with one officer on staff, leaders in the town of about 1,500 closed the site until the public could vote on what to do.
The town faced a similar situation in 2017, when residents voted narrowly — 173 to 162 — to keep the department open. Then in 2019, when former Chief Robert Thibeault resigned, Washburn partnered with Ashland to share Police Chief Cyr Martin, who is also Ashland’s town manager.
Martin was to serve part-time in Washburn on a temporary basis. He was there for five years.
With the increased challenges of leading law enforcement in both communities plus his town manager duties, Martin decided he would leave the post in January this year. He stayed another month, with his final day on Feb. 29, because his replacement backed out.
One of Washburn’s two officers, Chandler Cole, resigned Feb. 26 after being arrested for allegedly falsifying evidence in a missing-person case involving Washburn man Erik Foote. The other, Doran Hurlburt-Labree, had not been to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and took another job in Ashland.
During Thursday’s hearing, Washburn Town Manager Donna Turner shared the questions that will be on the June 11 local ballot. Question 1 asks, “Do you want to keep the Washburn Police Department open?” Question 2 asks “yes” voters if they will approve $198,486 to fund the police department for the remaining seven months of the fiscal year.
The biggest dilemma is filling positions, Turner said. The department can’t function without a chief, and aside from the man who changed his mind, the only applicants have had no law enforcement experience. One listed no employment experience at all.
“We’re getting nothing for applicants,” she said. “That tells me that we can vote to hire a police department, but I don’t know where we’re going to find people.”
Even if the town could hire officers, small town police forces are like revolving doors because people come to get experience and then move on, one resident said.
Towns in Aroostook County and throughout Maine are facing the same shortages, Councilor Fred Thomas said. It’s worse for small towns because they can’t offer the benefits that larger forces like the sheriff’s office can.
Several in the audience said they were happy with the coverage and professionalism of the state and county law enforcement, and there would be plenty of help in an emergency between deputies, the state police and Border Patrol.
Speakers agreed it would also be more cost-effective for the town to close the department.
Washburn is fortunate because of its location between Presque Isle and Caribou, Sheriff Peter Johnson said.
“If we’re covering this zone, our main office to do paperwork is in Caribou,” he said. “And then if the state police are covering this area, one of the offices they use in this zone is in Presque Isle.”
State troopers and deputies split Aroostook County into four zones and rotate coverage each month, Johnson and Maine State Police Sgt. Ryan Kilcollins said after the meeting.
Zone 1 includes New Sweden north; zone 2 is Van Buren to Bridgewater; zone 3, Monticello to Weston; and zone 4, the rest of southern Aroostook including Smyrna and Sherman.
Troop F has about 14 troopers, Kilcollins said, while Johnson has 16 deputies and expects to have 18 by July.
Calls from the Washburn area have averaged about two to three per day, roughly, Johnson said.
Turner encouraged residents to vote on June 11. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Washburn Municipal Building on Main Street.
