By a 2-vote margin, Stonington residents voted Monday to immediately end their long-running contract for a dedicated police presence from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
The department had requested $89,000 from the town to cover three eight-hour shifts each week. Residents voted 27-25 not to fund it at their annual town meeting after discussion that included concerns about the cost.
The department will still respond to 911 calls, Sheriff Scott Kane said, but won’t have patrol shifts solely in the town anymore. That could mean longer response times for residents from his office and less time dedicated to Stonington coverage.
“I understand some of the rationale, but I’m disappointed in the sense that we’re not going to continue to have that presence down there,” he said.
Police coverage will still be available even without the contract, Select Board member Travis Fifield emphasized in a letter to the public. He thanked members of the sheriff’s office for their service in Stonington and said he hoped county commissioners will hear the sheriff’s need for more funding to provide services member towns want.
“It’s my opinion that small edge towns like Stonington should not have to subsidize the cost of increased police presence for all the towns along the road to Stonington,” Fifield said.
Residents questioned Monday whether they were getting adequate service for their contract cost compared to other towns, the Rising Tide online news site reported.
Last year, the sheriff’s office responded to 423 incidents in the town, according to Stonington’s annual report. About 100 of those were property checks; the next most common incident was 911 calls, with 56 reported.
The current contract was backdated to January at Monday’s vote, meaning voters ended it immediately, according to Kane. His office calculates contract figures by adding costs such as benefits, taxes and fuel to the hourly rate of a newer deputy on the low end of its pay scale.
Salary and benefit costs have risen, and the cost of employing a deputy is much higher than it was a decade ago.
“None of us want to see the prices go up,” Kane said.
Deputies on regular patrol in the area are responsible for nine towns on the Blue Hill peninsula, the sheriff said, meaning they could be a fair distance away when a Stonington call comes in. They would also have to prioritize which calls to respond to in the case of overlap – a domestic dispute on the mainland would get a response before a noise complaint on the island at the same time, for example.
Stonington ended a previous contract once years ago but later signed a new one, Kane said. He estimated the current contract had been in place for about 30 years but could not remember specifics.
If Stonington wanted to contract for dedicated patrols again, the office would have to discuss the possibility with command staff and county administration, according to Kane. Uncertainty from year to year is difficult for planning and employment purposes, he said, suggesting the office might seek a multi-year contract for stability in that case.
