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At last month’s Eastport City Council meeting, I asked the council what the city’s plan is to train our police department on recently passed bill LD 1971, which essentially prohibits state and local police from collaborating with ICE.
City Manager Brian Schuth answered, “I don’t have any control over police training so I can’t speak to that question. … I am, by charter, not permitted to interfere with the business of the … police department.” At this moment in history, when illegitimate, unidentified agents from outside Maine reigned terror on our communities, this felt like a chilling admission.
I asked if that meant our police department operated independent from city oversight. The city manager reiterated that Eastport Police do not answer to him nor the council, and his only role was the ability to appoint a chief. He offered to refer my question to the police chief, but it’s now more than four weeks later and I’ve not received an answer.
In 2026, residents paid the Eastport Police Department almost $400,000 of our tax money — a nearly $100,000 increase from 2023. It’s an alarming mystery to me why we turn over such a massive portion of our taxes to a department that doesn’t answer to us.
Birdy Velveteen
Eastport
