Sabattus looks to hire more police officers

Apr. 25—SABATTUS — On the night of Oct. 25, 2023, when shooting rampages in Lewiston left 18 dead and 13 injured, police in area towns prepared for the worst.

The shooter could be anywhere, it was generally believed in those tense hours following the shootings. In Sabattus, a lone police officer was on patrol, hardly enough to protect an entire town or to send help where it was needed.

Robert Card never showed up in Sabattus, although it was later reported that one of his original targets may have been a popular club in the town. For many, it was a grim example of how fast things can turn dark — and how important it is to have adequate manpower ready when it happens.

As far as Sabattus Police Chief Erik Baker is concerned, the days of having just one officer on duty to cover an entire town are over.

Baker is out to put more police officers on the department roster and as he goes about it, no one can accuse the chief of not doing his homework.

Among other things, Baker took a look at national statistics to see where Sabattus sits in regards to the strength of its police force in relation to town population.

It works out like this: in Sabattus there are 1.15 cops for every thousand residents. The national average, meanwhile, is 2.4. In Maine specifically, the average works out to 1.74 officers per 1,000, while across New England, it's 2.3.

Sabattus is on the low end, so Baker is looking to hire three full-time officers and two reserves. And he has plans for how he would use those additional officers.

"Our goal is to hire three people this coming year and then the following year we would promote one to a supervisor and one to a detective," Baker said Thursday. "Currently we have one supervisor who works four evening shifts, and this means we have no supervisor three out of four evenings. I would also promote one person to a detective position the second year to allow us to do a better job on focusing on more severe crimes. I believe at the current levels we are doing an injustice to the citizens of Sabattus. Hiring three personnel we will be a stronger agency and more efficient to the community."

Around town, support for a bolstered Police Department appears to be strong. That's encouraging to Baker since just a few years ago, it looked, for a time, like Sabattus might get rid of the department altogether.

In late 2021, a special town meeting was called to decide whether the department would stay or whether it would disband in favor of coverage by the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office. Roughly 80% voted in favor of keeping the local force.

The department stayed, but it has always struggled with numbers.

"When I arrived in March of 2022," Baker said, "we had two people and needed to hire more. Since Jan. 1 of this year, we have all full-time officers patrolling. From August 2023 to the end of December 2023 we had two officers in the academy. This brought us up to six full time officers — one works as the school school resource officer nine months out of the year — and a reserve."

A reserve officer can only work 1,040 hours of patrol in a calendar year, according to Baker. This averages out to about 20 hours a week.

"Having the two reserves would allow us to augment staffing levels up to 40 hours a week," Baker said. "They do not have the same authority as a fully certified officer but will be a secondary officer for backup and handling minor complaints.

"Currently, our staffing model does not allow us for people to take time off or attend training without backfilling shifts with overtime," Baker said. "If we have people take vacation or sick time this also causes us to backfill slots with overtime. This also creates burnout of the officers. The days of patrolling with one officer for the entire town is completely unsafe, not just for the officer but the public as well. We can certainly attest from the active shooter (in Lewiston) we did not have enough people."

In March, the Police Department became the 28th out of 130 to be accredited through the Maine Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, Baker said. The program gives the town a 15% reduction in civil liability insurance for the department.

"This program shows we are using the most current policies and procedures in the state Of Maine," Baker said.

The chief posted his budget presentation on the department's Facebook page and said he is willing to sit with anyone from Sabattus who wishes to discuss it before they vote in May.

The matter of whether to hire more officers will be put before voters at the annual meeting May 23. The meeting will be held at the Sabattus Middle School at 6 p.m.

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