It was disheartening for this Wilton resident to observe our elected officials “shoot the messenger” as they responded to the report compiled on our police department by the Maine Chiefs of Police Association.

When presented with the report, selectmen have said that it is “too general and broad,” “adds insult to injury” and “not completely fair to the police department.”

Citizens should read the 53-page document for themselves. They will find it to be, as I did, competent, specific in its concerns and professionally prepared and presented. They will also find the report thoroughly alarming and deeply disturbing.

Perhaps the selectmen were preoccupied with their protection of past management of the department. Or, perhaps, they were unwilling to take accountability for their own failure of oversight. They must have missed some of the major points raised by these veteran chiefs. Here are a few taken directly from the report:

• The Franklin County District Attorney’s Office has concerns about the professionalism and competence of the department. It recently directed the department to refer all criminal cases with juveniles as the victim to the county sheriff’s office. Based on the staff’s experience in prosecuting cases investigated by the Wilton Police Department, they would have ordered all criminal cases referred elsewhere if they had the authority to do so.

• The reputation of the police department in the local community, as well as in the criminal justice community, would be described as poor at best.

• In the former chief’s office, there was little organization and sparse administrative record-keeping. The personnel files do not contain much information related to the performance of the employees. There is little documentation on citizen complaints.

• There is no equipment inventory or system of tracking condition and needed repairs for equipment, vehicles or radios. The last booklet of Standard Operating Procedures was issued in 1983.

• The lack of commitment to community involvement has led to a belief by residents that the department is unaware of their concerns and does not care. The consensus of the panel (of chiefs) was that it is a fair assessment of the department’s approach to community relations.

• There has been little effort on behalf of the department to work with outside support agencies. There is a significant lack of respect and trust between some of these agencies and the department.

Residents reading the report can also learn of the serious complaint lodged by the DA’s office that is unresolved and is now a “dark cloud hanging over the entire department,” or they can read that “personnel records, police training report, officer inventory list, department inventory list and the UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) section of the records program are not being used at all.

But enough.

The residents of Wilton have been poorly served for a long time, and those who were elected and appointed to assure that we were safe have failed all of us. Now there is a desperate effort to blame it all on the messenger who, one selectman thought, “would provide us more specific information.”

Newly appointed Chief Wayne Gallant is to be commended for the positive steps and professional face he is trying to apply to this sad situation.

However, it is time for accountability. How did a department on which taxpayers have been spending nearly $350,000 annually fall into such disarray, disrepair and disrepute?

And, perhaps most important, how did those charged with oversight of this department and its management allow this mismanagement and shoddy performance to not just happen but to continue for years?

Residents of Wilton should read the report and ponder these questions.

Irv Faunce lives in Wilton.