In a near perfect world, police departments such as Oxford, Dixfield, Mexico and Wilton, would have four or more patrolmen, a detective or two, and an administrative chief.
“In a perfect world, a patrolman would go to a burglary, do a preliminary investigation report, then get the information to a detective to follow up on. That’s what happens in most police departments,” said Dixfield Chief Richard A. Pickett recently. He doesn’t have that luxury.
But, more manpower, he said, would give Dixfield time to properly investigate crimes instead of watching some slip through the cracks to become cold case files.
“When I hear people say they can’t investigate gross sexual assaults, there’s something wrong,” said Wilton Chief Wayne Gallant recently.
“There was a time when officers said, I didn’t investigate that.’ That has to change, but four patrolmen are not adequate to do detective work,” he added.
Oxford has three patrolmen, a detective and a chief. Dixfield and Wilton each have four patrolmen and a working chief.
Mexico had the same configuration until this spring, when Chief Jim Theriault was authorized to hire a fifth patrolman after a 12-year fight to get one, he said recently.
Now, Theriault can focus on much-needed detective work.
“Counting burglaries, we have 10 to 15 serious crime cases a year that don’t get solved, because we don’t have the time to investigate them. A majority of the ones we don’t have time to work on, could be solvable with a little more effort,” he said.
“It’s not like on TV. You can’t solve crime in an hour, like people watching those shows think,” Theriault added.
Dixfield and Wilton do no have detectives.
“We have road people who are forced to do investigations to the best of their abilities,” Pickett said.
An investigation into one sex crime in 2003 in Dixfield was dropped because the suspect moved out of state, and, “It was not worth chasing halfway across the country,” said Dixfield Sgt. Mark Dow recently.
Oxford Detective Lt. Jon Tibbetts said he can’t do detective work five days a week, because he must also do patrol work.
“In 1995, when I was hired to do detective work, there were cases that slipped through the cracks. You can work 40 to 45 hours a week and be busy constantly in Oxford,” Tibbetts said recently.
Oxford is only 20 minutes from Lewiston-Auburn and Bridgton, three places with large drug problems.
“As a result, we have a lot of thefts and burglaries, but you can’t work patrol and go to Lewiston to follow up a case. That’s why things slip through the cracks,” he said.
Burglaries account for the majority of cold case files in Oxford.
“I don’t think too many fall through the cracks. Most, we follow to a dead end, but you never forget about the cases because you never know when a piece of the puzzle will come up,” Tibbetts said.
Meanwhile, caseloads continue to increase.
“They come in faster than we can resolve them,” Dow said.
“We can’t provide 24-hour coverage for 365 days a year with four men, and expect to be flawless using a minimum amount of men, and get the job done the way it is intended to be done,” Pickett said.
The immediate cure for Dixfield and Mexico departments is to merge, but Gallant said the state also needs to step up to the plate for small town police departments.
“Victims have rights to have crimes that victimized them investigated, but investigations depend on the budget of a police department,” he said.
“It shouldn’t have to depend on the budget. If the state can make monies available to provide very good legal counsel for indigent defendants, it should also work diligently to provide services for proper investigations for their victims,” Gallant said.
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