By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

MONMOUTH – Tuesday’s surprise resignation of police Chief Charles (Chuck) Shaw provides the community with an opportunity, says interim Town Manager Paul Bird.

It also leaves it so short-handed that local police probably can’t protect the town without help from the county sheriff.

“This town is at a crossroads,” Bird said Wednesday afternoon. Now it can decide “whether or not to have its own Police Department or contract with another agency.”

Townspeople have been split over the need for a municipal police department for months – some say years – with the issue bubbling to the surface in July. That’s when the Maine Chiefs of Police Association gave the town a review of the Police Department that found fault with nearly everything it was doing.

Some selectmen saw the report as ammunition supporting the desire of one faction to eliminate the Police Department.

Controversy continued to simmer through the autumn. In October, it claimed Leonard Bates, the former chairman of the Board of Selectmen. He abruptly and without warning quit the post, citing “the hostile attitude by some at recent board meetings.”

That hostility was centered on the continuing controversy swirling around the Police Department.

Bates’ resignation came within days of a hiring freeze imposed by the town on the Police Department, which officers said left it short-staffed.

Also in October, a five-year veteran of the department, Officer Stanley Walker, filed a lawsuit against the town claiming he had been coerced into leaving the force by then Town Manager Jason Simcock.

Within days, Simcock announced that he, too, was leaving Monmouth. He accepted a planning position with the town of Gardiner.

About the same time Simcock, with the support of selectmen, opened talks with Kennebec County and Winthrop officials in an attempt to determine if either would take over police functions in Monmouth.

By Tuesday, when Shaw gave Bird his resignation, Bird had found himself suspending yet another Monmouth officer.

Bird wouldn’t comment on the reasons for the suspension of reserve officer Beatrice Ware, noting she can appeal his administration action to selectmen.

He did say the suspension is open-ended, with no date of return set.

Bird said he spoke with Kennebec County officials last week, discussing the possibility that Monmouth might need backup police support from that county’s Sheriff’s Department.

On Wednesday, he said the Monmouth force probably won’t be able to offer 24-hour coverage without the support of the sheriff. State police troopers are expected to augment policing services in the town as needed.

Bird said he was going to ask selectmen who were meeting Wednesday night to approve a plan intended to determine if Monmouth should retain its police force.

He said a timeline calls for a public hearing on the issue by the end of January followed by a binding referendum vote in February.

In 2004, the town voted 1,278 to 399 in favor of keeping the Police Department. That referendum was nonbinding.

If voters this time around say they don’t want a local force, Bird said Kennebec County has told him it will provide policing services for the town on a 24-hour basis for about the same cost to local taxpayers as the police department budget.

For this year, that’s about $275,000, Bird said. The county contract would be within $20,000 – plus or minus, he said – of the budget figure.

Bird said Shaw’s departure was forced. The chief was quoted as saying he was leaving because the time had come for him to move on. He’s been a lawman for nearly 30 years. He’s been Monmouth’s chief since 1999.

Shaw didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.