AUBURN – A statewide police union joined local officers Wednesday in demanding the resignation of the chairman of the Androscoggin County Commission.

Standing with the county’s top officers and more than a dozen off-duty deputies – all wearing black wristbands in solidarity – Paul Gaspar, the executive director of the Maine Association of Police, said County Commissioner Elmer Berry has “insulted every officer in Maine.”

Sheriff Guy Desjardins vowed to wear his wristband until Berry left office.

Last week, Berry criticized Desjardins’ decision to allow eight full- and part-time officers to attend a memorial service for Officer David Rancourt, a longtime Androscoggin deputy who died on duty in November.

“If the sheriff is understaffed as he claims, how could he possibly allow it?” Berry wrote to leaders in seven county towns.

The comments have drawn blistering criticism. Both unions inside the department called for Berry’s resignation.

Wednesday’s move was the first from an organization outside the county.

“If Mr. Berry has an ounce of integrity, he will marshal it and leave public life to those deserving of being an elected representative of the people in a democracy as precious as the one we enjoy here in Maine,” said Gaspar, whose organization represents more than 900 officers across the state.

Berry had little to say in response.

“I have no comment. Period,” he said Wednesday. Efforts to reach the other two commissioners, Constance Cote and Helen Poulin, were unsuccessful.

A widening rift

The commission is scheduled to meet next Wednesday afternoon, and Desjardins plans to challenge the three-member group with a candidate for a new nighttime patrol.

If the commission refuses his candidate, Livermore Falls police Officer Maurice Drouin, Desjardins will likely sue, he said.

Berry and Desjardins have been battling for months over whether to add an officer to the county ranks. The sheriff says he needs the officer for night patrols, particularly after midnight when two deputies are the only police on duty in eight county towns.

The Budget Committee approved the position, but the commission has blocked efforts to fill it.

Berry argued that the county might not be able to afford the deputy. Of particular worry is $180,000 in community corrections funds, earmarked by the Budget Committee to offset spending increases. The state may not allocate the money.

But the rift between Desjardins and Berry has grown wider than this one issue in the five months since Desjardins was elected sheriff.

“I’ve been silenced at commission meetings,” Desjardins said. “He even threatened to remove me.”

In his correspondence to towns last week, Berry blamed Desjardins for “mismanagement of resources in an attempt to build a bigger department.”

Is a reconciliation possible?

The commission would have to make big changes, Desjardins said. He challenged commissioners Cote and Poulin to move some meetings to nighttime, so more people could attend. He asked that they set aside a portion of each meeting to gather comment from the public and department heads.

And he challenged them to help create a county charter commission to examine the makeup of the commission and the leadership of the county.

“We need to keep in mind that we are here to serve those that entrusted us in our elected positions,” Desjardins said.

Gaspar blamed much of the discord on Berry’s opposition to Desjardins, who twice defeated Berry’s friend, longtime sheriff Ronald Gagnon, for the job.

“It is a sad state of affairs when politics impedes public safety,” Gaspar said. “It is even sadder when such discourse is founded on personal motivations and abusive demonstrations of the power vested in a political office.”

Gaspar warned Berry that his organization is in this fight.

“We will not be silent,” Gaspar said. “We will not forget. And we will be watching.”