PARIS — Police chiefs for Norway and Paris explained their plan for a department merger Monday at the Paris Fire Station, and took questions and criticism from Paris residents and police officers.

Paris police Chief David Verrier and Norway police Chief Robert Federico said the merger would allow the agencies to share officers with expensive specialized training and to share equipment. It would also keep officers safer by allowing them to assist one another at calls without first being called in by dispatchers. It would also allow officers to enforce laws in both towns, which currently isn’t possible under the current mutual aid agreement.

Paris officers aren’t sworn in to police Norway and vice versa. Even if they were, while retaining separate police agencies, there would be liability issues, Norway Town Manager David Holt said.

The plan calls for Federico to be the chief of the merged department. Verrier would become school resource officer and take a pay cut.

Verrier said he felt that as the former chief, he shouldn’t be in a supervisor role where he and Federico could have conflicts.

Both towns will be asked whether to approve a trial agreement so the departments can share officers for one year. During that time, a committee would work out the details of a permanent merger.

Police officers at the meeting were mixed on the proposal. Lt. Michael Dailey of the Paris Police Department said he felt a merger is necessary to keep providing good police service to both towns.

Dailey is a nationally accredited reconstructionist of motor vehicle accidents and said his services would be available to both towns if the merger is approved.

Others were staunchly against a merger. Detective Zane Loper, who works for the Paris department and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said he’ll leave the Paris Police Department if the merger is approved.

“We’re definitely undermanned and understaffed for what we’re doing,” Loper said. Still, he said, mixing the departments is a bad idea. He called the Paris department a “well-oiled machine” with experienced officers.

“We’re leaving because the boat’s sinking,” he said, referring to Officer Timothy Gamache’s impending move to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office. “It’s because of the Budget Committee. It’s because of the town of Paris. I’m not going to get out of the cruiser for someone that’s ungrateful,” Loper said.

“I’m leaving if this merger goes through,” Loper told the crowd. “I’m putting my career on the line telling you all that.”

Sgt. Hartley “Skip” Mowatt, the school resource officer at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, said he was also against the merger. He said he didn’t want to leave his post as school officer, a position Verrier would take under the plan.

“If you don’t want to be chief anymore, please resign,” Mowatt told Verrier. “Let someone else take over the helm.”

Resident Bruce Sargent praised Mowatt’s work as school resource officer.

“You don’t want to break something that’s working,” he said.

Robert Federico II, a Norway Police officer and the son of chief Federico, said the merger was important for the safety of police on both departments. He said several residents were concerned about the budget specifics of the merger after the initial year.

Verrier and Federico said they expected total savings of about $30,000, but couldn’t give specific estimates for the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Others, such as Franca Ainsworth, said they were concerned about a loss of identity for Paris.

Paris Board of Selectmen Chairman Robert Kirchherr said the board would work to hammer out a plan for a trial merger with Verrier and Federico and said he imagined they would have a complete agreement by the end of the summer. At that time, he said, residents could vote on whether to approve the trial merger.

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