TOPSHAM — Topsham selectmen say it’s time to ask Brunswick Police Department to find their own firing range. Brunswick police have been sharing Topsham PD’s range off Townsend Way for over a decade.

Selectmen unanimously voted Thursday to ask Brunswick to develop within ix months a plan for finding Brunswick police their own shooting range.

The decision follows a complaint by Topsham resident Brett Strout, who lives near the firing range. The range is located on town-owned property near Topsham’s transfer station on Townsend Way, which is off Foreside Road.

Strout, who is the chief deputy for Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office, writes in a Sept. 28 letter to selectmen that he built his home in 1995 before the firing range was developed. He agreed to have the firing range located near his home provided it is only used by Brunswick and Topsham police departments, used only twice a month by Brunswick’s police tactical team, and for two weeks in the fall with some limited night shooting.

Over time, Strout said the firing range has been used beyond the terms of these unwritten rules. Now, the use of the range “has become unbearable to me and I would like to have the select board address the issue,” Strout writes.

In response, Topsham Police Chief Marc Hagan said Topsham and Brunswick police departments will combine their training for their annual firearm qualification at the end of October. Hagan said that will reduce shooting days from 10 days to four days. Hagan said Brunswick’s tactical team will be more efficient about their use of the firing range and will notify Strout before shooting.

Hagan said police can work on having set times during the month to shoot, but there will still be other times they have to use the firing range.

Additionally, Hagan said he plans to increase the frequency of shooting for Topsham officers, who only fired their weapons during annual four-day training in the last two years.

“Shooting is a perishable skill,” Hagan said. “Shooting one time a year is just inadequate for an office to be fully trained on their skills. The public has expectations of us as police officers that if we show up at a call, we’re going to shoot in a safe, appropriate and accurate manner.”

Selectman Matthew Nixon said he was struck by the cooperation among the police departments but said it may be worthwhile to ask Brunswick to see finding their own firing range.

“Not throwing them off right now but just saying, ‘Look, it might be time. You guys have a big force, you have a lot of open land and it would solve some of our residents’ issues,'” Nixon said.

Brunswick Police Chief Scott Stewart said Monday that if Topsham doesn’t want to continue with the agreement allowing Brunswick to use its firing range, “We have no other choice but to find an alternative.”

Stewart said he is confident Brunswick police can find their own firing range and said several sites have already been suggested.

“To be honest, I’d rather have our own range in Brunswick,” Stewart said. “Just the fact that we’d have control of it and it would be our own training facility… but obviously we have to find a location.”

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