DIXFIELD — As town officials continues to explore options for police coverage, they are asking residents what they want.

To that end, a survey has been placed on the town website, Town Manager Alicia Conn said. “It will take them about two minutes to fill out,” she said.

The questions and answer choices are:

1. What type of police coverage do you want in Dixfield?
A. 24 hours of patrol seven days a week.
B. 18 hours of patrol a day and six hours on call.
C. No patrol, Oxford County Sheriff’s office on-call only.

2. Would you rather Dixfield continue the contract with Oxford County Sheriff’s office or pursue coverage with another town?
A. Oxford County Sheriff’s Office.
B. A different town’s police department.
C. I do not want police patrols.

3. Comments.

The take the survey go to www.dixfield.org/index.php and look for “Police Coverage Survey” at the top.

The town’s contract with the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office expired June 30, but it is still operating under it until a new agreement is reached, Conn said Aug. 13.

The Select Board met with the Wilton Select Board Aug. 5 in the East Dixfield Fire Station, “just to get a feel if Wilton would even entertain it,” Conn said. “They were willing to continue pricing it out and getting a little more information for us. And in the meantime, we’re going to reach out to our community and have the survey.”

“We are trying to find the best solution for our community in terms of time, money and coverage,” she said.

“We are facing a patrol increase of $109,000 from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, with no change in coverage,” Conn said in June. The cost would be $307,942 through June 2025, which is about a 40% increase. It would pay for 18 hours of patrol daily, with the remaining six hours on call.

The Sheriff’s Office took over patrol in August 2020 after the Dixfield police chief resigned and there were no full-time officers.