LIVERMORE FALLS – After two burglaries and one act of vandalism were reported Thursday, police Chief Ernest Steward said he has noticed a slight rise in crime since the town shut down July 1.
“There has been more major stuff” this week, Steward said. Crime is “really deterred a lot when we have a regular patrol, because people worry about being stopped for a minor infraction” and being caught with, say, stolen goods or something else in the car.
But Steward said he’s not sure whether Thursday’s sudden rash of crime was due to the shutdown or not. “Once in a while, it just comes in patterns like that,” he said.
Police were called into the Mega Discount store on Park Street early Thursday morning to investigate a break-in, Steward said. Knives and jewelry had been stolen from a showcase and an undisclosed amount of money had been taken from the cash register. Cigarettes also were taken. The theft is under investigation, Steward said.
Later that day, Steward said, a man called to say his Hunton Loop home had just been broken into. He had gone out for a few minutes, and when he came back found that someone had forced entry into his home and stolen some prescription medication.
Friday morning, police learned that a car had been vandalized Thursday night. Steward said officers had not finished taking their reports near the end of the day Friday.
All town departments except the police, fire and dispatch services were closed this week after a budget dispute at the June 14 town meeting resulted in a series of “no” votes on town budget articles. While emergency services personnel are responding to calls, they will be working on a volunteer basis only until voters and town officials agree on a budget.
Steward said the whole police force volunteered to keep working without pay.
But there are no regular patrols, Steward said. No one is being stopped for speeding – or anything else, for that matter – unless police happen to be driving by and see something untoward happening.
“If they’re out there, they’re sworn to do their job, but they’re just not out there,” he said.
Officers are spending most of their time “catching up on their paperwork,” he said.
Outgoing mail has ground to a halt, since there is no money to pay postage. But patrol cars are still on the road, thanks to an offer from Jay to let Livermore Falls police fill up at the Jay Highway Department’s station.
Thanks to the police force’s pay schedule, Steward said officers got their last paycheck just this past Thursday, so no one is feeling a financial pinch – yet. He said his officers are just hoping the budget passes at the special town meeting, set for Monday, July 10.
He said his dispatchers are trying to hold themselves together, but since selectmen propose closing the department for good, he said they feel very “up in the air.”
He asked that anybody who has seen anything suspicious, like “people with large amounts of cigarettes” to phone the police department.
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