Seacoast online has a story about a raucous budget meeting in the City  by the Sea.  One line  from the new Police Chief caught my eye.

“Police Chief Lou Ferland said the proposed cut would mean a reduction of 12 staff members, which would bring the city below the staffing level of when the chief joined the force in 1983.

“I can’t make people stop calling for emergency services,” he said.”

Seacoastonline story by Adam Leech

I read this the other day from the Bangor Daily  News. Bangor PD is spending  too much time on service work.

Bangor police chief proposes to trim officer duties

By Eric Russell

BDN Staff

BANGOR, Maine — Police Chief Ron Gastia has proposed changing or eliminating nearly a dozen minor responsibilities that fall under his patrol officers’ purview as part of an effort to streamline his department’s operations.

Gastia presented his intentions Tuesday to members of the City Council’s government operations committee, who responded favorably.

“Frankly, I couldn’t have been happier with their response,” the chief said Wednesday. “Every indication from councilors was that they were glad we were trying to be as forward thinking about finding ways to better utilize resources.”

Some of the changes being considered would allow officers to:

• Discontinue responding to complaints of lost or stolen property.

• Discontinue going to nonreportable motor vehicle accidents, those in which no one is injured and which result in less than $1,000 in damage.

• Discontinue releasing found property or evidence on the weekends.

• Discontinue taking patients to mental health facilities in cases of voluntary committals.

• Discontinue the practice of officers taking stray cats to the Bangor Humane Society.

Bangor Daily News Story

Sounds good to me.

Mike